"Is it possible?" exclaimed Stuart. "How fortunate—how happy! I have a thousand pardons to ask, Louis, for treating your anxiety so lightly. Allow me to congratulate you—" "And me too, Lisle, old fellow!" added Macpherson. "I wish you all joy, but I cannot pay my respects to the donna, because my Spanish, which is none of the best, always turns into Gaelic, and never comes glibly to my tongue until after sunset." "O senores!" said the lady, "such a night of horrors this has been! I heard all the dreadful conflict above, beneath, and around me,—and, Holy Mother Mary! I shall never forget it. I looked but once from my window, and the scene of the night assault will never be effaced from my remembrance. O ’tis a fearful thing to see men fighting for death and life, and destroying each other like wild beasts or demons! But where is the duke? Have not you seen him, senor cavaliers? Oh, search for my father, and bring him instantly to me, that I may be assured of his safety." "Alas! senora," answered Stuart, "I regret—I fear we cannot gratify you in this matter—" "Holy Virgin!" she faltered. "_Caballero_, you mean not to tell me that my father is no more,—that your _soldados_ have slain him?" She spoke in a voice of exquisite tenderness, and laid her fair hand on Ronald’s arm, grasping it tightly, and he gazed on her with some confusion. Her bright eyes were full of fire, and seemed to search his heart for an answer, while her half-parted lips displayed a fair set of brilliant teeth. "_Noble Oficial!_ tell me if my father lives," she added, bursting into tears. "I fear the duke has escaped," replied Ronald, unwilling to afflict her by revealing the truth; for, notwithstanding the duke’s sternness and severity, she had always tenderly loved him. "He must have escaped, senora, as I have not seen him since the place was stormed. He must have fled." "No, cavalier. My father would perish rather than fly," said the young lady indignantly. "He comes of a race whose blood has fallen on a thousand fields, but never from the veins of a coward." "Pardon, _gracios senora_; I meant not to say that he had fled, but only retreated," said Stuart. "But pray excuse me for a moment, as my presence is required below." He retired with the intention of ordering the body of the ignoble duke to be looked after, that it might not shock the eyes of his daughter; but the soldiers of Alfonso de Castronuno had before-hand disposed of it in a summary manner. In the intensity of their hatred, they tied a few cannon-shot to the body and tossed it into the chasm at the bottom of the cascade, where it could never be found again. The troops engaged in the capture of the château remained there for the ensuing day, during the whole of which firing was heard along the line of the Nive. With their usual success the allies crossed the river in triumph, and drove the troops of Soult before them pell-mell.