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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Look, by W.H.G. Kingston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Last Look
+       A Tale of the Spanish Inquisition
+
+Author: W.H.G. Kingston
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21395]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST LOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Last Look, A Tale of the Spanish Inquisition, by W.H.G. Kingston.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+It is in the middle of the sixteenth century, and in Spain, where the
+Inquisition, and subsequent torturing and burning to death by the
+Catholic Church, of those who would not agree to its tenets, is getting
+under way.
+
+An Archbishop calls at the house of a former friend of his, a woman who
+had refused him in love.  The woman is the widow of a great nobleman.
+The Archbishop is chatting to his former friend's daughter, and is
+thinking how like the child is to what she had been.  Unfortunately the
+child artlessly gives away the fact that the family had now adopted
+Protestantism, due perhaps to her father having met Luther while on
+visits to Germany.
+
+Some years later the child is now grown up, and has two suitors, one of
+whom is a rich Catholic, and the other is a much poorer man but a
+Protestant.  She and others are meeting at the house of a woman who
+often has such clandestine all-Protestant meetings, when they hear that
+a person they all know has gone mad and has run around telling everyone
+about these Protestant meetings.  The Inquisition of course, with spies
+everywhere, hears all about it.  From then onward the story takes many
+of them to the jails of the Inquisition, and some are burnt at the
+auto-da-fe, a ritualised torture ceremony ending in death at the stake.
+
+The book is short, only three hours to read, but very tensely written by
+this great author.  Audiobook recommended.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+THE LAST LOOK, A TALE OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.
+
+The beauty of Seville is proverbial.  "Who has not seen Seville, has not
+seen a wonder of loveliness," say the Spaniards.  They are proud indeed
+of Seville, as they are of everything else belonging to them, and of
+themselves especially, often with less reason.  We must carry the reader
+back about three hundred years, to a beautiful mansion not far from the
+banks of the famed Guadalquiver.  In the interior were two courts, open
+to the sky.  Round the inner court were marble pillars richly carved and
+gilt, supporting two storeys of galleries; and in the centre a fountain
+threw up, as high as the topmost walls, a bright jet of water, which
+fell back in sparkling spray into an oval tank below, full of
+many-coloured fish.  In the court, at a sufficient distance from the
+fountain to avoid its spray, which, falling around, increased the
+delicious coolness of the air, sat a group of ladies employed in working
+tapestry, the colours they used being of those bright dyes which the
+East alone could at that time supply.  The only person who was moving
+was a young girl, who was frolicking round the court with a little dog,
+enticed to follow her by a coloured ball, which she kept jerking, now to
+one side, now to the other, laughing as she did so at the animal's
+surprise, in all the joyousness of innocent youth.  She had scarcely yet
+reached that age when a girl has become conscious of her charms and her
+power over the sterner sex.  The ladies were conversing earnestly
+together, thinking, it was evident, very little of their work, when a
+servant appearing announced the approach of Don Gonzales Munebrega,
+Bishop of Tarragona.  For the peculiar virtues he possessed in the eye
+of the supreme head of his Church, he was afterwards made Archbishop of
+the same see.  Uneasy glances were exchanged among the ladies; but they
+had scarcely time to speak before a dignified-looking ecclesiastic
+entered the court, followed by two inferior priests.
+
+One of the ladies, evidently the mistress of the house, advanced to meet
+him, and after the usual formal salutations had been exchanged, he
+seated himself on a chair which was placed for him by her side, at a
+distance from the rest of the party, who were joined, however, by the
+two priests.  The young girl no sooner caught sight of the Bishop from
+the farther end of the hall, where the little dog had followed her among
+the orange trees, than all trace of her vivacity disappeared.
+
+"Ah, Dona Mercia, your young daughter reminds me greatly of you at the
+same age," observed the Bishop, with a sigh, turning to the lady, who
+still retained much of the beauty for which the young girl was
+conspicuous.
+
+"You had not then entered the priesthood; and on entering it, and
+putting off the secular habit, I should have thought, my lord, that you
+would have put off all thoughts and feelings of the past," answered Dona
+Mercia calmly.
+
+"Not so easy a task," replied the Bishop.  "A scene like this conjures
+up the recollection of days gone by and never to return.  You--you, Dona
+Mercia, might have saved me from what I now suffer."
+
+"You speak strangely, Don Gonzales," said Dona Mercia.  "Why address
+such words to me?  Our feelings are not always under our own control.  I
+know that you offered me your hand, and the cause of my rejecting your
+offer was that I could not give you what alone would have made my hand
+of value.  I never deceived you, and as soon as I knew your feelings,
+strove to show you what were mine."
+
+"Indeed, you did!" exclaimed the Bishop, in a tone of bitterness.  "You
+say truly, too, that we cannot always control our feelings.  My rival is
+no more; and did not the office into which I rashly plunged cut me off
+from the domestic life I once hoped to enjoy, what happiness might yet
+be mine!"
+
+"Oh, my lord, let me beg you not to utter such remarks," said Dona
+Mercia, in a voice of entreaty.  "The past cannot be recalled.  God
+chasteneth whom He loveth.  He may have reserved for you more happiness
+than any earthly prosperity can give."
+
+A frown passed over the brow of the priest of Rome.
+
+The lady of the mansion, anxious to turn the current of the Bishop's
+thoughts, and to put a stop to a conversation which was annoying her--
+fearing, indeed, from her knowledge of the man, that it might lead to
+some proposal still more painful and disagreeable--called her young
+daughter, Leonor de Cisneros, to her.  Dona Leonor approached the Bishop
+with downcast looks.
+
+"You are wonderfully demure now, my pretty maiden," he remarked in a
+bantering tone, his countenance brightening, however, for an instant as
+he spoke to her; "but you were gay and frolicking enough just now, when
+I entered.  How is that?"
+
+"It becomes me to be grave in your presence, my lord," was the answer.
+
+"But you are generally happy and joyous, are you not?" asked the Bishop.
+
+"Yes, especially when I think of the good and loving Master I desire to
+serve," answered the young girl, innocently.
+
+"Who is that?" asked the Romish priest, not guessing whom she could
+mean.
+
+"The Lord Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary that I might be washed from
+my sins by His precious blood there shed for me," answered the young
+girl, promptly.
+
+"Ah! but you love the Holy Virgin, the immaculate Mother of God, too, do
+you not?" asked the priest.
+
+"Yes, indeed, I do love the Holy Virgin, for she was blessed among
+women, and nurtured and brought up the dear Jesus, who died for me and
+for her too, that we might be saved," said Dona Leonor, without
+hesitation.
+
+"Ah! what! do not you pray to the Holy Virgin, little maiden?" asked the
+priest, looking at her sternly.  "This must be looked to," he muttered
+to himself.
+
+"Why should I pray to her, when I have the gentle loving Jesus, to whom
+I may go in prayer at all times and in all places?" she asked with
+simplicity, and with a tone of surprise that the priest should not agree
+with her.
+
+"And you do not pray to the saints either, then, perhaps?" he asked,
+before the girl had finished the last sentence.
+
+"Oh, no! they are dead and cannot hear me.  I pray only to the good
+Jesus, who always is ready to hear me; for He loves me more than my dear
+father did, or even than my mother can," answered Dona Leonor.
+
+"These are not Catholic doctrines, young lady," said the Bishop in a
+tone of harshness he had not yet used.  "Who taught them to you?  They
+smack strongly of heresy."
+
+"I do not know what heresy means," answered Dona Leonor, in an artless
+tone.  "My dear father taught me what I know about the loving Jesus--
+that He is the only friend in whom human beings can really trust.  It
+was the sure knowledge of this which comforted him through his illness,
+and made his deathbed so happy and glorious.  He told us to meet him in
+heaven, and I do hope to meet him there some day.  The thought of that
+makes me extremely happy, whenever it comes to my mind."
+
+"You hold very strange doctrines, child," said the Bishop, sharply.
+"Has your mother embraced them?"
+
+"I know nothing about doctrines, my lord," answered Dona Leonor.  "I
+think that my mother must hope to meet our dear father in heaven, or she
+would be very miserable; and I am sure she cannot hope to get there
+except through her trust in the blood of Jesus.  I hope, my lord Bishop,
+that you expect to go there by that sure and only way."
+
+"I cannot expect to go there except by the way the Church points out,
+and I cannot even know that there is a heaven except through what the
+Church teaches," answered the Bishop, in a voice that sounded somewhat
+husky.  "That is the true Catholic doctrine, maiden, which it behoves
+all Spaniards to believe, and which they must be compelled to believe.
+You understand, maiden.  Tell your mother what I say.  But here she
+comes."
+
+Dona Mercia, wishing to escape from the remarks of her former admirer,
+had joined the rest of her guests, and afterwards retired to give some
+direction for their entertainment, little dreaming of the dangerous turn
+the conversation between her daughter and the Bishop would take.
+
+"Ah, Dona Mercia, I find that your daughter is a little heretic, and
+holds in but slight respect the doctrines of the Church.  As she tells
+me she was instructed in them by her late father, and as he must have
+imbibed such abominable principles during his visits to Germany from
+that arch-heretic Luther, I trust that they have proceeded no farther.
+But let me advise you to be cautious, Dona Mercia, and to inculcate
+Catholic principles into the mind of your daughter.  Remember that from
+henceforth the eyes of the Inquisition will be upon you."
+
+"My lord Bishop, I have ever endeavoured to do my duty to my God, to my
+child, and to all around me," answered Dona Mercia, meekly,
+unconsciously placing her hands across her bosom.  "I trust that I have
+no cause to tremble, should the eyes of the whole world be upon me."
+
+"The eyes of the Inquisition are more piercing than those of the whole
+world combined," answered Don Gonzales, in a low voice, which came
+hissing forth from between his almost clenched lips, in a tone which was
+calculated to produce more effect on the mind of the hearer than the
+loudest outburst of passion.
+
+When the Bishop rose from his seat, he approached the rest of the
+company with a smiling aspect, and addressed them with that dignified
+courtesy for which Spaniards have ever been celebrated.  Few would have
+guessed the feelings which were even then agitating his bosom; still,
+the party felt relieved when he and his softly-spoken, keen-eyed
+attendants took their departure.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+THE INQUISITION.
+
+At the time our story commences, the inquisitors scarcely suspected how
+far the opinions they so much dreaded had extended.  They had satisfied
+themselves hitherto with burning Jews, Moors, and the poorer class of
+Christians, whose opinions did not agree with those of the Roman
+Catholic Church.  Thus, when Don Gonzales Munebrega, soon after his
+arrival at Seville on ecclesiastical business, paid the visit which has
+been described to Dona Mercia de Cisneros, he was considerably startled
+at hearing her young daughter utter expressions which showed that she
+had been taught doctrines of a heretical character.  The whole family
+were in his power.  He had once loved Dona Mercia; she had rejected him.
+How should he now use that power?  Tumultuous feelings agitated his
+bosom as he mounted the richly-caparisoned mule which stood ready to
+convey him to the convent where he lodged.
+
+This was not the only visit he paid to Dona Mercia; but, though
+courteous to her guest, she was ever on her guard, and carefully kept
+Leonor out of his way.  For once in his life he was baffled.  Whenever
+he paid his visits the same caution was observed.  At length he was
+compelled to take his departure from Seville.  Years rolled on, but he
+never forgot the remarks made to him by the young Leonor de Cisneros.
+He had hated her father, he had been rejected by her mother.  It is
+difficult to describe the feelings with which he regarded the daughter,
+still less those which he had entertained for the mother.  Were they
+holy and pure?  The lives of thousands of cardinals, bishops, and
+priests of all degrees, is the best answer to the question.
+
+Don Gonzales Munebrega was rising in the Church.  He had become
+Archbishop of Tarragona.  His heart had become harder and harder; in
+reality an infidel--an alien from God--a hater of all that was pure and
+holy, he thought that he was becoming devout.  He was resolved that if
+he was not on the right way to heaven, no one else should get there by
+any other.  The war was now to begin against heresy and schism--terms
+abused, especially the latter, at the present day almost as much as in
+the darker days of Popish supremacy.  There are to be found clergymen of
+the Church of England who can, unconcernedly, see many of their flock
+going over to the Church of Rome, whom they have possibly led half-way
+there; and yet should any of the rest of their congregation, disgusted
+with their Ritualistic practices, or fearing the effect of their false
+teaching on their children, strive to set up an independent place of
+worship, or to join any already established body of Christians,
+anathemas are hurled at their heads, and they are told that they are
+guilty of the heinous crime of schism--schism, in the sense they give
+it, a figment of sacerdotalism, priestcraft, and imposture.  But does
+the crime of schism not exist?  Ay, it does; but it is schism from the
+true Church of Christ, the Church of which He is the head corner-stone,
+the beautified in Heaven, the sanctified on earth; from God's people,
+who are with Him in glory, who are with us here below, who are yet to be
+born; from the glorious company of the redeemed; from Jesus Christ, the
+Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the whole world, the risen Saviour,
+the one Intercessor between God and man.  Those are guilty of trying to
+create schism who tell God's people--trusting to the same precious blood
+shed on Calvary--that it is a crime to worship together, to commemorate
+the Lord's death together, to put out the right hand of fellowship, to
+call each other brethren; ay, those are the causers of schism, against
+whose evil machinations Christian men have cause to pray.
+
+But we must return to Spain.  The year 1552 arrived.  During it an
+_auto-da-fe_ was celebrated at Seville, but as only a few poor Moors and
+Jews were burnt, it did not create much sensation; still there was no
+lack of spectators to see the burning.  Several criminals were condemned
+to do penance on the occasion, and among them was the once celebrated
+preacher, Dr Egidius, whose crime was being true to his Lord and
+Master.  The high conical cap and yellow robe in which he appeared could
+not make him ridiculous in the eyes of many of his fellow-citizens, even
+of those who did not sympathise with his opinions.  At length he was
+liberated, and once more mixed with his friends at Seville.  It was
+necessary, however, for him to be very cautious, lest, as his movements
+were watched, he should draw suspicion on them.  Soon after he was
+released, he set out for Valladolid, where his wounded spirit was much
+refreshed by finding the progress the Gospel had made in that city and
+its neighbourhood.  Over-fatigued by his return journey, he died shortly
+after his arrival in Seville.  God, however, did not leave His Church in
+Seville without a minister.  Constantine Ponce de la Fuente, on the
+death of Egidius, obtained the post of Canon-Magistrate in the Cathedral
+of Seville, previously held by him.  This made him the principal
+preacher in the place, and gave him great influence, which he used in
+spreading the truth of the Gospel.  He published numerous evangelical
+works suited to the understanding of the least educated of his
+countrymen.  His system was not so much to attack the errors of Rome, as
+to bring the light of the Gospel to shine on their minds through his
+addresses and writings.  In Valladolid and the surrounding towns and
+villages, men of talent and eminence were equally zealous in spreading
+Protestant opinions.  They were embraced by the greater part of the nuns
+of Santa Clara and of the Sistercian order of San Belem, and converts
+were found among the class of devout women, called in Spain _beatas_,
+who are bound by no particular rule, but addict themselves to works of
+charity.  One of the most active propagators of the reformed doctrines
+in the surrounding country was Don Carlos de Seso, who had for important
+services been held in high honour by Charles the Fifth, and had married
+Dona Isabella de Castilla, a descendant of the royal family of Castile
+and Leon.  These few examples are sufficient to show the progress made
+by the Reformation at that time among the highest and most intelligent
+classes of the community in Spain--made, too, in spite of the
+ever-watchful eyes of the officers of the Inquisition, and
+notwithstanding the almost certain death with torture, and by fire,
+which would be the lot of any denounced by its familiars.
+
+In Spain, in those days, as at present, it was the custom for ladies of
+rank to receive guests at their houses on certain days of the week.
+Dona Mercia de Cisneros was holding such a reception one evening.
+Guests of all opinions came.  There were a large number of Protestants;
+they knew each other to be Protestants, but to the rest of the guests
+their opinions were unknown.  Among the guests were two young men who,
+though apparently strangers to each other, were attracted by the same
+object--admiration for Dona Leonor, the youthful daughter of the house.
+Don Francisco de Vivers, the elder of the two, was an inhabitant of
+Seville, of considerable wealth and excellent family.  He was considered
+amiable and generous; and was, moreover, handsome and agreeable in his
+manners, dressed well, and possessed a house and equipages surpassed by
+few.  He was not at all insensible of his own qualifications for winning
+a young lady's heart, and was, therefore, greatly puzzled at discovering
+that Dona Leonor seemed insensible to them.  Don Francisco loved the
+world and his wealth far too much to give his heart to God; and Dona
+Leonor had resolved not to marry any one who would not make up his mind
+to do so.  Possibly too, he might scarcely have heard of the reformed
+doctrines; he was a firm Roman Catholic.  It was a faith which exactly
+suited him.  He found it so easy for a person of his wealth to clear off
+any sins which might trouble his conscience.
+
+The other young man who has been spoken of seemed to be a stranger in
+the place, though several affectionate greetings which he received
+showed that he was not so altogether.  He was dressed in black, the
+usual costume of a lawyer in those days, and though not so handsome as
+Don Francisco, his broad forehead, clear eye, and firm mouth, showed
+that he was far his superior in intellect.  Dona Leonor no longer turned
+away her head when he approached her, as she had done when Don Francisco
+drew near, but received him with a friendly smile, while an acute
+observer might have discovered that a blush suffused her cheek while he
+spoke.  Don Francisco watched him at a distance, and an expression
+denoting angry jealousy came over his countenance as he saw the intimate
+terms which existed between the two.  He little dreamed, however, of the
+cause of the earnest love which one felt for the other: it was the pure
+holy faith which both enjoyed, the same common trust, the same hope, the
+same confidence in the one ever-loving Saviour.  They believed that they
+were to be united, not only for a time, but for eternity.  Their
+acquaintance had commenced during a visit Dona Leonor had paid to some
+relatives residing in the town of Toro, of which place Antonio
+Herezuelo, the young man who has been described, was an advocate.  It
+soon ripened into affection.  No barrier existed between them, for the
+acute lawyer had already been converted to the truth, and, head and
+heart alike convinced, held firmly to it as the anchor of his soul.
+Dona Mercia did not oppose their union, for she perceived that Antonio
+Herezuelo possessed courage, determination, and a superior intellect,
+beside a gentle and loving disposition--qualities calculated to secure
+her daughter's happiness, and which would enable him to protect her
+during the troublous times which she feared might be coming on Spain.
+She knew well what had happened, and what was occurring in the
+Netherlands, as did all the educated persons in Spain; but that did not
+prevent those who had the Gospel offered to them from accepting its
+truths, or from endeavouring to make them known among their companions.
+Those who were in the Church, and whose position enabled them to preach,
+promulgated Gospel truth openly, while laymen spoke of it to their
+friends in private, or addressed small assemblies of persons who
+appeared disposed to receive it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+The young couple, now formally betrothed, appeared everywhere together
+in public, and it was understood that before long their marriage would
+be solemnised.  Many of the places, however, frequented by people of
+their rank, they avoided--the bull-fights and the religious spectacles--
+the one tending to brutalise the people, the other to foster the
+grossest superstition.  Among the houses at which they visited at
+Seville was that of the widow Dona Isabel de Baena.  Her guests,
+however, it was understood, only came by invitation.  Most of them
+approached her house cautiously--sometimes alone, or only two or three
+together--generally when it grew dusk, and muffled in their cloaks so
+that their features could not be discerned.  Often there was a large
+assemblage of persons at Dona Isabel's house thus collected, though the
+spies of the Inquisition had not observed them assembling.  Though
+sedate and generally serious in their manner, they were neither sad nor
+cast down; indeed, a cheerfulness prevailed among the company not often
+seen in a Spanish assembly.  Dona Leonor was there with her mother.  Don
+Antonio Herezuelo set out from his lodgings with the purpose of going
+there also.  He had not gone far when, suddenly turning his head, he
+found that he was closely followed.  Under ordinary circumstances this
+would have caused him little concern, but at present he knew the
+importance of being cautious.  He remembered that by going down a lane
+near at hand he might return home again.  This he did, and walking on
+rapidly, got rid, as he supposed, of his pursuer.  After remaining a
+short time he again sallied forth, and taking a circuitous way to Dona
+Isabel's house, arrived there safely, and, as he hoped, without being
+observed.  Leonor had become anxious about him.  She told him so when he
+arrived.
+
+"Do not on similar occasions fear, my beloved," he answered, with that
+brave smile which frequently lighted up his countenance.  "God protects
+those who put their whole trust in Him--not a half trust, but the whole
+entire trust."
+
+"Yes, I know, and yet surely many of those who were tortured and
+suffered in the flames in the Low Countries put their trust in Him,"
+answered Leonor.  "I shudder when I think of the agonies those poor
+people must have endured."
+
+Again that smile came over Herezuelo's countenance.  "Sometimes He
+requires those whom He loves best, and who love Him, to suffer for Him
+here, that He may give them a brighter crown, eternal in the heavens--
+the martyr's crown of glory," he answered.
+
+"Ah, yes, I know that thought should sustain a person," she remarked;
+"yet all tortures must be hard for poor, frail human bodies to bear."
+
+"Yes, if people trust to their own strength and courage they will mostly
+shrink at the time of trial, but if they trust to the strength God gives
+them, they will as surely bear with fortitude whatever He may allow to
+be layed on them," was the answer.  "Not one, but a hundred such
+assurances He gives us in His holy Word.  `My grace is sufficient for
+thee,' He says to all who trust in Him, as He said to the Apostle Paul.
+It is not moral, nor is it physical courage which will sustain a person
+under such circumstances.  No, dear one, it is only courage which firm
+faith, or rather, the Holy Spirit of God, can give."
+
+"I know that--I feel that; yet it is very dreadful to think that those
+we love and honour may be brought to undergo such suffering."
+
+"Not if we remember that they may thus be enabled to honour and glorify
+their loving Lord and Master," answered Herezuelo.  "But see, here comes
+Don Carlos de Seso, one of the noblest of our band of evangelists.  I
+heard that he was about to visit Seville.  To him I owe my knowledge of
+the truth.  He has, since his marriage with Dona Isabella de Castilla,
+who is, you know, a descendant of the royal family of Castile and Leon,
+settled at Villamediana, near Logrono.  His evangelistic efforts at that
+place have been as greatly blessed as they were at Valladolid; and among
+many others, the parish priest of his own village has been converted to
+the truth.  At Pedroso also, the parish priest, Pedro de Cazalla, has
+been brought to a knowledge of the truth, and now preaches it freely in
+his own and the neighbouring villages.  Oh, it is glorious work; would
+that this whole nation might receive the Gospel!"
+
+"Say rather the whole earth," said Leonor.  "If Spain becomes the
+mistress of the world, she will spread everywhere the glorious light of
+truth."
+
+"But if she puts out that light, she will as surely spread darkness and
+error," observed Antonio, with a sigh.  "See, De Seso is about to
+address us.  Let us pray that, whatever God in His wisdom orders, we may
+believe in His justice, and submit to His will."
+
+A large number of persons had by this time assembled in Dona Isabel de
+Baena's rooms.  Among them, strange as it may seem, were a considerable
+number of monks, and even several nuns, though such rather in their
+outward garb than in reality.  The latter belonged to the nunnery of
+Saint Elizabeth, while the monks had come from the Hieronomite convent
+of San Isidoro del Campo, situated about two miles from Seville.  There
+was also present Domingo de Guzman, a son of the Duke of Medina Sidonia,
+and preacher of the Dominican monastery of Saint Paul.  As soon as he
+had embraced the reformed principles, he became more zealous in
+propagating them.  Such, indeed, was generally the case with all those
+in prominent positions who embraced the Gospel.  They were in earnest.
+They had counted the cost, and well knew that should the Inquisition
+discover their proceedings, the stake would be their doom.  Both Don
+Carlos de Seso and Don Domingo de Guzman addressed the congregation of
+earnest believers on this occasion.  They prayed also with all the
+fervour of true believers, and hymns were sung of praise to Him who had
+called them out of darkness into His marvellous light.  Don Carlos had
+deplored the want of books, and of Bibles especially, by which the truth
+might the more rapidly be made known, and had prayed that God would
+supply that want.  Scarcely was the service concluded, when there was a
+commotion among the guests, and it was announced that a brave Christian
+friend, Julian Hernandez, after undergoing many dangers and
+difficulties, and great fatigue, had arrived with a supply of the books
+which were so much required.
+
+A short time afterwards there was a cry of Julianillo, or little Julian,
+and a remarkably small but stoutly built man, dressed as a muleteer,
+entered the room.  The guests crowded eagerly around him to hear his
+adventures.  He had many to relate.  How often he had narrowly escaped
+capture with his precious burden! but the Lord had preserved him.  Had
+he been taken, he and his books together would have been committed to
+the flames.  God had determined that the seed of those books should take
+root in the hearts of many natives of Spain, to bring forth fruit to His
+glory.  Julianillo's success made him resolve to set forth again to
+bring a fresh supply across the Pyrenees.  Some of the more timid of his
+friends advised him not to make the attempt.  "Satan and his priests
+will not like me to bring them," he answered laughingly.  "Those
+Testaments and Luther's writings are the arms they dread more than
+anything else.  That makes me feel sure that I am doing God's work in
+bringing them, and that He will take care of me while I am so employed."
+A brave and faithful answer, little Julian.  Oh, what noble, true
+hearts there were in Spain in those days! and though many were crushed
+and destroyed, still some survived, and their descendants at the present
+day may yet become the salt of their native land--lights set on a hill
+to enlighten their long benighted countrymen.
+
+Before the guests separated another short prayer was offered up, and a
+Gospel hymn was sung.  Scarcely had the notes of the last verse died
+away, when a servant who had been sent out on a message hurried into the
+room.  "Bad news! bad news!" he exclaimed.  "We are all lost; the cause
+of the pure faith is lost; the inquisitors will have their way."
+
+The guests gathered round the man with anxious looks, for they knew well
+that at any moment they might be placed in the perilous position he
+announced.
+
+"The widow Dona Maria Gomez is the cause of it all," the man answered,
+to the eager questions put to him.  "She is acquainted with every one of
+us, and we all thought her a true Christian.  Every one here is also
+acquainted with the learned Doctor Francisco Zafra.  The poor lady had,
+it appears, gone mad, and had been placed by her friends under Doctor
+Francisco's care.  As he is with us, this would not have been of much
+consequence, had not Dona Maria managed to escape from his custody.
+Now, horrible to relate, she has made her way to the Inquisition at
+Triana, and has denounced all the Protestants in Seville.  As she was
+making her way to the Inquisition, she cried out what she was going to
+do, accusing all her former friends, and declaring that she should have
+no rest till she had seen every one of them committed to the flames.
+Doctor Zafra has never even been suspected by the inquisitors of
+favouring the Lutherans.  Now, as he will be among the first denounced
+by the wretched widow, he has no chance of escaping.  What shall we do?
+what shall we do?"
+
+"Do!" exclaimed a voice; "put our trust in God, and act like men!  Do!
+pardon me for speaking, senors--keep together and defy our enemies!"
+
+It was Julianillo who uttered these brave words.
+
+"But then we may all be captured together like fish by one net,"
+observed a gentleman.
+
+"Let us pray, friends, for guidance and protection to the loving Saviour
+whom we serve," said Don Carlos de Seso.  "He will direct us, and enable
+us to undergo whatever He may think right for His own honour and glory."
+
+Don Carlos setting the example, the whole party sank on their knees,
+while he offered up a deeply fervent, though short, prayer for the
+assistance all needed.  Refreshed, the company arose.
+
+"I cannot agree with our friend Julianillo that it will be wise to keep
+together," observed the lawyer Herezuelo.  "Should the unhappy widow
+bring the accusation she threatened, and the officers of the Inquisition
+find us all together, they will naturally suspect that the information
+is well founded.  No; let us retire each one to his own house, avoiding
+observation as much as we can.  There let us be together in spirit,
+praying for each other.  We should fear no harm when God is with us."
+
+Another short prayer was offered up and the Christian friends left the
+house as they had come--two and three together, in different directions,
+hoping thus to avoid observation.  The monks returned to their convent,
+not, however, without having first been supplied with books from the
+rich stores which Julianillo had brought, and for which their brethren
+within its walls were eagerly looking.  All the other guests went laden
+in the same way, and thus the Holy Bible and the works of Luther, and
+others, were quietly and secretly distributed throughout the surrounding
+towns and villages.  Herezuelo begged that he might accompany Dona
+Mercia and her daughter to their home, for it was fearfully possible
+that even on their way they might be seized by the officers of the
+Inquisition and carried off to its dungeons.  The last to leave the
+house was Julianillo.  The lady of the house inquired where he was
+going.
+
+"To bring to my famishing countrymen a fresh supply of food for the
+soul," he answered.
+
+"But surely you have done enough, Julianillo.  You run a fearful risk of
+losing your life," observed the lady.
+
+"Enough, Signora! enough service to our loving Lord and Master!"
+exclaimed the little muleteer.  "Oh, no, no!  As long as there are
+persons in Spain desiring to learn about the blessed Jesus, so long will
+I try to bring them books which tell them about Him.  And as to fearing
+the dangers which may overtake me, I am in the hands of One who can
+protect me through far greater than are in my path at present; and
+should He ever require me to witness to the truth of His gospel, I know
+that He will give me strength to undergo all the trials and torments
+with which its foes may seek to afflict me."
+
+Brave Julianillo!  He went along the street singing a joyous air.  To
+the words, however, he wisely did not give utterance.  He took the way
+to the lodgings of the advocate, Herezuelo.  Don Antonio had not
+arrived.  After waiting some time, Julian became anxious.  Could he have
+been seized by the officers of the Inquisition?  It was too likely.
+Herezuelo had, he knew, openly preached the doctrines of the Reformation
+in his part of the country.  At last, Julian thought that he might
+possibly be at Dona Mercia's.  "Why did not that occur to me before?" he
+said to himself.  "Of course, if I knew that there was danger, I should
+stay by the side of my intended wife."
+
+He hurried off to Dona Mercia's abode.  He was at once admitted.  He
+found the family in some consternation, for it was reported that Doctor
+Zafra had himself been seized, and, if so, there could be little doubt
+that he would be put to the torture and made to confess that the persons
+denounced by the poor mad woman were really guilty of entertaining
+Lutheran opinions.  Herezuelo was endeavouring to comfort his friends.
+He could not but feel that the reports were possibly true.  Of human
+help, therefore, he could not speak.  An attempt to flee from the
+country would be hopeless, but he could point to Jesus Christ, to the
+God of mercy and love.
+
+"Ah, my dear friends," observed Don Antonio, "never let us forget that
+He has redeemed us and washed our sins away; and if He thinks fit to
+call us to Himself, even through fiery trials, He will give us strength
+to endure all that we may be called on to suffer, that we may glorify
+His name."
+
+"Just the remark I lately made, senors," observed Julianillo, who at
+that moment entered the room.  "Satan tries to frighten us, and to make
+us believe that He is stronger than our Master; but praised be God, we
+know that we serve One all-powerful to save, and who can, if He will,
+crush Satan under His foot."
+
+"The truth, brave Julianillo," exclaimed Herezuelo, who in the volunteer
+muleteer found one whose heart sympathised cordially with his own.  "And
+what do you propose doing?"
+
+"Wait till daylight, and see what comes of this matter," answered
+Julianillo.  "Those who fly will be the first suspected.  Doctor Zafra
+is a wise man.  Sense may be given to him to outwit the inquisitors, or
+should he fail to do that, he will, I have hopes, suffer torture rather
+than betray his friends.  In the meantime, cavalheros, let us be wise,
+and seek for strength and endurance from the Giver of all power and
+might."
+
+Following the advice of the muleteer, or rather the example of the
+apostles of old, those assembled knelt down in prayer, thus gaining
+strength and courage for what they might have to undergo.  Oh, that
+Christians at the present day would remember that by earnest, frequent,
+persevering prayer, mountains will be removed, guidance obtained,
+difficulties overcome!
+
+The greater part of the night was thus spent in prayer.  As soon as the
+morning dawned, and people were once more passing to and fro in the
+streets, Herezuelo and Julianillo went forth to try and ascertain the
+fate of Doctor Zafra, on which apparently their own and that of so many
+of their friends depended.  Should the mad widow's story be believed,
+there could be no doubt that such an _auto-da-fe_ would take place as
+had seldom been witnessed in Spain.  They kept at a distance from each
+other, lest being seen together they might be suspected; thus, though
+fearless for themselves, wisely taking every precaution to avoid danger.
+
+Herezuelo, as he walked along, thought of his beloved Leonor, so
+delicate, so gentle, so faithful.  He himself was ready to undergo any
+torture the cruel inquisitors might think fit to inflict on him, but how
+would she be able to endure their barbarities?  His heart rose in his
+bosom as he thought of this, and he could not help praying that a power
+might arise by which the foes of freedom would be driven from the land.
+At first he thought of an arm of flesh, carnal weapons--that some hero
+might arise who would liberate long-enslaved Spain; but, by degrees, a
+better spirit exerted its influence.  "Through the sword of the Spirit,
+the Word of God, can error, superstition, tyranny alone be conquered."
+He said to himself, "Ah!  Julianillo is a greater hero than I am or can
+ever become, inasmuch as he does more to spread the Holy Bible
+throughout Spain than any other man."
+
+Hour after hour the friends waited in the neighbourhood of the
+Inquisition, in vain endeavouring to ascertain what had become of the
+widow and Doctor Zafra.  In despair, they were about returning, when a
+_caleche_ appeared, in which sat the doctor, with the widow by his side.
+He seemed calm and unconcerned, his attention being apparently wholly
+occupied in calming the agitation of the poor woman.  Not a glance did
+he bestow on either the advocate or Julianillo.  They had good hopes
+that the inquisitors had been satisfied; or, thought Herezuelo, "Can the
+doctor have become a traitor; and is he allowed by the inquisitors to go
+free that he may the more readily entrap others into their toils?"  It
+was too probable that such an idea was correct; but Herezuelo quickly
+banished it as ungenerous from his mind, and hurried back to Dona
+Mercia's house with the satisfactory information that Doctor Zafra was
+free.  Julianillo arrived soon after, and expressing his belief that all
+were safe, stated that he intended to re-commence his perilous
+expedition to Germany.  Still some hours must elapse before the truth
+could be ascertained for a certainty, as it would not be safe to visit
+Doctor Zafra's house till dark.  Much of the interval was spent in
+reading the Scriptures and in prayer.  At length the truth was known.
+The sagacious Zafra, on being summoned, went boldly to the inquisitors,
+with a fearless, self-satisfied countenance.  He laughed when the names
+of those denounced by the widow were read over to him.
+
+"She has been mad for many a day, and a strong proof of her madness is
+that she should have picked out persons the most unlikely in Spain to be
+guilty of such heresies," he replied.  "Devout and exemplary I know they
+are; and those among them with whom I am acquainted are especially
+lovers of the true faith, and are persons in whom I have unbounded
+confidence."  The inquisitors, on hearing this, were so fully convinced
+that the poor widow's representations had no other foundation than the
+visionary workings of a disordered brain, that they allowed the learned
+doctor to depart with her under his charge.  Thus was the danger to the
+infant Church at Seville for the time mercifully removed, and while it
+gained strength to endure the coming persecutions, the number of
+Christ's true disciples was much increased.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+SIGNS OF DANGER.
+
+Two years had passed away.  Leonor de Cisneros had become the wife of
+Antonio Herezuelo, the advocate; they had settled at Toro, but
+occasionally made visits to Seville and to Valladolid, where they
+enjoyed the society of other Protestants--many of them illustrious, both
+by birth and talents, among the nobles of Spain.
+
+The year 1558, fearfully memorable in Spain, at length commenced.
+Philip was about to return to his paternal dominions.  Charles the Fifth
+was in his retirement in the convent of Saint Juste.  The
+Inquisitor-general, Valdes, became more than ever certain that heresy
+was extending.  Herezuelo and Dona Leonor were at Valladolid.  They were
+at their lodgings in that city when a certain Juan Garcia, a goldsmith,
+was announced.  He was well-known there as a sincere Protestant.  It was
+his office to summon the brethren to meet together for prayer and
+sermon.  The advocate, who knew him to be a true man, welcomed him
+cordially, and promised to attend the meeting.  It was to be held at the
+house once occupied by Dona Leonor de Vibero, the mother of Doctor
+Cazalla.  She herself had been dead for some few years, as were several
+of her children; but her house had been continued to be used, as it now
+was, as a meeting place for Protestants.  Juan Garcia had a good deal of
+information to communicate with regard to the progress made by
+Protestant principles.  He was very sanguine as to the success of the
+cause; and as the members of the Church had so long evaded the lynx eye
+of the inquisitors, he had every reason to hope that they would continue
+to do so.  In his rounds he encountered Julian Hernandez, the
+persevering Bible importer.  A warm greeting passed between the two
+friends.  Julianillo was on the point of starting on another expedition,
+and could not attend the meeting that night.  His heart would be with
+his co-religionists, and his prayers would ascend with theirs as he
+followed his mules over the sierra.
+
+"The time may come, ere long, when we may worship together in public,
+and the books which I now bring in small numbers with difficulty and
+danger, may arrive in shiploads and be sold openly," he added, as he
+shook his friend's hand.
+
+The goldsmith shook his head.
+
+"That time is, I fear, a long way off," he answered; "yet it behoves us,
+nevertheless, to pray for it."
+
+Juan Garcia, having performed his duties, returned to his home.  He was
+not happy there.  His wife, Maria Vallanegra, did not entertain his
+opinions.  Now, it could have mattered very little what Maria thought on
+the subject, had she not gone to confession, where, not content with
+confessing her own sins, she took upon herself, at the instigation of
+the priest, to confess her husband's also.  What the priest said to her
+it is not necessary to repeat.  She had had the same sort of things said
+before, and had not been shocked.  He now, however, before he allowed
+her to depart, brought the enormity of her conduct fully before her, and
+told her that he could not afford her absolution, because she was
+married to one who held heretical notions, unless she could manage to
+get him duly punished.  She had made her confession; but, after all, she
+had to go home without receiving absolution.  She had observed that her
+husband was away from home occasionally for some hours, and not engaged
+in business; also, he occasionally remained out at night for a
+considerable time, and declined telling her where he had been.  She had
+made a statement to that effect to the priest, together with her
+suspicions that Lutheranism had something to do with the matter.
+
+"Then obtain all the information you can; and if you discover anything
+of importance, not only shall you receive absolution for all your yet
+unpardoned sins, but you shall receive a handsome reward, and a plenary
+indulgence for the future," answered the confessor.  "Exert your woman's
+wit.  Think of the indulgence you will obtain, and if your husband is,
+as you suspect, a heretic, he is utterly unworthy of your consideration.
+You cannot wish to associate with him in this world; and in the next,
+if you go to heaven, you must be ever separated from him."
+
+Thus exhorted, the wretched Maria returned to her home.  She knew that
+her husband had a secret, and she resolved to discover it.  If he should
+prove to be a Lutheran, it would be a pious act for her to deliver him
+up to justice.  She procured a mantilla, such as is worn occasionally by
+tradesmen's wives, and even ladies when going to confession, of a
+manufacture different from that which her husband was accustomed to see
+her wear.  To throw him off his guard, she lavished on him far more
+affection than was her custom, and pretended to forget that she had ever
+complained of his leaving home without telling her where he was going.
+More than once she put on her mantilla to follow him, but before he had
+got far she lost sight of him in the crowd.  At length, one evening,
+when the weather was rainy, and there were fewer people abroad than
+usual, she saw he was preparing to go out; and managing to leave the
+house before him, she concealed herself within an archway, whence she
+could watch which way he went.  He came out; she followed him
+stealthily, but quickly.  He called at several houses, she noted them
+carefully; then he went on till he came to the mansion of the Cazalla
+family.  He was admitted at a side door.  She took up her post at a spot
+whence she could watch the door.  Her labours were to be rewarded.
+Scarcely had her husband entered than several other persons arrived, and
+then more and more, by twos and threes.  Many of them she saw by their
+dress and carriage, as the lights their servants carried fell on them,
+were evidently persons of rank.  She wished that she could venture to
+follow them into the house, to learn more about the matter.  Still, the
+information she had gained might prove of the greatest value.  The next
+morning she hurried off to inform her father confessor of her discovery.
+He told her to keep secret what she had seen; and the next time her
+husband went out at that hour, to come instantly and let him know.
+
+The next prayer-meeting took place, and Maria gave timely notice of it
+to her father confessor, Fre Antonio Lobo.  Had he been addicted to
+giving expression to his feelings, he would have rubbed his hands with
+satisfaction; he merely cautioned Maria to be silent as the grave as to
+what she had told him, and immediately set off to give the long
+wished-for information to his superiors.  The Chief Inquisitor, the
+stern Archbishop, three other dignitaries appointed by the Holy Father
+the Pope to assist him in the extirpation of heresy by the destruction
+of heretics with fire and sword, and several other high officers, were
+seated in the council hall of the Inquisition when Father Antonio Lobo
+appeared among them.  Some of them, like anglers, who, having been long
+unsuccessful in their attempts to hook their finny prey, declare that
+there are no fish in the lake, had inclined to the opinion that their
+countrymen were too staunch adherents of the Pope ever to be led astray
+by the doctrines of Luther.
+
+"It may be as you suppose, Fre Ignacio," observed the Grand Inquisitor
+to one of his assistants, who had made a remark to that effect.  "But
+remember that it is our duty to seek diligently for all who may be
+opposed to our order and system, and to destroy them without
+compunction, with their wives and children, so that none of the viper's
+brood remains to sting us."
+
+The stern expression visible on the countenances of those he addressed,
+as the light from the brass lamp which hung from the vaulted roof fell
+on them, showed that they were fully ready to carry out his advice to
+the extreme.  A grim smile played over their features when Fre Antonio
+made his report.
+
+"I knew that before long we should gain the tidings we desired,"
+observed the Chief Inquisitor.  "In capturing a few we must take care
+that the rest do not escape us.  Officers must be placed to watch all
+those who come forth from the Cazalla palace, and they must be followed
+to their homes and never again lost sight of.  Meantime, messengers must
+be despatched forthwith throughout the kingdom, and all the
+ramifications of this most accursed heresy traced out, so that on a
+given day all the heretics which exist in it may be seized together and
+brought to punishment.  We must surround the whole brood with our nets,
+and let not one escape."
+
+The proposal was thoroughly in accordance with the wishes of most of the
+council.  No time was lost in carrying out the proposed plan.  Through
+the assistance of the artful Maria, who continued, in spite of his
+caution, to worm out some important secrets from Juan Garcia, every
+Protestant in Valladolid was discovered and marked for destruction.
+Officers and familiars of the Inquisition were also placed on the
+highways leading to the frontiers, so that any suspected person
+attempting to escape from the country might be captured.
+
+The Protestants, meantime, continued to preach the truth, and hold their
+meetings as before, not, however, without a sense of the danger in which
+they were placed.  How the feeling came on them they were not aware.
+Still it did not make even the most timid wish to abandon their
+principles, but rather drew them nearer to God, and made them more and
+more sensible of their entire dependence on Him.  The difficulties
+encountered by those attempting to escape from the country were very
+great.  Few persons experienced greater than did the monks of San
+Isidoro, near Seville.  Nearly all the convents in its neighbourhood had
+been leavened with the reforming principles.  They had been originally
+introduced into that of San Isidoro by the celebrated Doctor Blanco, who
+afterwards for a time abandoned them, or rather, it may be said that a
+timid disposition made him conceal them.  He taught his brethren that
+true religion was very different from what it was vulgarly supposed to
+be; that it did not consist in chanting matins and vespers, or in
+performing any of those acts of bodily service in which their time was
+occupied, and that if they desired to have the approbation of God, it
+behoved them to have recourse to the Scriptures to know His mind.  After
+a few years a still more decided change took place in the internal state
+of the monastery.  An ample supply of copies of the Scriptures, and of
+Protestant books in the Spanish language having been received, they were
+read with avidity by the monks, and contributed at once to confirm those
+who had been enlightened, and to extricate others from the prejudices by
+which they were enthralled.  In consequence of this, they and their
+Prior agreed to reform their religious institute.  Their hours of
+prayer, as they were called, which had been spent in solemn mummeries,
+were appointed for hearing prelections on the Scriptures; prayers for
+the dead were omitted, or converted into lessons for the living; papal
+indulgences and pardons, which had formed a lucrative and engrossing
+traffic, were entirely abolished; images were allowed to remain, as they
+could not have been removed without attracting notice, though they
+received no homage; habitual temperance was substituted in the room of
+superstitious fasting; and novices were instructed in the principles of
+true piety, instead of being initiated into the idle and debasing habits
+of monachism.  By their conversation also abroad, and by the circulation
+of books, these zealous monks diffused the knowledge of the truth
+through the adjacent country, and imparted it to many individuals who
+resided in towns at a considerable distance from Seville.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE STORM BREAKS.
+
+The advocate Herezuelo returned one afternoon to his lodgings in good
+spirits.  He had been pleading an important cause, which he had gained--
+right against wrong--the cause of a widow and her children; on one side
+helplessness and poverty, on the other power and wealth.  It had been
+held that the widow had no prospect of success till the young advocate
+undertook her cause.
+
+Leonor rejoiced with her husband.  He had been prompted by no
+expectation of fee or reward; but simply from a desire, through love of
+his blessed Master, to assist the distressed.  It was a happy evening to
+both of them.  They sat in a balcony overlooking an orange-grove, the
+soft air they breathed made fragrant by the sweet-scented flowers.  The
+stars shone brilliantly in the clear sky; and as, their hands clasped
+together, they gazed upwards into the immeasurable space, they felt what
+happiness would be theirs, could they be allowed to wing their flight in
+company to that blessed region where all is peace, and quiet, and joy.
+
+"But we may yet have work to do on earth in our Master's service, dear
+one," observed Antonio.  "Let us be content to remain till He calls us,
+and let our earnest prayer be that He will then, in His loving mercy,
+summon us together.  It would be grievous to be parted from you, my
+beloved Leonor, even for a brief season."
+
+"I pray that, through God's mercy, that day may never come," said
+Leonor, looking with deep affection at her husband.  "Oh, let us not
+think even such an event possible."
+
+They were interrupted by the arrival of a visitor.  Several other
+friends had called to congratulate Herezuelo on his success.  The fresh
+visitor was in the garb of a laic; but when he threw back the cloak
+which concealed his features, the advocate and Dona Leonor saw before
+them their friend Don Domingo de Roxas, the well-known prior and
+preacher, a son of the Marquis de Poza.
+
+"I have come to bid you farewell, dear friends," he said.  "It may be
+for a short time--it may be for ever.  This is no safe country for one
+who has preached the truth openly as I have done, and I have, therefore,
+resolved to escape to Geneva, where I hope to remain till happier times
+come for our poor benighted Spain.  On my way I must visit our beloved
+brother, Don Carlos de Seso, and, it may be, induce him to accompany me,
+for I fear that neither is he safe while the inquisitors are seeking for
+victims to satisfy their thirst for blood."
+
+"We may say, rather, that while those miserable slaves to the tyranny
+and superstition of Rome think that any remain who have been freed from
+that hideous system they will endeavour, by every cruelty they can
+devise, to destroy them, if they cannot bring them back to slavery,"
+observed Herezuelo.  "Of all the men in existence, I pity the officials
+of the papal system, and more especially the inquisitors and their
+families, be they cardinals, bishops, or other ecclesiastics, however
+wealthy and powerful.  While we endeavour to counteract their designs,
+and to escape from their power, let us pray that their hearts may be
+turned from darkness to light, and that they may learn to know, love,
+and imitate that same Jesus whom they now persecute."
+
+"Amen!  I pray for them likewise," said Don Domingo.  "But I must not
+delay.  I came to advise you, my friend, to quit Valladolid.  It is no
+longer a safe place for you, for even were your religious opinions not
+suspected, you have made mortal enemies of those whom you so signally
+defeated at law this morning."
+
+"You are right, my friend; and we purpose, God willing, leaving this
+city for Toro to-morrow morning by daybreak," answered Herezuelo.  "We
+shall not be out of danger even there; but I have duties to perform at
+that place, and I shall at all events be at my post."
+
+"I wish you had arranged to start to-night," said Don Domingo.  "The
+delay of a few hours is dangerous.  If, indeed, you can discover an
+excuse for leaving the country altogether, let me entreat you to do so.
+The storm I see coming may blow over; but you are a man of note, and as
+the tallest trees are the most quickly blown down, you would be the
+first assailed."
+
+"I have no fancy for fleeing from danger, and feel disposed rather to
+face my enemies, and argue the case with them," observed the advocate.
+
+"The only arguments they trust to are the rack and the stake," answered
+Don Domingo.  "Against them your eloquence will avail you nothing.
+Trust not to any one of the Romish priesthood, nor to those under their
+influence; they are sworn foes of true religion and liberty, and the
+more enlightened they believe you to be the more eager they will be for
+your destruction."
+
+These and other arguments used by Don Domingo at length induced
+Herezuelo to agree to set forth on his journey immediately that he could
+procure a conveyance for his wife and her attendant.  Don Domingo
+himself offered, indeed, to remain and assist them; but of this the
+advocate would not hear, and the friends departed, the former taking the
+road for Calahora, where he hoped to meet with De Seso.
+
+Don Domingo, who was dressed as a Spanish cavalier of rank, attended by
+a servant, pushed on at a rapid rate.  He was no coward, but he knew
+full well what the Inquisition had in store for him should he be taken,
+and he wished to escape their treatment.  He avoided as much as possible
+all inns and places resorted to by the public, and kept, when he could,
+out of the high road.  He hoped thus to reach De Seso, and to persuade
+him to bear him company in his flight.
+
+Calahora was reached without interruption.  The noble De Seso was very
+unwilling to believe the reports which Don Domingo brought him.
+
+"You go, my friend; but I cannot carry my wife and young children, and
+will not desert them," he answered.
+
+No arguments would move him.  He did not even think that the inquisitors
+would venture to interfere with persons in his position.
+
+Reluctantly Don Domingo left his friends to proceed on his journey.
+Hoping to avoid observation, he turned out of the high road, with the
+intention of continuing his journey during the moonlit hours of the
+night.  He had not gone far when he saw approaching him a man riding a
+tall mule, and leading a string of five or six pack mules.
+
+The muleteer was jogging on, to all appearance, carelessly singing what
+sounded like one of the plaintive ditties then become common in Spain,
+though learned from the Moors.  There was something, however, in the
+tone, and in a few of the words that reached the ear of Don Domingo,
+which made him look hard at the muleteer.
+
+"My friend, if I mistake not, Julianillo!" he exclaimed.  "What brings
+you this way?"
+
+"Evil times, Don Domingo; for I know you in spite of your disguise,"
+answered Julianillo.  "I received notice from a trusty friend that all
+the passes are guarded, and that I shall not have a chance of escaping,
+nor will you.  For the present, if we would be safe, we must lie
+concealed.  Come with me; we shall not be the first Christians
+compelled, for the truth's sake, to take shelter in the caves of the
+earth; nor shall we be the last.  I wish that we could give notice to
+more of our brethren, who might join us."
+
+The arrangements proposed by Julianillo were now concluded; and,
+followed by Don Domingo, he led the way down a road, or bridle path
+rather, which branched off to the right.  Scarcely had he turned aside
+when the noise of horses' feet coming rapidly along the road was heard.
+Don Domingo's servant, who was some little way behind, came spurring on
+crying out, "Flee, master, flee!  They are officers of justice!  They
+are in pursuit of us!"
+
+The advice was followed, but the path was rough.  Don Domingo's horse
+stumbled, and in another instant he and his servant found themselves in
+the power of the officers of the Inquisition.  Their mouths were
+instantly gagged, and a dark cloak and hood were thrown over their
+heads, completely concealing their figures and features.  Some of the
+horsemen pushed on, but after a short time returned, and Don Domingo had
+the satisfaction of believing, from some of the expressions they let
+fall, that Julianillo had escaped.  As far as he could judge, his steps
+were retraced till the party reached the neighbourhood of Calahora; they
+were then joined by another band of horsemen escorting prisoners.  He
+had too much reason to fear that his friend De Seso was one of them.
+Among the prisoners were several females--of that he was certain.  He
+longed to ascertain if his suspicions were correct.  So strictly,
+however, was each individual prisoner guarded, that he might never have
+ascertained the truth, had not a storm suddenly burst on the heads of
+the escort.  Shelter was not far off, and while the horsemen were
+pushing on to gain it, one of the party made a bold attempt to escape.
+He had grasped the rein of one of the female's horses, when a flash of
+lightning made it rear, and he had great difficulty in saving the rider
+from being thrown to the ground.  In doing so, his hood became
+disarranged, and the features of De Seso were revealed.  The officers of
+the Inquisition immediately seized him and secured him more carefully,
+while he and the lady were separated.
+
+"Alas! my noble friend is in the same condition as myself," thought
+Domingo.  "May God in His mercy support him; but he suffers not alone.
+He will feel the sufferings of his beloved wife even more than his own.
+And we, alas! alas! are but a few, perhaps, out of many hundred
+Christians now in the power of these monsters of the Inquisition."
+
+The unfortunate prisoners were allowed no rest, were permitted to
+communicate with no one, but were hurried on till they reached the
+portals of that mansion of horror and despair--the Inquisition.  But was
+it to them an abode of despair?  No!  A power more than human supported
+them.  That strength which never fails those who put their faith in God
+held them up; for God has promised that His Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
+will be with them who trust in Him in all their troubles and
+afflictions.
+
+As soon as they passed through the gates, each of the prisoners was
+conducted blindfolded to separate cells.  Into these dark and foul holes
+delicate women and men, accustomed to all the refinements the age
+afforded, were thrust indiscriminately.  No couch, no chairs, even, were
+allowed them; when weary of standing, they were compelled to sit down on
+the hard, cold and damp flag-stones.  Scarcely a ray of light was
+admitted into their dens; the only sounds which ever reached their ears
+being occasionally the groans and cries of their companions in
+suffering.  The system pursued by the inquisitors was too generally
+known to allow them a ray of hope that they would escape without the
+most fearful torture, or the alternative of giving evidence to condemn
+those nearest and dearest to them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE ARREST.
+
+Antonio Herezuelo and his wife Leonor knelt in prayer after their friend
+had left them.  On rising from their knees, they decided not to make the
+attempt to escape.
+
+"We cannot flee from the country, and the alguazils of the Inquisition
+can as easily find us at our house as in the city of Valladolid, should
+they suspect us of holding to the true faith," said Antonio, calmly.
+"Our Heavenly Father knows what is best, and He may require us to
+testify to the truth of the doctrine we have learned of Him through the
+teaching of the Holy Spirit, and let us rejoice rather than grieve if we
+are so honoured.  Oh, my beloved Leonor, be firm, whatever happens;
+cling to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.  Never allow that saint in
+heaven or priest on earth has the power to come between us and our one
+great loving Mediator, who stands at the right hand of God, pleading
+that He paid once and for all a full and complete ransom for us.  Never
+acknowledge that by the word of a man bread and wine can be changed into
+the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, of that Lord who is now in
+heaven, standing at the right hand of God, pleading that body broken,
+that blood flowing freely for all of us; pleading that all-sufficient,
+all-perfect, all-complete sacrifice made once, and never to be repeated,
+on Calvary.  Never dishonour that Saviour, that precious blood-shedding,
+by acknowledging that it was insufficient to wash away all stains of
+sin, and that the fires of purgatory are required to cleanse the soul
+from sin, and to make it pure and holy, and fit to enter the presence of
+God.  Oh, never acknowledge that any being in heaven or in earth has a
+heart more loving, more gentle, more merciful than the heart of Jesus,
+or that there exists a being, create or uncreate, who will more
+willingly hear our prayers, and bear them to the throne of grace--not
+even His mortal mother, who, though blessed among women, herself
+required, as being a daughter of Adam, to be sprinkled by His blood to
+obtain salvation.  Do not own that sinful man, though he be called a
+priest, can absolve his fellow-sinner from sin, or that prayers can
+avail for those who have passed away without accepting the perfect
+salvation offered them here on earth.  Die rather than be guilty of that
+gross idolatry of worshipping the elements of bread and wine, unchanged
+and unchangeable as they must ever be; and above all things hold fast to
+God's blessed testament to fallen man, and refuse to acknowledge any
+doctrine which cannot be clearly proved from its whole and entire
+tenor."
+
+"Husband, dear husband, I will," answered Leonor, solemnly.  "Set me the
+example, and I shall be firm."
+
+"Dear wife, trust not to my example, but seek strength from the Holy
+Spirit.  He will guide and support you.  Your husband is but a frail
+man.  Dearly as I love you, there is One who loves you more; trust Him."
+
+Much more passed between them.  How solemn was that conversation!  What
+deep, earnest, true love did Herezuelo exhibit to his young wife!  It
+was interrupted by a sound which a quick ear only could have detected.
+It was that of footsteps stealthily ascending the stairs.  Herezuelo
+arose, and unconsciously placed his hand on his sword, as the door burst
+open, and several dark and masked figures entered the room.
+
+"Antonio Herezuelo and Leonor de Cisneros, you are our prisoners," said
+one who appeared to be in command of the rest; "you are summoned to
+appear before the tribunal of the Holy Office to answer to certain
+charges which will there be made known to you."
+
+Antonio, though brave as a lion, saw that resistance was useless.  "If
+you will allow my wife time to put on her walking dress, we shall be
+ready to accompany you," he answered, with as firm a voice as he could
+command; but when he turned round to speak to Leonor, she was not to be
+seen, though he caught sight of a figure closely enveloped in a dark
+cloak, borne rapidly along a passage leading from the room by two of the
+alguazils.  He attempted to follow, being sure that it was his wife thus
+forcibly carried off; but the moment he moved he found himself seized,
+and his arms pinioned behind him, while two men stood on either side of
+him with pistols presented at his head.  In vain he struggled; in vain
+he attempted to free himself.  The cords which bound him were drawn
+tighter and tighter.  He was in the hands of those who had long utterly
+disregarded human misery and suffering.
+
+In vain he pleaded, in vain he petitioned that he might see his beloved
+wife, even for a few moments, that he might have some parting words with
+her.  He spoke as to men who were deaf.  Not the slightest answer by
+word or sign did they give him, but immediately proceeded to examine all
+the cases and drawers and boxes in the room.  They then went to the
+sleeping apartment, searching it throughout, and taking possession of
+every scrap of written paper, as well as of all the books they could
+find.  There were gestures of triumph and satisfaction exhibited when a
+Bible and hymn-book were drawn forth.  Antonio fancied that he could see
+the dark eyes of the familiars flashing under their hoods as they handed
+the books to each other.  The advocate knew well the language those eyes
+spoke.  "Here we have evidence which will convict him without doubt; no
+hope for him, no prospect of escape."  Yet he stood calm and motionless,
+striving by a mighty effort to quell the agitated feelings of his bosom,
+and to seek strength from the only Source whence it could be obtained.
+He seemed as though he had succeeded, when a faint cry reached his ear.
+He knew the voice; it was that of his wife.  In an instant he had torn
+asunder the bonds which held him; he had dashed on either side the
+cowled alguazils who crowded round, and at a bound dashed through the
+doorway, down the passage whence the sound proceeded.
+
+"Leonor!  Leonor!  I come to you," he cried out; but as he uttered the
+words, a blow from a heavy staff on the forehead laid him senseless on
+the ground.  When he returned to consciousness, it was to find himself
+in a narrow, dark, and noisome cell, which he well knew must be one of
+the secret prisons of that fearful institution, the Inquisition.  He had
+often heard of the horrors those gloomy walls could reveal.  He knew
+that thousands of his fellow-creatures had been confined within them;
+that very many had never again seen the light of day; that others had
+been brought forth as spectacles to be mocked at, dressed in fantastic
+costumes, and thus had been committed to the flames.
+
+On the hard flag-stones he knelt down, and then, in close communion with
+his God, he obtained a strength and courage which no human power could
+have given him.  Hour after hour, and day after day, passed away, and he
+remained alone in darkness, a cowled figure entering occasionally, and
+as quickly retiring, without uttering a word or making a sign.  When not
+engaged in prayer, his thoughts were with Leonor; and even when thus
+engaged, they often turned to her, and she became their chief and
+absorbing subject, that she might have strength, that she might have
+courage to hold to the truth.
+
+At length the moment arrived when his powers of endurance were to be put
+to the test--his faith, his courage.  The door opened, and six
+familiars, with their countenances masked, and their figures concealed
+by dark robes, entered his cell.  His eyes, long accustomed to darkness,
+could scarcely endure the light from a torch which one of them carried,
+but he saw that they made signs to him to rise and accompany them.  He
+knew that to disobey would be useless.  Rising from the ground on which
+he had been resting, he endeavoured by earnest prayer to nerve himself
+for the fearful ordeal through which he might have to go.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE TORTURE.
+
+Antonio Herezuelo was only one of many who on that unhappy night were
+seized by the officers of the Inquisition and dragged off to prison.  In
+consequence of the information given by the wife of Juan Garcia, eighty
+persons were immediately apprehended in Valladolid, among those who had
+been present at the meetings; and in Seville and its neighbourhood two
+hundred were betrayed into the hands of the inquisitors by the treachery
+of a pretended member of the Protestant Church, and the superstitious
+fears of another.  The first, suspecting that some of his acquaintances
+entertained Lutheran opinions, insinuated himself into their confidence
+for the express purpose of learning their secrets and of betraying them.
+The latter, hearing Lutheran principles denounced in the most fearful
+language, as the only means of saving himself from the results of the
+anathemas, hurried off and informed against all those he knew to be
+Protestants.  Dismay seized upon large numbers of the most timid of the
+Protestants; and as people are often panic-struck when a ship strikes
+the rocks, and leap overboard into the raging surf, so some of them
+hurried off to the Triana, and accused themselves to the inquisitors of
+entertaining doctrines for which the stake was the sure punishment.
+Others, who had been before unsuspected, betrayed themselves by the
+hurried manner of their flight.  Thus in a few days the chief members of
+all the Protestant Churches throughout Spain were either in prison, or
+fugitives, or hiding in the caves of the earth, among mountains and
+forests.  In no place, however, were they safe, and many even of those
+abroad were betrayed into the hands of the emissaries of the
+Inquisition, and dragged back to Spain to suffer death at the stake.
+The inquisitors were not content with those who denounced themselves.
+Every possible means was employed to discover heretics, and to assist
+the object Philip renewed a royal ordinance--fallen into desuetude--
+allowing to informers the fourth part of the property of those guilty of
+heresy.  This abominable edict greatly increased the zeal and activity
+of the vile tribe.  Pope Paul the Fourth also assisted with eagerness in
+the object, and issued a bull enjoining all confessors to examine their
+penitents, from the highest to the lowest, and to charge them to
+denounce all whom they knew to be guilty of buying, selling, reading, or
+possessing any book prohibited by the Holy Office, the punishment being
+death.  The great aim of the papists was to strike terror into the minds
+of the whole nation; and while they had not the most distant intention
+of extending mercy to those who professed themselves penitent, they were
+nevertheless anxious to secure a triumph to the Catholic faith (as they
+called their system of idolatry and tyranny), by having in it their
+power to read, in the public _auto-da-fe_, the forced retractions of
+those who had embraced the truth.
+
+Antonio Herezuelo stood before the council of inquisitors.  So
+well-known is the scene that it scarcely requires description.  It is
+too true a picture--an exhibition of devilish ingenuity of man when he
+desires to tyrannise over his fellow-creatures, unsurpassed in cruelty
+by the heathen or most barbarous nations of ancient or modern days.
+There sat the inquisitors in a gloomy vaulted chamber--on one side the
+fearful rack, with grim, savage executioners ready to perform their
+office, a black curtain only partly concealing other instruments of
+torture, with hooded familiars standing silently round; while at the
+table sat two secretaries, ready to note every word uttered by the
+prisoner, to be wrested, if possible, to his destruction.  The only
+person whose countenance could have been regarded with satisfaction was
+the prisoner.  He stood calm and undaunted amidst those cruel men, who
+had resolved on his death.  Hark! the president addresses him in a
+harsh, pitiless voice:
+
+"Antonio Herezuelo, you have been accused by most credible witnesses of
+holding in disrespect many of the principal articles of our most holy
+faith.  What have you to answer for yourself?"
+
+"That I hold most sincerely and truly all the doctrines necessary for my
+eternal salvation, and all other doctrines which I find clearly set
+forth in God's blessed Word, sent in His mercy and love as a sure guide
+to perishing man," answered Antonio, boldly.
+
+"Then you consider the Bible, by which so many are misled, as the only
+guide and rule of faith?" said the Chief Inquisitor.  "You set at nought
+the authority of the Church?"
+
+"I bow with all submission to the authority of the Church in all points
+in which she is clearly guided by Holy Scripture," answered Herezuelo,
+who still clung, as did many of the Protestants of those days, to the
+false idea that there exists only one sole visible Church on earth; and
+believing that such a Church does exist, supposed it to be, in spite of
+all its errors, the Church of Rome.
+
+"Then, heretic, you dare to say that the Bible is above the Church?"
+exclaimed the Inquisitor.  "Why, fool, it is through the Church that you
+have a Bible; but it is not fit that the laity should possess it, for
+they can only, as we have evidence that you and others have done, make a
+most improper use of it.  Therefore it is a prohibited book, and yet you
+dare to acknowledge that you have both possessed one and studied it.
+Ay, you have done so, and to your own utter destruction of body and
+soul."
+
+"To the salvation of my soul," said Antonio, boldly.  "Our blessed Lord
+Himself appealed to Scripture on many occasions, and to Scripture I
+appeal and trust."
+
+"Then you reject the traditions of the Church?" said the Inquisitor,
+looking towards the secretary, who was busily noting down all the
+questions he put, and the answers made by the prisoner.
+
+"By tradition we may be deceived.  Scripture is a sure guide, which,
+through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, will lead us infallibly
+aright," answered Herezuelo.
+
+"Oh, what abominable--what terrible heresy!" exclaimed the Inquisitor.
+"You deny, too, that the Blessed Virgin should be adored and honoured
+above Christ, as, being His mother, and, from being a woman, more ready
+to hear the prayers of the faithful than He can be?"
+
+"The Virgin Mary was blessed in that she became the earthly mother of
+Jesus, and thus she was peculiarly honoured among women; but I find
+nowhere in Scripture that prayers should be made to her; on the
+contrary, at the marriage feast of Cana of Galilee, our Lord says,
+`Woman, what have I to do with thee?' when she ventured to interfere in
+a matter she was incapable of understanding.  Saint Mark tells us of the
+remark made by our Lord when told that His mother and His brethren
+waited without: `Who is My mother or My brethren?  Whosoever shall do
+the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.'
+When hanging on the cross, too, and looking down on Mary and His beloved
+disciple John, He said, `Woman, behold thy son!' and then, addressing
+His disciple, He said, `Behold thy mother!'  `And from that hour that
+disciple took her to his own home.'  Not a word more does the Holy
+Spirit reveal to us of the history of the mortal mother of Jesus.  All
+we know is, that, as a mortal child of Adam, she must have been saved by
+His precious blood shed on Calvary, for without that blood shed there is
+no remission of sins."
+
+The Inquisitor rose from his seat as if he would tear off his clothes,
+and sat down again, exclaiming, "Blasphemy! blasphemy!  You deny, too, I
+hear, the necessity of confession and of priestly absolution?"
+
+"I nowhere find it written that we are to confess our sins to man, but
+always to God.  `A broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, Thou wilt not
+despise.'  In the Epistle of James (chapter verse 16), he says, `Confess
+your faults to _one another_, and pray for _one another_, that ye may be
+healed'; that is to say, if you have trespassed one against another, or
+if one brother has offended another.  Nowhere do I find, however, that
+on sinners coming in faith to our blessed Lord, does He require them to
+confess their sins to Him before He will hear them.  He says, simply,
+`Thy faith hath made thee whole; go, and sin no more.'  I find it also
+written, `Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none
+other name given among men whereby we may be saved!'  When our Lord sent
+out His disciples, He said to them that all those who would accept the
+offers of the Gospel would be forgiven, or would have their sins
+remitted through them, or rather through their preaching; and those who,
+in spite of the preaching, refused to accept the offer, would have their
+sins retained.  Through faith in Jesus Christ only can a person obtain
+forgiveness of sins; and John says, `He that believeth on the Son hath
+everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life;
+but the wrath of God abideth on him.'  This great truth a minister has
+the power to declare, but in no other way has he, according to the
+Scriptures, the right to absolve any persons from their sins.  I hold
+that when our Lord said to His disciples, `Whose soever sins ye remit,
+they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
+retained,' He said it not only to all the ministers of the Gospel, but
+to all Christian men who go forth with the Bible in their hands, that
+they should declare the glorious Gospel truth that all who trust in Him,
+Jesus Christ, are forgiven; but that all who refuse to trust in Him
+still remain in their sins--their sins are retained."
+
+"Oh, what hideous blasphemy!" exclaimed the Inquisitor, he and his
+associates lifting up their hands as if in horror at what Antonio had
+said.  "But go on, go on, fill up the measure of your iniquities.  How
+do you interpret, `Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
+heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
+heaven'?"
+
+"Much in the simple way that I interpret the previous passage.  The
+apostles, as employed in preaching the Christian doctrine among the
+Jews, were to release or loose them from certain obligations of the
+Mosaic law; but as they were not to release them from them all, they
+were to pronounce what were to be retained, or by what they were still
+to be bound; in other words, when a thing might lawfully be done among
+the Jews, it was a common mode of expression to say that that thing was
+loosed to them, and that if anything was unlawful for them to do, it was
+bound to them.  The meaning of the expression was thus very clear to the
+Jews who heard Him.  So Peter understood the same expression, and he
+knew perfectly well that he was simply to declare, both to Jew and
+Gentile, what was to be believed, and what was not to be believed, thus
+unlocking to them the doors of the kingdom of heaven, inviting them to
+come in, to become subjects of Christ.  Such are his keys.  On the great
+truth which he had confessed, `Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
+living God,' was Christ's spiritual Church to be founded, as on a rock
+against which the powers of hell are never to prevail."
+
+"Most horrible! most horrible!" cried the Inquisitor.  "Then you do not
+acknowledge the authority of the Church, that his Holiness the Pope is
+the successor of Saint Peter, that the priesthood have power to forgive
+sins?"
+
+"The Scriptures speak nowhere of Saint Peter having a successor, nor
+does our Lord give authority to him to appoint one," said Herezuelo,
+boldly.  "No Church can have authority with regard to spiritual matters
+except such as is clearly derived from the Bible, which is equally open
+to all men, while the only priest a Christian can acknowledge is the one
+great High Priest standing at the right hand of God, ever making
+intercession for us."
+
+"Horrible! horrible!" again cried the Inquisitor.  "Then, if you do not
+acknowledge the priesthood, you deny the doctrine of transubstantiation,
+the great work performed at the Mass, the chief glory of the Church?"
+
+"Certainly, I deny that the bread and wine at the Mass are changed in
+any way into the body and blood of Christ, with the soul and deity, the
+bones and sinews," answered Herezuelo, solemnly.  "I deny that when
+Jesus said, `I am the living bread which came down from heaven,' He was
+even speaking of the Last Supper, or that He intended that it should be
+supposed that He was to become literally bread and wine, or rather that
+bread and wine should become Him, any more than that He should become a
+door, or a shepherd, or a rock, to all of which He likens Himself.  He
+says, `The words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are
+life'; and then He continues, as if he would say, `Come to Me, and
+believe on Me, for that is what I mean by eating My flesh and drinking
+My blood; He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
+on Me shall never thirst.  As by eating bread and drinking wine your
+physical body is sustained, so by believing that My body was broken for
+you on the accursed tree, and that My blood was shed for you, will your
+spiritual life be sustained; and I enjoin you to meet together
+occasionally to break bread and to drink wine in remembrance of Me.
+Moreover, I promise you that as oft as you do this in My name, through
+love of Me, I will be spiritually in the midst of you.'  No other
+construction can I put on these words of our Lord, and in that faith I
+am prepared to die."
+
+"And die you shall, audacious heretic!" exclaimed the Inquisitor, who
+was no other than the infamous Munebrega, Archbishop of Tarragona, who
+had come over from Seville in consequence of the illness of his
+colleague.  His eyes rolled; he gnashed with his teeth in fury at
+finding himself unable to intimidate the prisoner--he, before whom so
+many men of rank and condition had been compelled to humble themselves.
+He remembered, too, whose husband the prisoner was--the daughter of one
+who had despised and rejected him.  "To the rack with him! to the rack!
+We must learn from him what other persons hold these abominable
+opinions, while we teach him to abandon them himself.  Spare him not:
+for his soul's good his body must be afflicted."
+
+Antonio Herezuelo cast his eyes to heaven, and from the depths of his
+heart there came up a prayer, earnest, solemn, of mighty power.  Not for
+himself he prayed--not even for the beloved wife of his bosom; but he
+prayed that in the fiery trial he was to undergo he might not dishonour
+his holy faith; that he might hold fast to the truth; that the love of
+Christ, by which He keeps His own, might be exhibited through him.  To
+resist would have been useless; and yet it cost him a hard struggle to
+submit to the indignities to which he was subjected by the brutal
+executioners ordered to carry out the Inquisitor's sentence.  There he
+stood, full of life and strength and energy, capable of enjoying to the
+full all the blessings that God has bestowed in this life on man.  Even
+the confinement to which he had been subjected had not been able
+sensibly to diminish the strength of his well-knit frame.  In another
+instant he was thrown, naked, and bound hand and foot, on to the cruel
+rack, every sinew and muscle of his body extended to the utmost, whilst
+agonising wrenches were given of the most fearful character, as the
+screws and ropes of the horrid instrument were set in motion.  Not a
+word did he utter; scarcely a groan escaped from his bosom, though every
+limb was suffering the most excruciating torture; the blood gushed from
+his nostrils and mouth, his eyes well nigh started from their sockets.
+His physical nature at length gave way, though his courage did not fail
+him.  He fainted.  Death would have been a happy release, but his
+torturers took pains not to allow him that boon; restoratives were
+administered, and consciousness again returned.  The surgeon who stood
+by, however, gave notice that he must not be subjected, for a time, to
+equal torture, or he would sink under it.  He was therefore removed on a
+blood-besprinkled stretcher to another chamber, and the inquisitors
+proceeded with callous indifference to examine a fresh prisoner who was
+now brought forward.
+
+The person who was next led before the inquisitors was of a character
+very different from that of Herezuelo.  A glance at the rack made him
+tremble in every limb.  The inquisitors saw immediately that he would
+afford them but little trouble, though, at the same time, that he might
+be made useful by his giving information regarding others.  He might
+have passed in the world in quiet times as an earnest true Christian,
+but now alarm for his personal safety overcame every other
+consideration.  He at once incriminated himself, and was soon induced to
+bring damnatory accusations against his friends.  When all the
+information which could thus be obtained from him was secured, he was
+dismissed, though still ignorant of the fate which awaited him--it might
+be, if victims were required, to be consigned to the flames, or perhaps
+to add to the sad band of penitents supposed to have recanted their
+errors.  Such was the character of several of those accused of heresy,
+though by far the larger number of persons seized by the Inquisition
+gladly suffered death rather than deny the truth.  And now another
+prisoner appears--a female.  She is clothed in black from head to foot.
+As the light from the lamp which hangs from the roof falls on her
+countenance, it is seen to be very pale, but not enough so to detract
+from the beauty of those young and fair features.
+
+"Leonor de Cisneros, you are brought here accused of holding opinions
+which, if generally entertained, would be subversive of the opinions of
+our holy faith," said the Inquisitor, in a peculiarly harsh voice.
+"Have you become sensible of your errors? and are you prepared to recant
+them?"
+
+"I hold to the doctrines which I have been taught from my earliest days,
+and which I find clearly set forth in the blessed Word of God.  I am,
+therefore, not aware that I hold any errors," answered Leonor, calmly.
+
+"What do you mean by God's holy Word?" asked the Inquisitor.
+
+"The Bible," said Leonor, firmly.
+
+"Are you aware that the Bible is prohibited to the laity, and that, were
+it not so, it is not susceptible of any private interpretation?" asked
+the Inquisitor.
+
+"I am aware that without the aid of God's Holy Spirit, which when Christ
+ascended up on High, He promised to us as our Instructor and
+Enlightener, we cannot expect to read aright this blessed Gospel," said
+Leonor.  "I am aware that in the Second Epistle of Saint Peter, 1st
+chapter, 20th verse, there is this expression--`Knowing this first, that
+no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.' 21st,
+`For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men
+of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.'  I am aware,
+however, that the Greek word epilusis, which has been translated
+interpretation, means rather _impetus_, _impulse_; and therefore that
+the clear meaning is that no writer of the Scripture wrote according to
+his own mind or thoughts, but entirely as he was moved or impelled by
+the Holy Spirit.  Therefore Peter in no respect contradicts his Lord,
+who says, addressing the people, `Search the Scriptures; for in them ye
+think ye have eternal life: and they are they which speak of me.'  Oh,
+my lords, what I have done--what thousands have done in Spain--has
+simply been to obey our loving Saviour in reading His holy Word, in
+striving to carry out His precepts by assembling ourselves together in
+prayer, by exhorting and comforting one another.  If this be a crime, I
+am a criminal; but if not, why imprison us? why torture us? why kill
+us?"
+
+She stretched out her hand as she spoke.  Her youth and beauty, her
+pathetic look, the truth which came from her lips, might have moved
+hearts of stone, but nothing could move the demon-inspired minds of the
+Inquisitors of Spain--the base instruments of the Pope and his
+supporters, Valdes and Philip.  They compressed their lips as Leonor
+spoke.
+
+"You have disobeyed the Church," answered the Inquisitor, with an
+unmoved countenance.  "Unless you recant your errors, your punishment is
+certain.  It may be that you will see the wisdom of so doing, and follow
+the example of those you love best.  Remove the woman."
+
+So ended the first trial of Leonor de Cisneros.  The inquisitors
+consulted together how she should be treated.  She was evidently not
+likely to change her opinions by argument; the Archbishop was unwilling
+to have her subjected to torture.  He had made up his mind that her
+husband must die.  He was too clever a heretic, even should he recant,
+to be allowed to live.  He was not likely ever to recant.  But Leonor,
+she must be won over; her life must be saved.  Notwithstanding her
+knowledge of Scripture, the clear declaration she had made of Protestant
+principles, the Archbishop did not despair.  He had seen many who, firm
+at first, had, after a few weeks' solitary confinement and scanty food,
+with occasional visits from friends desirous of saving them, completely
+recanted, and acknowledged their errors.  He knew, too, the subtle
+arguments, the system of deception, the threats, the promises, the
+various artful methods of proceeding which could be brought to bear on a
+prisoner.  Should these fail, he had other means in store by which he
+hoped to make her give up what he honestly thought her folly.  How could
+a weak woman venture to set herself up in opposition to the Church?
+Many others, to be sure, had ventured to do the same, but few had spoken
+as she had done, and several had at sight of the rack recanted, and
+given all the information required of them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE STAKE.
+
+It was midnight.  Eighteen days had passed since Antonio Herezuelo had
+been stretched on the rack.  His lacerated flesh had healed, his
+stretched sinews had recovered somewhat of their original strength.  His
+cheeks were still pale, his voice, when he spoke to himself, was hollow,
+his eye had lost its brightness, yet his mind retained much of its usual
+vigour; his spiritual life had never flagged nor had his faith grown
+dim.  He was pacing slowly and still painfully up and down his cell,
+when the door silently opened, and a friar stood before him.
+
+A harsh voice uttered these words: "Antonio Herezuelo, I have come to
+announce to you that unless you renounce your errors, and are forthwith
+reconciled to the Church, you will to-morrow suffer the just punishment
+of your infidelity, your blasphemies, your crimes."
+
+"I have confessed myself to God, who can alone forgive sins, as a lost,
+undone sinner, though washed in the precious blood of Jesus, and
+redeemed through faith in His perfect and complete sacrifice.  I have,
+therefore, become one of the Church of the first-born.  I am reconciled
+to God, from whom I was once separated," answered Herezuelo.  "What more
+would you have me do?"
+
+"The Church knows nothing of the expressions you utter.  Be reconciled
+to her; that is what you have to do, or you and your errors will be
+burnt together."
+
+"I cannot abandon the faith I hold, even to escape the cruel death you
+threaten," answered the advocate.
+
+"Prepare, then, obstinate heretic, to meet it!" answered the friar,
+savagely.  "Be assured that there will be no mitigation of your sentence
+unless you recant; and then, in her loving mercy and kindness, if you
+are reconciled and confess, you will enjoy the privilege of being
+strangled before the flames reach your body."
+
+A scornful smile came over the features of the prisoner.
+
+"A gracious boon, forsooth!  And this Church calls itself after the name
+of the gentle, loving Saviour, who went about doing acts of kindness and
+mercy, and saving from physical suffering all who came to Him desiring
+to be cured!"
+
+"I came not to bandy words with you," cried the monk; "the flames which
+you will feel to-morrow will give you a foretaste of those you will have
+to endure throughout eternity as the consequence of your obduracy."
+
+"Our blessed Lord says, `I say unto you, My friends, be not afraid of
+them which kill the body, and after that have no more than that they can
+do.  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after
+He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear
+Him.'"  Herezuelo spoke these words calmly, and added, "Now, friar, I
+own that you and those you serve can kill my body, but you can do no
+more: my soul is in the keeping of my loving Saviour; neither the powers
+of earth nor hell can prevail against it; therefore I am fearless."
+
+With a curse, the friar turned and left the cell.  Herezuelo sought
+strength in prayer for the fiery trial he was to go through.  "It will
+endure but for a few minutes, and oh, then the eternity of bliss which
+will follow!" he ejaculated.  "Why should I fear? why should I tremble?
+My trust is in God."
+
+Ere the sun, rising in a cloudless sky, gilded the spires of the
+numerous churches of Valladolid, on the 21st of May, 1559, their bells
+began to toll solemnly, and crowds to assemble in vast numbers in the
+streets.  It was Trinity Sunday; but it was not because it was the
+Sabbath that the citizens were so early afoot, but there was to be a
+grand spectacle, looked for with almost the same eagerness as a
+bull-fight.  The first grand _auto-da-fe_ of Protestants was to take
+place that day, and all the people were eager to gaze at it--most of
+them for the sake of seeing so many lost and abandoned monsters put out
+of the world.
+
+For this it was that the people came from all parts of the city and
+surrounding country into the grand square of Valladolid to witness the
+spectacle which had been prepared for them by those who impiously called
+themselves ministers of the loving Jesus.  In a short time the whole of
+the grand square was filled with impatient spectators, except that space
+occupied by two large platforms between the church of Saint Francis and
+the house of the Consistory.  In front of the town-house, and close to
+the platform intended for the inquisitors, a large box or deep-covered
+balcony had been erected for the use of the Royal Family, which they
+could enter without interruption from the crowd, and from whence they
+could enjoy a full view of the prisoners.  Near it was a high altar,
+with the usual crucifixes, candlesticks, vases, and other ornaments of
+the Romish worship, made on this occasion as imposing as possible.  In
+the box sat Dona Juana, Queen-Dowager of Portugal, and governess of the
+kingdom during the absence of her brother, Philip the Second, in the
+Netherlands.  She was accompanied by her unhappy nephew, Don Carlos,
+heir-apparent to the throne, then a lad only of fourteen.  It is said
+that on that occasion he vowed an implacable hatred to the Inquisition.
+To that fell tribunal, there can be little doubt, he became a helpless
+victim.  Intimation of the intended festival had publicly been made in
+all the churches and religious houses in the neighbourhood.  The
+attendance of the civil authorities and of the clergy was requested; and
+that the multitude might be encouraged to come, an indulgence of forty
+days was proclaimed to all who should witness the ceremonies of the act.
+
+While outside preparations were going forward, the officials of the
+Inquisition were busy within the walls of the prison.  The prisoners,
+being assembled, were clothed in the several dresses in which they were
+to make their appearance in public.  Those who had erred only in a
+slight degree were clothed simply in black.  The other prisoners wore a
+san-benito, a loose garment of yellow cloth, called in Spanish _zamara_,
+and on their heads was placed a high conical pasteboard cap, called
+_coroza_.  On the dresses of those who were to be strangled were painted
+flames burning downwards, called _fuego revolto_, to intimate that they
+had escaped the fire; while the san-benito and coroza of those doomed to
+be burnt alive were covered with flames burning upwards, around which
+were painted devils carrying the faggots or fanning the fire.
+
+Now, on that bright May morning, a procession was to be seen moving
+forth from the Inquisition of Valladolid.  First marched a band of
+soldiers to clear the way, and then came a number of priests in their
+gaudy robes--alb, chasuble, tunic, and other garments, the names of
+which are familiar to modern ears.  They were attended by acolytes and
+boys of various theological colleges, chanting the Litany in alternate
+choruses.  Then came the mournful band of prisoners--those in black
+first, those marked with the _fuego revolto_ following, and those
+destined to the flames walking last.  Each prisoner was attended by two
+familiars of the Inquisition, and each of those destined to die, in
+addition, was accompanied by two friars, who employed all the arguments
+they could bring forward, all the eloquence they could command, in
+endeavouring to induce the prisoners to recant and confess their errors.
+Among the last of the sad band came Antonio Herezuelo.  Though his face
+was pale, he walked with a firm step, and he replied now with a smile,
+now with a few gentle words, to the exhortations of the two friars.  He,
+as was the case with his companions, had a halter round his neck, and in
+his hand he carried an extinguished torch, while his companions destined
+to the stake also carried extinguished torches or crosses.  Many
+trembled and tottered as they moved along; indeed, no one bore himself
+more bravely than the young advocate.  After the prisoners came the
+local magistrates, the judges, and officers of state, accompanied by a
+train of nobility on horseback.  Then came the secular and monastic
+clergy; and at some distance, as if they were too great and important to
+mingle with ordinary people, rode in slow and solemn pomp the members of
+the Holy Office, preceded by their fiscal, bearing the standard of the
+Inquisition.  That accursed bloodstained banner was composed of red silk
+damask, on which the names and insignia of Pope Sextus the Fourth, and
+Ferdinand the Catholic, the founders of the hellish tribunal, were
+conspicuous; and it was surmounted by a crucifix of massive silver
+overlaid with gold, which the ignorant populace had been taught to hold
+in the highest veneration.  These were the persons who were to take the
+chief part in the performances of the day; they were followed by their
+familiars on horseback, who, with many of the principal gentry of the
+country, formed their body-guard.
+
+With a few years' judicious educating by the Jesuits, and a continuance
+of supineness and incredulity as to Rome's designs on the part of
+British Protestants, of which all denominations are guilty, it is not at
+all impossible that similar scenes may be enacted in England.
+Ritualistic forms and ceremonies, and public processions, and, still
+more, the insidious teaching of numbers professing to be ministers of
+religion, are accustoming the people to a system which must end in their
+subjugation to sacerdotal despotism.
+
+An immense concourse of people of the lower ranks closed the procession,
+vociferating to one another, with open eyes and necks stretched out
+eager to catch a sight of the condemned prisoners and the grand
+inquisitors as they ascended their respective platforms.  The latter
+took their places, and then the Queen-Regent and the young prince took
+their places in the royal box, or bed of state, as it was called,
+surrounded by a number of the chief nobility of the kingdom.
+
+It was six o'clock in the morning, and the sun was already glittering on
+the gilded crosses and other devices on the tops of the banners, when,
+the company having taken their places, Francisco Baca, the presiding
+inquisitor, was seen advancing to the bed of state on which the Regent
+and her nephew were seated; and then, in an authoritative tone, he
+proffered to them an oath to support the Holy Office, and to reveal to
+it everything contrary to the faith which might come to their knowledge.
+The Prince was seen to hesitate, and not till urged by his aunt would
+he consent to take the oath.  It was the first time such an oath had
+been exacted from any of the Royal Family.  Poor Prince! that look of
+his sealed his fate!
+
+Antonio Herezuelo, from the moment he saw his wife dragged off by the
+familiars of the Inquisition, had been kept in utter ignorance of what
+had become of her.  Not a reply could he get from any of the stern
+familiars who attended him.  It vain he petitioned to be told whether
+she was in their power--whether she was well in health--whether she had
+been placed under examination.  A sinister look was the only answer he
+received.
+
+"Ay, I must trust in God!"  Yes, Antonio, you--all who are in trouble,
+sickness, or any other adversity--may trust in Him with confidence,
+assured that He in His good time will bring you out of all your
+troubles.
+
+As the familiars were clothing the prisoners in their habits of infamy,
+Herezuelo thought to himself, "How can I more advantageously employ the
+last moments of my life than by declaring to the misguided people the
+glad tidings of salvation, by telling them of the Saviour's love, and
+that they require no other priest, no other intercessor than He?"  Thus
+resolved to speak, he walked firmly onward to death, like a soldier to
+the fatal breach; but ere he reached the platform, at a sign from the
+monks, who had in vain, with all the sophistries they could utter, been
+endeavouring to shake his faith, one of the familiars thrust a gag into
+his mouth, which the other secured, and he was rendered speechless.
+Bitter for an instant was the anguish he felt, but prayer quickly
+restored to him his serenity.
+
+"See! see! there is his lordship Melchior Cano, Bishop of the Canaries,
+mounting the pulpit.  Listen! he is to preach the sermon," was repeated
+by many in the crowd.
+
+In flowing language and sonorous tones the Bishop put forth the claims
+of the Church of Rome to infallibility.  He spoke of the importance of
+unity, of the crime of heresy and schism; and, finally, he enlarged on
+the duty of all Catholics to deliver over to justice all who were in the
+slightest degree guilty of those crimes.  The sermon concluded, the
+clerk of the tribunal read the sentence of the penitents, who, on their
+knees, and with their hands laid on the Missal, repeated the confession.
+Those around them stood aside as the presiding inquisitor, descending
+from his throne, advances to the altar, and absolves the penitents _a
+culpa_ under the obligation to bear the several punishments which have
+been awarded, whether banishments, penances, whipping, hard labour, or
+imprisonment--the deprivation of property being in all cases rigidly
+enforced, to the great advantage of the inquisitors.  The Bishop, then,
+in a loud voice, administered to all present on the platform, as well as
+to the surrounding multitude, an oath binding them to live and die in
+the communion of the Roman Church, and to uphold and defend against all
+adversaries the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition.
+
+As he spoke the multitude fell on their knees, lowly bowing their heads.
+Of the vast assemblage two men only were standing, with heads erect and
+arms folded on their bosoms.  They were the martyrs resolved to undergo
+the fiery trial of the stake rather than disavow one article of their
+holy faith.  They were Antonio Herezuelo, the advocate, and Francisco de
+Vibero Cazalla, parish priest of Hermigos, who was likewise gagged.
+There were twelve other unhappy persons condemned to death, but, having
+confessed, they were allowed the poor favour of being strangled before
+their bodies were committed to the flames.  They, less courageous than
+the advocate and Francisco Cazalla, were compelled to kneel.  But why
+does Antonio Herezuelo start and cast an inquiring look towards the
+group of black penitents kneeling near the altar?  Before he could cast
+a second look they were hid from his sight; and now the Bishop of
+Placencia advances towards the group of those sentenced to death, and
+with a knife commences the operation of degrading the priests by
+scraping off the crown of the head the part which was supposed to have
+received the holy oil at their consecration.  Then garment after garment
+was torn from them, the Bishop pronouncing all the time terrible curses
+on their heads.  This done, the secular judges were summoned to receive
+the prisoners, and the Inquisitor formally delivered them over into
+their hands, saying, as he did so, in a hypocritical tone of compassion,
+"We beseech you to treat these poor people with the utmost
+commiseration--not to break a bone of their bodies, nor to shed a drop
+of their blood."  He said this, not only knowing that the prisoners were
+to be executed, but having especially arranged that they should be so--
+having, indeed, a few days before, acquainted the judge with the number
+of prisoners to be delivered over to him, in order that the required
+quantity of stakes, faggots, and other things necessary for the
+execution might be in readiness.  The canons of the Romish Church,
+however, denounced against ecclesiastics who should be accessory to the
+inflicting of any bodily injury, and the above-mentioned expressions
+were used to avoid the censure of irregularity.  The magistrates, on
+their part, swore that they would faithfully execute the sentences
+against the persons of the heretics delivered over to them.
+
+All these ceremonies--audacious mockery of justice--occupied several
+hours; and now the condemned prisoners were compelled to march in front
+of the royal box, and pass those who had by recanting escaped the
+extreme penalty of the law.  Again Antonio Herezuelo looked eagerly at
+the black penitents.  What an expression of agony was seen to rise on
+his countenance as he beheld among them his beloved Leonor, the wife of
+his bosom, formerly united to him, as he supposed, in the one blessed
+faith and hope which animated his own soul.  Who could paint the
+feelings which passed through his swelling heart?  He would have given
+worlds to have been able to utter a loving entreaty to her again to take
+hold of the blessed truths of which he was even then reaping the
+fruition; but the gag prevented him.  One prayer he breathed from the
+depths of his soul for her, and as he passed he cast at her a look of
+such unutterable agony, yet of such loving reproof and regret, that,
+like the lightning's flash, it went to her heart.  Well she understood
+its meaning.  "Oh, my beloved Leonor," it seemed to say, "why did you
+not seek for grace to hold fast to the truth, and for strength to go
+through the fiery trial, that, as we have lived happily together on
+earth, we might have ascended together to be ever with our risen Lord
+and Saviour?"
+
+Full well she understood that silent appeal.  It sunk into her heart.
+"Yes, yes, my Antonio, I will join you," she exclaimed, stretching out
+her hands towards him.  In vain she made the attempt to rush into his
+arms, for the cruel familiars held her back.  In vain she struggled.
+She saw that to join her beloved lord in life was hopeless.  She drew
+herself up with dignity.  "Inquisitors, I will die with my husband," she
+exclaimed.  "I renounce for ever the gross errors of the Romish faith,
+which I have been induced to assume.  I am ready to die as a true
+Protestant--a believer in the simple truths of the Gospel."
+
+"Away with her!  Away with her to prison!" cried the Inquisitor.  "She
+is mad; she is beside herself!"
+
+"I am a Protestant.  I will die with my husband," exclaimed Leonor; but
+before she could say more a gag was thrust into her mouth, and she was
+surrounded by friars and familiars, so as to conceal her from the public
+view.
+
+The look Herezuelo cast towards Leonor was the last he gave her on
+earth.  Not another was allowed him.  He was hurried off by the
+stony-hearted familiars, with his brother martyrs and their companions
+in affliction.  The first part of the exhibition had been a cruel, a
+blasphemous mockery--that which was to follow was to be a diabolical
+reality.
+
+Those condemned to death, either by fire or strangulation, were now
+formed into a melancholy procession, each person accompanied as before
+by familiars and monks, the latter disturbing the last moments of their
+yellow-robed victims by their senseless exhortations.  Thus they
+proceeded slowly through the gates, accompanied by nearly all those who
+had witnessed the first part of the proceedings; the eager crowd making
+their observations on the appearance and bearing of the sufferers, many
+of the more brutal mocking and jeering, especially as they caught sight
+of the two principal martyrs.  It might have seemed strange to them that
+of all the human beings collected they should have appeared the calmest,
+though the look of agony which arose on Herezuelo's brow at the sight of
+his wife had not yet left it.
+
+Arrived at the spot where the stakes were erected and the faggots piled
+up, further efforts were made to induce Cazalla and Herezuelo to recant.
+The former, seeing his brother Augustine not at the stake, but among
+those who were to be strangled before being burned, signified his sorrow
+by an expressive motion of his hands.  The latter remained firm as
+before, unmoved by all the exhortations of the priests and monks.  Even
+when instigated by his tempters, the unhappy Doctor Augustine Cazalla
+urged him to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, he turned on him a
+look of sorrow and compassion, mingled with contempt, which at once
+silenced the recreant from the truth.  Herezuelo's calmness seemed to
+excite the rage and all the evil passions of the priests and soldiers.
+They cursed and swore and reviled him in every possible way.  "Ah! ah!
+in a short time, in spite of your bold looks, you will be in hell with
+your associate, Luther," they shouted.  To these and similar expressions
+he made no sign of complaints--only turning his eyes to that blue sky to
+which his beautified spirit was about to wing its flight towards the
+martyr's crown of glory awaiting him in the realms of the blessed.
+
+The faggots were lighted, the flames ascended, when one of the soldiers,
+enraged at his constancy, plunged his lance into his body, and thus
+saved him from the pangs he might otherwise have had to suffer.  His
+fellow-martyr died with equal firmness, and the other victims were
+strangled before their bodies were cast into the flames.  With them at
+the same time were also cast the bones and effigy of Dona Leonor de
+Vibero, which had appeared at the _auto_.  This was done because at her
+house the Protestants had frequently assembled for prayer and praise.
+In a short time, of the fourteen human beings who had dragged their
+tortured, lacerated limbs to the spot, a few ashes alone remained.  Such
+was the termination of the first great _auto-da-fe_ of Protestants in
+Spain.
+
+There was yet another spectacle to be witnessed that day.  It was to see
+the house of Dona Leonor de Vibero, the mother of the Cazallas, razed to
+the ground, and the place on which it stood sown with salt.  On the spot
+a pillar, with an inscription stating the cause of its demolition, was
+immediately afterwards erected, and stood till the commencement of the
+present century.
+
+It is easy to conceive how Dona Leonor de Cisneros had been induced
+apparently to abandon the faith to which she had so long adhered.
+Falsehoods and devices of all sorts had been employed to induce her to
+make her peace with Rome.  Every argument which sophistry could invent
+had been brought forward to shake her belief.  There was a rack, with
+other fearful tortures, and the stake, on the one hand, and forgiveness
+and reconciliation with the Church on the other--ay, and a happy life
+with her Antonio.  When at last the inquisitors found her stubborn, they
+did not hesitate to assure her that she had less wisdom than her
+husband, who had lately--convinced that the Protestant cause was lost in
+Spain--agreed heartily to conform to the faith of Rome, and to be
+reconciled to the Church.  A rigid course of penance was prescribed for
+her, and after its performance she was told that she would be set free,
+and allowed to join her husband, who, as had been some others, would be
+banished the kingdom, though possibly a milder punishment might be
+awarded him.
+
+Could it be possible that her husband would abjure his principles?  Her
+faith wavered.  If she remained obstinate, he might, she was assured, be
+brought out to witness her death.  She was meditating on these things in
+her solitary cell when the door opened, and the Archbishop Munebrega
+stood before her.  He spoke to her gently and kindly, as an old family
+friend.  He would urge her to take his advice, and conform at once.
+Long she thought on the subject, but she could not pray for guidance.
+Why?  Her conscience revolted against the act she contemplated.  In a
+husky voice she told the Archbishop that she would yield.
+
+"We will endeavour, then, to induce the advocate Herezuelo to yield
+also, lovely Leonor," said the Archbishop, taking her hand and pressing
+it to his lips.
+
+"Why, you told me that my husband had already yielded!" exclaimed
+Leonor, scarcely conscious of the act.
+
+"I surely could not have said so, as I am not cognisant of the fact,"
+answered Munebrega blandly.  "Be assured that for your sake I will
+endeavour to win him over to the truth."  Much more was urged by the
+Archbishop, but poor Leonor's mind was in too great a whirl to
+understand the meaning of what he said.  Cruel indeed was the conflict
+going on within her.  "For the sake of appearances you will have to
+undergo some penances; but I will take care that they shall be as light
+as possible, that your health may be in no way injured," he remarked;
+and with a treacherous smile the tempter left her.
+
+No words can describe the unhappy Leonor's feelings at seeing her
+husband among those condemned to the stake.  It had been hoped by
+Munebrega, from the position in which she was placed, that she would not
+have discovered him.  The effect has been described.  On being conducted
+back to the convent to which she had been removed, she at once refused
+to continue the penances which had been prescribed.  No persuasions
+could make her alter her determination; and therefore, as an obstinate
+heretic, she was returned to a cell in the Inquisition.  Munebrega was
+soon in her presence.  He reminded her that she was a widow and
+helpless--that he had the power of setting her at liberty.  He entreated
+her on his knees once more to recant--to preserve her life--not to allow
+her beauty to be marred by a long imprisonment.  She turned from him
+with loathing.  Munebrega well knew the importance of caution.  His
+chief and brother inquisitors were very indifferent what means were made
+use of (even the most abominable), provided they contributed to bring
+about the objects they had in view; but they would allow no private
+interests to be gratified.  Day after day Munebrega visited the unhappy
+lady.  His protestations, his arguments, every subject he introduced,
+only tended to strengthen her resolution.  "Get thee behind me, Satan,"
+was her daily ejaculation when he appeared.  She did not trust to her
+own strength, but hourly sought strength and grace from above to
+withstand all the trials and temptations to which she was exposed.  Like
+Peter, she had fallen once; severe was the lesson she had learned.  Like
+Peter's repentance, hers had been deep and truly sincere.  No longer did
+she trust to herself.  Munebrega at last retired, gnashing his teeth at
+having been foiled by a weak woman, utterly incapable of comprehending
+the mighty power which had been fighting on her side against him.  He
+now allowed other persons to attempt to move her.
+
+Among others, her former admirer, Don Francisco de Vivers, was induced
+to visit her.  He was still unmarried.  What arguments he used it is not
+necessary to state.  He was not hardened to the craft of the priests,
+and he left the prison abashed and confused.  He visited her again more
+than once, and the idea was entertained by the inquisitors that he was
+moving her obdurate heart.  At length, however, he was missing from
+Valladolid, and some of his friends feared, from some words that he had
+let drop, that he had offended the inquisitors, and was immured in their
+prisons.
+
+It would be impossible to imagine, much less to describe, the cruelties
+practised on Leonor de Cisneros; and yet there were many hundreds of
+delicately-nurtured females and hidalgos of high rank suffering as she
+was physically in the numerous prisons of the Inquisition throughout
+Spain--many shut up in loathsome dungeons, destined never again to see
+the light of day.
+
+Numerous _autos-da-fe_ succeeded each other for the purpose of stamping
+out Protestant principles from Spain.  The second celebrated at
+Valladolid took place on the 8th of October, 1559, for the purpose of
+celebrating the return of Philip the Second, husband of Queen Mary of
+England, who was employed at that time in burning her own bishops and
+other subjects for the same cause.  King Philip was himself present,
+enjoying the spectacle, with his unhappy son Carlos, his sister, the
+Prince of Parma, three ambassadors from France, and a numerous assembly
+of prelates and nobility of both sexes.
+
+The Inquisitor-General, Valdes, advancing to the bed of state,
+administered the same oath which had been taken by Don Carlos and the
+Queen of Portugal.  Philip took it without hesitation, and, rising from
+his seat, drew his sword, in token of his determination to use it in
+support of the Holy Office.
+
+A similar group to that before described, clothed in yellow garments
+covered with pictures of flames and devils, stood on the platform before
+the King and his court.  The most noble-looking and highest in rank was
+Don Carlos de Seso, the upturning flames on whose robe showed that he
+was doomed to the stake.  With him was Domingo de Roxas, Pedro de
+Cazalla, parish priest of Pedroso, who was destined to share the fate of
+his family.  Dona Isabella de Castilla, wife of Don Carlos de Seso, was
+there, and her niece, Dona Catalina--condemned to lose all their
+property, to wear the san-benito, and to be imprisoned for life.  There
+were also three nuns of San Belem; one of them, Dona Mariana de Guevara,
+was condemned to be strangled and then thrown into the flames; she was
+highly born, and even connected with Valdes, the Chief Inquisitor, but
+he could not save her from the consequences of her opinions.  His
+subordinates resisted the applications he was said to have made on her
+behalf as an interference with their jurisdiction, and a proof of
+partiality and weakness unworthy of one of those whose office required
+him to be insensible to the feelings of nature and friendship.
+
+The death of Don Carlos de Seso was worthy of his life; though gagged on
+the platform and on the way to execution, the instrument was removed
+when he was bound to the stake by the friars, who stood round exhorting
+him to confess.  He replied in a loud voice, "I could demonstrate to
+you, unhappy men, that you ruin yourselves by not imitating my example;
+but there is no time.  Executioners, light the pile which is to consume
+me."  These were his last words.  The order was instantly obeyed, and,
+looking up, he died without a groan.
+
+Another martyr was Juan Sanchez.  Entrapped in the Low Countries by the
+emissaries of the Inquisition, he was brought a prisoner to Valladolid,
+and condemned to the stake.  The cords which bound him having rapidly
+been consumed, he leaped unconsciously on to the stage where the friars
+were confessing some who had recanted at the last moment.  The friars
+immediately collected round him, and urged him to retract his errors.
+Looking at the unhappy penitents who were risking their salvation to
+escape a few moments' suffering, and then at the noble De Seso, standing
+unmoved amid the rising flames, he walked deliberately back to the
+stake, exclaiming, "I will die like De Seso."  More fuel was brought,
+and he was quickly in the joy of his Lord.
+
+Numbers bore testimony to "the truth as it is in Jesus" by dying
+fearlessly like De Seso.  At the same time, eight females, of
+irreproachable character, some of them of high rank, were burned alive;
+among them Maria Gomez, who so nearly betrayed the Protestants during a
+sudden fit of insanity.  Having recovered her senses she returned to the
+Protestant faith, and soon was brought before the Inquisitors.  She
+suffered with her three daughters and a sister.  So hardened had the
+populace become by similar scenes, that not a single expression of
+sympathy escaped them as they thus witnessed the destruction of a whole
+family.  Year after year passed away, and the same horrors continued to
+be enacted; the bloody-minded inquisitors being hounded on to their work
+of death by the bigot king; that king who, it has truly been said, was
+busily engaged in making Spain what she in a few years became, the
+lowest and least influential among the nations of Europe; while as truly
+was Elizabeth, by her wise measures, laying the foundation of England's
+greatness and power.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+FREEDOM.
+
+We must return once more to the unhappy Leonor de Cisneros.  She was
+seated on a rough bench in her dungeon beneath the halls of the
+Inquisition.  One gleam of light only was admitted by a small aperture,
+leading into a courtyard, far above her head.
+
+The gleam fell on her marble countenance, pale as that of one who has
+ceased to breathe.  Her once rich hair, now glistening like snow, hung
+over her shoulders, while her figure was draped in the dark robe she was
+doomed to wear.  Heavy chains hung on her arms, which she could with
+difficulty lift to her head, whenever she strove to press her hands upon
+her burning brow.  Even the agony of mind and body which she had endured
+had scarcely dimmed her beauty.  Though her eyes had lost their lustre,
+yet in them was a fixed look of courage and resignation.  Now she knelt
+down on the cold stones before the stool, and lifted up her manacled
+hands to heaven, towards which her countenance was turned, earnestly
+imploring strength and resolution to withstand the fearful temptations
+to which she was exposed.  She was not disappointed.  While she thus
+knelt, the door of her dungeon grated on its hinges.  Slowly, and not
+without difficulty, she rose from her knees, and stood prepared to
+receive her visitor, whoever he might prove to be.  She dreaded lest she
+should see the arch-fiend Munebrega; but instead of him, Don Francisco
+de Vivers stood before her.  He advanced a few paces into the vault, and
+placed the lantern he bore on a stone shelf projecting from the wall on
+one side of the cell.  He did not speak till the door closed behind him.
+He then stood before her with his plumed hat held in his hand, keeping
+still at the distance of a few paces.
+
+"Dona Leonor," he said, "I come to bid you farewell.  The words you
+spoke to me during my last visits to you sunk deep down in my heart.
+The glorious truths you explained took root, and have since by God's
+grace been abundantly watered.  I obtained a copy of His blessed Word.
+I sought for instruction from those able to give it, and I am now ready,
+if it is His will, to add my testimony to the truth by my blood.  I was
+sent here to win you back to life, and to gain you over to the false
+faith of Rome.  You have been the cause of my becoming a thorough
+Protestant, and being made willing, if called upon, to suffer death--
+such death, that is, as man is able to inflict upon his fellow-man.  Yet
+I am young, and do not desire to die.  I have therefore resolved to quit
+my country for another land, where I may freely worship God according to
+the dictates of my conscience.  I knew that you would rejoice to hear
+this.  I therefore resolved, at every risk, to seek another interview
+with you.  Dear lady, you will pardon me for the words I spoke to you on
+my former visits.  I uttered them in my ignorance.  I thought that I was
+thus benefiting you, instead of endeavouring to deprive you of that joy
+unspeakable which is prepared for those who truly love the Lord, and are
+ready to give up all for Him."
+
+"Oh, believe me, Don Francisco, when I say it, I have nothing to
+pardon," replied Dona Leonor.  "I rejoice to hear of your determination.
+Alas!  I fear you would not benefit our unhappy countrymen by remaining
+among them.  The spirit of evil has gained the supremacy; and while he
+reigns, with the sanguinary inquisitors as his ministers, the truth can
+never make progress in the country.  Go, then, Don Francisco; my
+prayers, day and night, will be offered up to the throne of mercy that
+you may be protected from the dangers of your journey, and safely reach
+the haven of rest.  It is mockery to speak of joy, but such joy as I am
+now capable of feeling will be mine when I hear that you have safely
+reached your destination.  And oh, Don Francisco, pray for me, not that
+my life may be prolonged, but that I may have courage and support in the
+trials I may be called upon henceforth to bear; and that it may be God's
+will that I may, ere long, be emancipated from my bondage, not to go
+forth into the world, but to be raised on wings of light to join my
+martyred husband, now singing praises with the heavenly choir before the
+great white throne of our loving Father."
+
+"Dona Leonor, your wishes shall ever be a law to me," answered Don
+Francisco.  "I shall see you no more on earth.  Even should I be
+successful in escaping from this unhappy country, I believe that I shall
+never again return to it; and even if I did, I should not be permitted
+to see you.  I hear that many Spanish Protestants are assembled at
+Genoa, among whom are several who were once monks at San Isidoro.
+Thither I have resolved to bend my steps, that I may worship with them,
+and gain from them instruction and counsel."
+
+"I thank our Heavenly Father that you have resolved on this step,"
+answered Leonor, "and I pray that you may be more successful than were
+my beloved Herezuelo and myself.  Oh, that I had not believed the
+falsehoods that were told me before that dreadful day when I last met
+him on earth!  Bitterly have I repented my weakness and want of faith.
+I should have known that no human power would have induced him to deny
+his Lord and Master, even for the sake of saving his life and being
+reunited with me.  Ah, how weak and faithless was I! but I thank my God
+that, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, I had strength and power
+given me boldly to declare my faith in the truth, even though my so
+doing has brought me into this dungeon, and will ere long cast my body
+amid those flames which consumed the mortal frame of my husband.  Oh,
+believe me, Don Francisco, to that day I look forward with eagerness and
+joy.  My heart will bound with thankfulness when I am told to prepare
+for going forth to the stake."
+
+Don Francisco stepped forward and raised the manacled hand of the
+speaker to his lips.  Then, casting one more glance of respect and
+sorrow at that still lovely countenance before him, he hastened from the
+cell, drawing his hat over his brow to conceal his agitation; then
+wrapping his cloak around him, he took his way through the narrow
+passages which led to the vaults, guided by one of the familiars of the
+Inquisition, till he reached the door of an apartment, at which his
+guide stopped and knocked.  A voice desired him to enter.  Don Francisco
+passed through the doorway, and stood in the presence of the Archbishop
+Munebrega.
+
+"Do you expect to move her, Don Francisco?" asked the Archbishop, eyeing
+him narrowly.
+
+"My lord, I do not," answered Don Francisco, firmly; "yet I warn you
+that severe treatment will not effect your purpose.  For myself, I would
+beg that I might not be again requested to visit her; but I yet entreat
+that her chains may be removed, and that she may be placed in a room
+where the light of day is allowed to enter, and be supplied with food
+such as her delicate nature requires."
+
+"Don Francisco, you ask what it may be impossible for me to grant,"
+answered the Archbishop, again casting a penetrating glance towards him;
+"but I will make known your request to my coadjutors, and, should they
+see fit, it may be granted."
+
+Don Francisco was glad when the interview with the Archbishop came to a
+close.  He well knew the character of the man with whom he had to deal,
+and he dreaded lest any word he might incautiously drop should betray
+him.  He hurried home.  Already he had made every preparation which was
+possible for his journey.  As the shades of evening drew on he left his
+house, and all the comforts and luxuries it contained, feeling that he
+should never return.  Keeping his countenance concealed with his cloak,
+he passed unquestioned through the gates.  Now he hurried on at a rapid
+pace for a league or more from the city.  Then, turning on one side, he
+entered a small wood.  He had not gone far when he found, standing under
+the trees, two horses, held by a short man in the costume of a muleteer.
+
+"Ah! my friend Julianillo, I knew that I could trust you, and I am
+thankful that you have not failed me.  It is time, if I would save my
+life, that I should leave Valladolid.  Already the savage Munebrega
+suspects me, and I have bidden farewell to her for whose sake alone I
+should desire to remain in Spain.  I could not bear to see her die; and
+yet, knowing the savage hearts of her persecutors, and her own firm
+resolve, I feel sure that, ere long, she will add another to the
+glorious list of martyrs.  She has bidden farewell to the world and her
+fellow-creatures, and places her trust in One who alone can give her
+strength to undergo the trials she may be called upon to endure."
+
+"True, Don Francisco, true," answered Julianillo; "but we must not
+delay.  A few minutes may make the difference between life and safety,
+and imprisonment and death.  When our brother Don Domingo de Roxas
+attempted to escape, from a short delay caused by his visit to the noble
+De Seso, he fell into the power of the inquisitors.  But you, I trust,
+are not suspected, and we may in safety gain the borders of Spain
+without impediment.  It will be necessary, however, to use caution, and
+above all things to trust to no one.  There are guards on all the roads,
+and spies at every inn, ready to entrap the unwary."
+
+Saying this Julianillo held the stirrup while Don Francisco threw
+himself into the saddle.  He then mounted his own horse, and together
+they rode out of the wood, and took the road towards the frontier.
+
+Julianillo knew every part of the country.  Each highway and every
+by-path was as familiar to him as if he had it mapped down before his
+eyes.  Often and often he had travelled those roads, with his bales of
+goods surrounding the copies of the Bible and the works of Luther and
+others, which he had brought across the Pyrenees into Spain.  He had, of
+late, however, been compelled to give up bringing any more copies of
+God's Word into the country.  He had, instead, devoted himself to
+assisting Protestants to escape from their persecutors.  Those who had
+trusted themselves entirely to his care and guidance he had never failed
+to convey safely to their destination.
+
+Their horses were fresh, and they were thus able to gallop in the
+greater part of the night.  When morning broke, Valladolid was many
+miles behind them.  As soon as the horses were rested they again
+proceeded on their journey.  They thus continued till they were within a
+half-day's journey of the frontier.
+
+"We are now approaching the most dangerous part of the road," observed
+Julianillo to Don Francisco.  "It would be safer for you not to appear
+to be under my guidance.  I may possibly be suspected, and as I am
+well-known, I should certainly be seized, while you might be allowed to
+continue your journey.  But whatever happens, take no notice of me, and
+let us appear to be total strangers to each other."
+
+These remarks were made when the travellers were yet some distance from
+the inn where they intended to stop.  Julianillo rode on ahead, Don
+Francisco following at a distance, so as just to keep him in view.
+
+When Don Francisco entered the common room of the inn, Julianillo was
+already there, seated among a number of muleteers and other persons,
+laughing and joking with them.  Don Francisco, on entering, took no
+notice of him, but placed himself at an unoccupied part of the long
+table, at the other end of the room.  The guests were waiting for
+dinner, and in a short time large dishes of fried beans and pork were
+placed on the table.  Don Francisco could with difficulty partake of the
+rough fare put before him.  He ordered, however, a flagon of wine, and
+requested the host to partake of it, who, nothing loth, accepted his
+offer.
+
+The guests had only just seated themselves when a party of mounted
+alguazils arrived at the inn, and, having stabled their horses, walked
+in to partake of the dinner going forward.  Julianillo appeared in no
+way to be disconcerted.  It was an anxious time for Don Francisco, for
+he could not help fearing that the alguazils were in search of suspected
+persons.
+
+Having allowed time for the horses to rest, Julianillo started up, and
+beginning to sing a well-known comic air, sauntered out of the inn
+towards the stables.  Don Francisco waited till he supposed his
+companion was on the road, and then, paying his reckoning to the
+landlord, begged that his horse might be brought round.  Just as he was
+mounting, the landlord whispered in his ear--
+
+"Stop not till you have gained the other side of the border, and then be
+not content till you are many leagues from it."
+
+"I know not what you mean," answered Don Francisco, carelessly; "but
+supposing the advice to be of value, I should be truly grateful to you
+for it."  Saying this he rode quietly through the street of the village.
+
+He had not gone far when he heard the mounted guards who had entered the
+inn following close behind.  Instead of attempting to escape them he
+drew in his rein to allow them to come up with him.  It was a moment to
+try the nerves of most men.  They, however, rode by, saluting him as
+they passed, when they continued at a rapid rate.  Fearing, should he
+show any inclination to push on, he might be stopped, he continued at a
+leisurely pace in the direction taken by Julianillo.
+
+In a short time the sound of horses approaching him reached his ears,
+and he saw the very same party he had met before returning with someone
+among them.  As he drew near, great was his grief to recognise
+Julianillo.  Following the advice given him by that brave man, he
+approached the troop with as unconcerned a countenance as he could
+assume.
+
+"Who have you got there?" he asked in a calm tone.
+
+"A culprit who has long eluded us, but who has been caught at last, as
+many others who now think themselves safe will be ere long," was the
+answer.
+
+Anxious as he felt to assist Julianillo, he was well aware of the
+uselessness of making the attempt; the words he had just heard making
+him more anxious than ever to escape from the country.  He therefore
+rode forward with the same unconcerned air which he had assumed on
+approaching the emissaries of the Inquisition.  Following the advice of
+the innkeeper, as soon as he was out of sight of the party he put spurs
+to his horse, and ere night closed in he was many leagues within the
+territory of France.  His adventures were like those of others who made
+their escape from the Inquisition.  Being well supplied with money, he
+had, however, less difficulty than many others.  He ultimately succeeded
+in reaching Genoa.  There, though he was at first looked upon with
+suspicion, he was soon able to prove the sincerity of his conversion,
+and was received as a faithful Protestant among the brethren assembled
+in that city.
+
+Meantime Julianillo was led by his captors to Seville.  He was there
+brought before the Inquisitors.  With undaunted eye and firm countenance
+he confronted his judges, who were at the same time his accusers.  He
+denied nothing.  He was accused of having been one of the chief
+instruments in disseminating the Gospel throughout Spain.  He smiled
+calmly at the words addressed to him.
+
+"I should indeed be proud to have performed so excellent a work," he
+answered; "but those who have far more influence than I possess have had
+that honour.  If I brought the Word of Life to those perishing for lack
+of it, I merely performed the part of the baker's boy who brings the
+loaves to the door.  It depended upon the people whether they would take
+the Bread of Life; and if they took it, whether they would feed on it.
+Hear me, ye ministers of tyranny and falsehood: I glory in declaring
+that I believe the only knowledge we possess of the perfect and
+all-sufficient sacrifice which Christ offered up once for all on
+Calvary, is that revealed to us in the Bible, and applied to our hearts
+by the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the Pope and priests of Rome are
+ignorant of this great and glorious truth, that `the just shall live by
+faith,' and faith alone.  In this belief I have now for many years
+lived, rejoicing also."
+
+"Silence him! away with him!" cried the inquisitors, in deep and angry
+voices.  "He is hopelessly contumacious.  A speedy death by fire must be
+his doom."
+
+Julianillo smiled calmly as he heard these words pronounced.
+
+"For many years I have been prepared for this," he answered.  "When I
+undertook the work in which I have been engaged, I counted the cost.  I
+knew that I should have a rich reward, and all you can do is to hasten
+the time when I am to wear that crown of glory prepared for me in the
+skies; and, humble though I am, I feel well assured that it is a
+brilliant and a glorious crown."
+
+Before Julianillo could say more he was hurried away from the hall of
+the Inquisition, and thrown into a dark and noisome dungeon, there to
+remain till the day fixed for the next _auto-da-fe_, at which he was to
+suffer the extreme penalty inflicted by the Inquisition.  He was among
+those who suffered on the day already described, when Don Carlo de Seso
+received the crown of martyrdom.  Though he boasted of no exalted rank
+or lineage, yet, bold in the faith, he died as bravely as the most
+noble.
+
+On the morning of the _auto_, addressing his fellow-prisoners, he
+exclaimed, "Courage, comrades!  This is the hour in which we may show
+ourselves valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ.  Let us now bear faithful
+testimony to His truth before men, and within a few hours we shall
+receive the testimony of His approbation before angels, and triumph with
+Him in heaven."
+
+These words were repeated to the inquisitors, and they, knowing full
+well his courage and determination, ordered him to be gagged, lest, when
+marching forth among the other condemned criminals, he should address
+the multitude, and perhaps gain their sympathy, or induce them to accept
+the truth, for holding which he was condemned to suffer.  In spite of
+the gag, he continued by his gestures to encourage his companions
+condemned to death with himself; and thus until the flames rose up
+fiercely around him, he bore witness to the truth, and endeavoured to
+support them to the last.
+
+Meantime the unhappy Leonor de Cisneros lingered on in prison.  Every
+effort was made by the inquisitors and their familiars of high and low
+degree to induce her to recant, but she continued contumacious.  Once
+only a gleam of satisfaction was seen to pass over her countenance; it
+was when a few words, incautiously let drop by one of her visitors,
+informed her that Don Francisco de Vivers had escaped from Spain, and
+had arrived safely at Genoa.
+
+Was it in mercy, because her bigoted persecutors yet hoped that she
+would recant, that her life was still spared? or was it because their
+vindictive feelings made them unwilling to liberate their captive, and
+terminate her sufferings by consigning her to that death for which she
+waited longingly?  Often she exclaimed with the Apostle Paul, in sure
+and certain hope of the resurrection of the just to happiness
+unspeakable, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
+
+Year after year passed by, and still she remained a prisoner in those
+dreadful dungeons.  She had but numbered twenty-two summers when
+consigned to them, and eight long winters of existence passed afterwards
+over her head.  During those weary years that heroic woman, with the
+most perfect constancy, endured insults, torture, starvation, while
+compelled to listen to all the arguments which cunning priests could
+adduce to make her change her faith.
+
+At length, once more she stood before the judgment-seat of the
+inquisitors, among whom the Archbishop Munebrega presided.  Did no
+recollection of that young woman's mother, whom he had once fondly
+loved, or thought he loved, cross his mind?  Did he not remember Dona
+Leonor herself, when in her early youth, radiant in beauty, he first
+beheld her, and heard from her lips the startling acknowledgment that
+she believed the simple Word of God and trusted to it?  Now she stood
+before him a pale wan woman, weighed down with grief and physical
+suffering.
+
+Again she was asked if she would recant, and reminded that it was for
+the last time.
+
+"Oh, no, no!" she answered, her heart bounding with joy at the
+announcement.  The captive was to be set free.
+
+Now, in solemn mockery, the inquisitors arose, and pronounced Dona
+Leonor de Cisneros hopelessly contumacious, and condemned her to the
+flames.
+
+A bright gleam rested on her countenance as she heard her sentence, but
+she uttered not a word, she made not a movement till summoned to return
+to her cell.
+
+The 26th of September, 1568, at length arrived.  Ere the dawn had broken
+in the outer world she rose from her hard pallet.  Yet, hard as it was,
+her slumber had been calm and sweet.  She knew not that it was her last
+day on earth.  Kneeling, she lifted up her hands in prayer.  She prayed
+for her persecutors.  She prayed that the day-star might yet arise over
+Spain, and the Gospel be preached throughout the length and breadth of
+the land.
+
+The door opened.  A harsh voice ordered her to rise from her knees;
+prayer was not for one whom the Church had excommunicated.  She obeyed.
+A monk, with a savage gleam in his eyes, stood before her.  At the door
+were several familiars.
+
+The monk's errand was soon told.  He had come to conduct her to the
+courtyard where the victims destined to appear in the _auto-da-fe_ were
+collecting.  The cruelties, the mockeries, the blasphemies of those
+hideous spectacles have often been described.  All, all, Leonor endured,
+not only with patience and courage, but with a rejoicing heart.  Calm
+and unmoved she listened to the long sermon poured forth by the Bishop
+of Zamora, who, from a lofty pulpit, addressed himself both to the
+victims and the populace.
+
+When the blasphemous ceremonies were brought to a conclusion, joy
+lighted up her countenance.  Firmly she walked to the place of
+execution, and submitted without a murmur to be bound to the stake.  The
+moment she had longed for had arrived!  The flames rose up around her,
+and her emancipated spirit flew to rejoin her beloved husband, and to be
+for ever with their Lord.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Look, by W.H.G. Kingston
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