The _cochero_ had but a confused idea of what he was carrying away with
him. By the feel, watches, with chains and bracelets; besides some
smaller articles wrapped in bits of paper. The uncertainty of his
getting safe up the cliff hindered him from giving them even the most
cursory examination, nor did he think of doing this till at sufficient
distance from the card-playing party to feel sure he was beyond danger
of pursuit. Then the temptation to have a look at the things, which had
so strangely and unexpectedly come into his possession, became
irresistible; and sitting down upon a ledge of rock, he drew them out
into the light of the moon. Two watches were there, both gold, and one
with a jewelled case.
"_Carrai_!" he exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon the latter, and became
fixed in a stare of blank amazement, "can it be! It is--the Condesa's
watch--the very one she would have given me! But how came the hunchback
to have it? Surely he must have stolen it. The other, too, with all
these things!"
He looked at the second watch, but as it had never been in his hands
before, he was unable to identify it. Still, it resembled one he had
seen his mistress wearing, and most likely was the same.
The bracelets, chains, necklets, and brooches would be theirs, too; as
also the rings and other bijouterie, which the dwarf had found time to
do up in paper.
"Stolen them?" continued the _cochero_ interrogatively, as he ran his
eyes over the varied assortment.
"How could he? The watches he might, but the other things? Why bless
me, here are two pairs of ear-rings--and these grand pendants--I'm sure
I saw them in the ears of the Condesa this very day. He couldn't have
taken them without her knowing it. _Santo Dios_! How ever has he come
by them?"
As he thus questioned and reflected, a feeling of apprehension began to
creep over him. A little before leaving the house to go after his
horses he had observed his young mistress and the Condesa going into the
ornamental grounds. And they went alone; Don Ignacio having repaired to
a private apartment, where he was accustomed to shut himself up for the
examination of State papers, what if the ladies _were_ still in the
grounds, in some secluded spot, lying dead, where all these adornments
had been stripped from their persons!
This horrible tableau did the faithful servant in imagination conjure
up. He could not help it. Nor was the thing so very improbable. He
had some earlier acquaintance with the desperate character of the dwarf,
which later experience confirmed. Besides, there was the state of the
country--thieves and robbers all round--men who made light of murder!
With a heaviness of heart--a painful fear that there had been murder--he
stayed not to further examine the trinkets; but gathering all up again,
and thrusting them back into his pocket, hurried on home.
And when home he went not to his own quarters in the coachyard, but
straight into the _patio_--the private court of the house. There he
encountered Pepita; soon as he set eyes on her, asking--
"Where are the _Senoritas_?"
"What's that to you?" saucily retorted the maid.
"Nothing, if I only knew they were safe."
"Safe! Why what's the man thinking--talking about? Have you lost your
senses, _hombre_?"
"No, Pepita. But the ladies have lost something. Look here!"
He had plunged both his hands into his pockets, and drawn them out again
full of things that scintillated in the moonlight--watches and jewellery
of different kinds, as she saw. With a woman's curiosity, gliding
swiftly forward to examine them, she recognised every article at a
glance, amazement overspreading her countenance, as it lately had his.
"_Ay de mi_!" she exclaimed, no longer in jesting tone. "What does it
all mean, Jose?"
"Just what I want to know myself, and why I am asking after the
Senoritas. But where are they?"
"In the garden, or the grounds somewhere. They strolled out about an
hour ago, and haven't been in since."
"Pray God, they're still alive! Come with me, Pepita. Let us look for
them. I have terrible fears."
So appealed to, the girl gave ready assent; and side by side they
hastened towards the rear of the house, behind which were the ornamental
grounds extending backwards. But they had not far to go before hearing
sounds that set their minds at rest, removing all anxiety--the voices of
the ladies themselves. They were not only alive, but laughing!
To Jose and Pepita this seemed strange as anything else--a perfect
mystery. Merry after parting with all those pretty things; costly,
too--worth hundreds of _doblones_! Withal, they were so; their
lightness of heart due to the knowledge thus gained, that their own
lovers were still living and safe; and something of merriment, added by
that odd encounter with the _enano_, of which they were yet conversing.
If their behaviour mystified their servants, not less were they
themselves puzzled when Jose presented himself before them with hands
held out, saying:
"I ask your pardon for intruding, but don't these belong to your
ladyships?"
They saw their watches and other effects obtained from them by "false
pretences," as they were now to learn.
The revelation that succeeded put an end to their joyous humour; their
hearts that had been light for a moment were now becoming heavier than
ever. The treachery of the hunchback and his intentions were manifest.
He meant to guide Santander and his soldiers to the old monastery, where
they would take the _patriotas_ by surprise.
"What is to be done, Ysabel?" despairingly asked the Donna Luisa. "How
can we give them warning?"
To which the _cochero_, not the Countess, made answer, saying:
"I can do that, _Senorita_."
His confident tone reassured them; more still his making known the
design he had already conceived, and his ability to execute it. He was
acquainted with the old convent and the paths leading to it--every inch
of them.
It needed not their united appeal to urge him to immediate departure.
He was off the instant after, and long before the clock of Talpam had
struck the midnight hour, well up the mountain road, with eyes looking
to the right, in the direction of the Cerro Ajusco.