THE interview with Miralda left me in better spirits than I had been at any moment since my imprisonment. She had confirmed my own view that my life was safe so long as I refused to release Gompez and his companions, and had assured me that she herself was in no serious or immediate danger.
But best of all she had given me another proof of her trust. A fresh bond was created between us and the old one cemented more firmly than ever. Despite the fact that those who had sent her to induce me to yield were actually listening to every word that passed, she had contrived to let me know the real truth of the position.
I could understand the pressure which had been applied to force her to come on such an errand. Her manner when she entered and uttered the first lines of the part in which she had been carefully drilled had revealed her feelings; and the nervous, quickly whispered word of warning told me why she had yielded.
She knew the risk she was running should her act be discovered, but she had faced it unflinchingly for my sake, resolved to put me on my guard let the consequences be what they might to her. Barosa and Inez had little dreamt that the trick of forcing her to try and mislead me would result in the strengthening of my resistance! And it was Miralda’s own shrewdness and care for me which had brought it all about.
The thought was infinitely sweet; and all the discomfort and pain I was enduring were forgotten in the delightful contemplation of Miralda’s courage and zeal for me.
The discomfort would soon be over now, moreover. Many hours had passed since Bryant saw me enter the house, and I was certain that he was now at work to secure my liberation.
If I had not been blinded in the morning by my alarm for Miralda I should have taken the precaution to tell him what steps to take. But I had not thought there would be any danger in Inez’ house. I ought to have foreseen that she would send for Barosa, and have given Bryant definite instructions what to do if I did not return to him.
What was he likely to do? He would keep a watch on the house of course. He would thus see Barosa arrive, and probably also the men who must have been sent for afterwards. I read the thing in this way. Inez had sent word to him almost as soon as I was in the house. He had come at once and then had probably sent Miralda to me in order to overhear what passed between us.
Recognizing the danger, he had then sent for such of his companions as he could thoroughly trust and had laid the trap into which I had fallen. But he saw that unless he could get the men on the Rampallo free, I still held the key to the situation. He had tried first to trick me with that pretence of submission, and when that had failed, he had fallen back on threats, carrying the threat to the very extreme limit in the hope that I should yield when death appeared the inevitable alternative.
Then, threats having failed, he resorted again to cunning. Inez rushed in and saved my life, and then Miralda had been sent again.