The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-07-25

erS Sp1T1U UQaG Will uelCQcr CeSG uOC SCdJ
till, with the very sword that slew her, I
have avenged her blood upon her murder
er or know him dead, and if suffer my
self to be led astray from the purpose Of
this oath by aught that is, then may a
worse end than hers ovcrtake me, may my
soul be rejected in heaven, and my name
be shameful forever upon the earth!''
Thus I swore in my rage and anguish,
holding up my hand to heaven that call
ed upon to witness the oath.
Ny father looked at me keenly. IF
that is your mind, son Thomas, you shall
not lack for money. would go myself,
for blood must be wiped out with blood,
but am too broken in my health; also
am known in Spain, and the holy Office
would claim me there. Go, and my bless
ing go with you. It is right that you
should go, for it is through your folly that
our enemy has escaped US.
''Yes, it is right that he should co." said
Geofrey.
"You say that because you wish to be
rid Of me, Geofrey," I answered hotly,
land you would be rid Of me because you
desire to take my place at the side Of q
certain maid Follow your nature and do
as you will, but II you would outwit an
absent man ne good shall come to you Of
it.
''The girl is to him who can win her,
he said
1.-The girls heart is won already, Geof-
frey. You may buy her from her father,
but you can never win her heart, and with
out heart she will be but poor prize"
Peace! Now is no time for such talk
Of love and maids" sai1 my father, land
listen. This is the tale Of the Spanish muir
derer and your mother. have said moth
ing Of it heretofore but now it must out:
When was lad, it happened that also
went to Spain because my father willed it.
II went to monastery at Seville, but
had no liking for monks and their ways,
and I broke out from the monastery. For
q year or more made my living as best
might, for feared to return to England
as runaway. Still made living, and
not bad one now in this way and now in
that, but, though am ashamed to say it,
mostly by gaming, at which I had great
luck. One night met this man Juan de
Garcia-for in his hate he gave you his
true name when hewould have stabbed
you-at play. Even then he had an evil
fame, though he was scarcely more than a
Lad, but he vas handsome in person, set
high in birth and Of pleasing manner. It
chanced that he won of me at the dice, and
being in good humor he took me to visit
at the house Of his aunt, his uncle's widow,
lady of Seville. This aunt had one child,
daughter, and that daughter was your
mother. Now, your mother, Luisa de
Garcia, was afianoed to her cousin, Juan
de Garcia, not with her own will indeed,
for the contract had been signed when she
was only years old Still it was binding
more binding indeed than in this coun-
try, being a marriage in all except in fact.
But those women who are thus bound for
the most part bear no wifc's love in their
hearts, and SO it was with your mother:
Indeed she both hated and feared her cous-
in Juan, though think that he loved her
more than anything on earth, and by one
pretexc and another she contrived to bring
him to ali agreement that no marriage
should be celebrated till she was full go
years of age. But the colder she was to
him the more was he inhamed with desire
to win her and also her possessions, which
were not small, for like all Spaniards he
was passionate and like most gamesters
and men of evil life much in want Of
money.
''Now, to be brief, from the first moment
that your mother and set eyes on each
other we loved one another, and it was our
one desire to meet as often as might be,
and in this we had no great difficulty, for
her mother also feared and hated Juan de
Garcia, her nephew by marriage, and
would have seen her daughter clear Of him
If possible. The end Of it was that I told
my love, and plot was made between US
that we should fly to England But all
this had not escaped the cars Of Juan,
who had spies in the household and was
jealous and revengeful as only Spaniad
can be- First he tried to be rid Of me by
challenging me to duel, but We were
parted before we could draw swords. Then
he hired braves to murder me as walked
the streets at night, but wore chain
shirt beneath my doublet, and their dag
gers broke upon it, and in place Of being
slain I slew one of them. Twice baf6ed,
De Garcia was not defeated Fight and
murder had failed, but another and surer
means remained I know not how, but
he had won some clew to the history of
my life and of how had broken out from
the monastery. It was left to him, there
fore, to denounce me to the holy Office as
renegade ard an in6del, and this he did
one night. 1t was the night before the day
when we should have taken ship. was
sitting with your mother and her mother
in their house at Seville when six cowled
men entered and seized me without word.
When prayed to know their purpose, they
gave no other answer than to hold a cru
cifx before my eyes Then knew why I
was taken, and the women ceased cling
ing to me and fell back sobbing. Secretly
and silently was hurried away to the
dungeons of the holy Office, but of all that
befeu me there will not stop to tell
Twice was rackcd, once was scared
with hot irons, thrice I was fogged with
wire whips, and all this while I was fed
on food such as We should scarcely offer
dog here in England. At length, my Of
fcnse of having escaped from monastery
and sundry blasphcn1ics, so called, being
proved against me, I was condemned to