"Delay no longer, but force the door!" said another voice, which caused a tumultuous joy in Clara's bosom, for she knew it to be that of Luis. "First tell me where my son is?" cried the beldame. "Your son Rodrigo is in prison, where you will join him, if you do not directly obey our orders," said the former voice. "Ah! is it so?" she shrieked. "It shall not be without cause, and I will be revenged on you first." Clara uttered a cry of terror--loud blows resounded against the door,--and the vile hag, with her glittering knife upraised, rushed towards her, her eyes glaring with savage fury; and, with a yell of derisive laughter, she aimed her weapon at the bosom of the fair girl; but her foot slipped, and she fell to the ground. In a moment she rose again, and pursued her victim, who endeavoured to escape her rage. "Luis, Luis, save me!" cried Clara, in an agony of fear. The blows against the door were redoubled. The hag, with frantic gestures, followed her. Her last moment seemed come, when the door was burst open; and, while several men seized the wretched woman--yet not before she had plunged the knife into her own heart--Clara, with a cry of joy, fell fainting into her lover's arms. "Where is my son? you said he was taken," muttered the old woman, as she forced away the hand of Antonio, who was endeavouring to stanch the blood flowing from her wound. "By this time he is dangling from one of the new gibbets at the gates of the city," answered one of the men. "Then I will disappoint those of what they would much like to know," she muttered. She then suddenly endeavoured to tear herself from the grasp of those who held her, uttering shriek upon shriek, mixed with dreadful curses on all around. "Ay, ay, I see my son in the flames of purgatory, and the devils are dragging me down to him. I will not go yet--I will live to curse those who have slain him. May their end be like his, and may they dwell for ever in the torments of hell!" She ceased not uttering exclamations like these till her evil spirit fled its vile tenement. Luis bore Clara from the dreadful scene, accompanied by Captain Pinto, and followed by the rest of the party, till they reached an open space, where a carriage was in waiting; and, as he placed her in it, and took his seat by her side, he caught a glimpse of a tall man, whose features were concealed in a cloak, watching them at some distance. Having received the warm congratulations of his friend, who was obliged to return to his duty, while Pedro and some of the men prepared to accompany him as guards, Luis offered a purse of money to Antonio, as a recompense for his exertions. "No, senhor," he answered, declining it; "I have but performed the commands of the Minister, and I seek my reward from him alone;" and, bowing profoundly, he took his leave.