But again I pleaded most earnestly; and presently the friar left the room and returned soon after with a dingy cloak, with which he enveloped the poor dame from head to foot.
"Let her follow behind," he said, "and if there is no trouble she may pass out with us." He charged her, then, to keep her face hidden and to stand well away from the light of the candles.
After that there was a pause, and the Spanish woman and the friar looked at each other.
"See you do not fail!" she said.
"And remember your word," he replied.
"A solid silver service for the new mission chapel at San Juan,—I swear it," was the quick response; "that is, if you succeed."
The friar folded his arms silently.
"Nay, then, in any case! only do your utmost," whispered Doña Orosia hurriedly.
"The result is as God wills it," said Padre Felipe calmly, and, pointing to the stretcher, he bade me lie down upon it. I did so, trembling in every limb, and he would have covered me over with the wrappings when the Governor's wife pushed him aside, knelt down herself, and slipped into my hand a little dagger, whispering:
"In case you are discovered."