"Ah, ah!" said the stranger, with a smile of contempt, as he advanced towards them, "you recognise me, my masters, do you? By the Virgin! I am sorry for it--I was preparing to give you a rather sharp lesson. Is this the manner in which you execute my orders?" The bandits remained silent, contrite and repentant, in appearance at least. "Come, empty your pockets, you paltry thieves, and restore to these ladies what you have taken from them!" Without a moment's hesitation, the thieves unbandaged the duenna, and restored the rich booty which, an instant before, they had so joyfully appropriated to themselves. Doña Luz could not overcome her astonishment, she looked with the greatest surprise at this strange man, who possessed such authority over bandits acknowledging neither faith nor law. "Is this really all?" he said, addressing the young lady, "are you sure you miss nothing, señora?" "Nothing--nothing, sir!" she replied, more dead than alive, and not knowing at all what she said. "Now, then, begone, you scoundrels," the stranger continued; "I will take upon myself to be the escort of these ladies." The bandits did not require to be twice told; they disappeared like a flight of crows, carrying off the wounded. As soon as he was left alone with the two women, the stranger turned towards Doña Luz-- "Permit me, señorita," he said, with refined courtesy of manner, "to offer you my arm as far as your palace; the fright you have just experienced must render your steps uncertain." Mechanically, and without reply, the young girl placed her hand within the arm so courteously offered to her, and they moved forward. "When they arrived at the palace, the stranger knocked at the door, and then taking off his hat, said,-- "Señorita, I am happy that chance has enabled me to render you a slight service. I shall have the honour of seeing you again. I have already, for a long time, followed your steps like your shadow. God, who has granted me the favour of an opportunity of speaking with you once, will, I feel assured, grant me a second, although, in a few days, you are to set out on a long journey. Permit me then to say not _adieu_, but _au revoir_." After bowing humbly and gracefully to the young lady, he departed at a rapid pace. A fortnight after this strange adventure, of which she did not think fit to speak to her uncle, Doña Luz quitted Mexico, without having again seen the unknown. Only, on the eve of her departure, when retiring to her bedchamber, she found a folded note upon her _prie-dieu_. In this note were the following words, written in an elegant hand:-- "You are going, Doña Luz! Remember that I told you I should see you again. "Your preserver of the Calle de los Plateros."