The whole time the investigation had been going on, Feliciana kept her bed under pretence of illness, that she might not be seen. They took the road to Guadaloupe, talking, as they travelled, over their strange adventure, and hoping that some chance might occur to allow them to hear Feliciana sing. She willingly consented to give them this pleasure, since there is no sorrow that does not soften with time, only that she might keep up the proper decorum due to her misfortune and sad condition: her songs were dirges, and her voice, mournful; but this diminished a good deal after meeting the shepherd's sister on the road, returning from Truxillo, where she told them she had left the infant in the care of Don Francisco Pizarro, and Don Juan de Orellana, who felt convinced that the child must belong to their friend Don Rosanio, judging by the place where he was met, for they knew of no one else in all the neighbourhood who would have so confided in them; "and," said the good woman, "they told me that he should not be deceived in his expectations by trusting them thus. So you perceive, sirs, that the child is placed according to your desires at Truxillo: if there is anything else you wish me to do to serve you here, I am ready to do it, and here is the chain, for I have not parted with it yet, since what I have done was from Christian kindness, and that weighs more heavily with me than gold." To which Feliciana answered, that she wished it might remain many years in her possession before she found herself under the necessity of parting with it, for rich trinkets do not stay long with the poor. The shepherd's sister then took leave of them, and they sent a thousand kind messages to her brother and the other shepherds. In process of time, little by little our pilgrims reached the saintly walls of Guadaloupe. [Illustration] CHAPTER V.