“Jesus Maria! I am wounded,” repeated the man in the chimney. The ball had fractured his right leg. Care was immediately taken to have the wound dressed. “But who art thou?” said the English lord; “and what evil spirit brought thee here?” “I am a poor mendicant friar,” answered the wounded man; “a strange gentleman gave me a zechin to--” “Repeat a speech. And why didst thou not withdraw as soon as thy task was finished?” I was waiting for a signal which we had agreed on to continue my speech; but as this signal was not given, I was endeavoring to get away, when I found the ladder had been removed. “And what was the formula he taught thee?” The wounded man fainted away; nothing more could be got from him. In the meantime the prince turned towards the principal officer of the watch, giving him at the same time some pieces of gold. “You have rescued us,” said he, “from the hands of an impostor, and done us justice without even knowing who we were; would you increase our gratitude by telling us the name of the stranger who, by speaking only a few words, was able to procure us our liberty.” “Whom do you mean?” inquired the party addressed, with an air which plainly showed that the question was useless. “The gentleman in a Russian uniform, who took you aside, showed you a written paper, and whispered a few words, in consequence of which you immediately set us free.” “Do not you know the gentleman? Was he not one of your company?” “No,” answered the prince; “and I have very important reasons for wishing to be more intimately acquainted with him.” “I know very little of him myself. Even his name is unknown to me, and I saw him to-day for the first time in my life.” “How? And was he in so short a time, and by using only a few words, able to convince you both of our innonocence and his own?” “Undoubtedly, with a single word.” “And this was? I confess I wish to know it.” “This stranger, my prince,” said the officer, weighing the zechins in his band,--“you have been too generous for me to make a secret of it any longer,--this stranger is an officer of the Inquisition.” “Of the Inquisition? This man?” “He is, indeed, gracious prince. I was convinced of it by the paper which he showed to me.” “This man, did you say? That cannot be.” “I will tell your highness more. It was upon his information that I have been sent here to arrest the sorcerer.” We looked at each other in the utmost astonishment. “Now we know,” said the English lord at length, “why the poor devil of a sorcerer started in such a terror when he looked more closely into his face. He knew him to be a spy, and that is why he uttered that shriek, and fell down before him.”