"I have no objection," he declared, with a start at my stern tone; and with trembling fingers he drew his sword and laid it down, and then put his revolver by the side of it, and sighed.
"Hand the key of the door to Senorita Castelar," I bade him next, and without a murmur he obeyed. "Now we can talk without restraint," I said, and put his sword and revolver on a chair behind him. "Be good enough to answer my questions fully. How comes it you have found your way here to this out-of-the-way place at this precise moment?"
"I heard that this was a house where Carlists were likely——"
"Wait," I broke in, angrily. "Tell the truth, the full truth; no half lies and generalities and equivocations; and don't forget that I also know much—more than enough to test every word you say. If you lie, the interview ends—and the end will not be well for you. Now, answer my question."
"Sebastian Quesada's spies in Daroca found out that Senorita Castelar was here, and I came in search of her."
"That's better. Now, what secret arrangement has there been between you and Quesada affecting your relations with the senorita? Remember, I know it, but wish her to hear it from you." The question set him trembling in dire agitation, and for some moments he stood hesitating and perplexed, trying vainly to speak.
"What do you mean?" he muttered.
"Answer," I said, sternly. "And mind, the truth."
Again he wrestled with his feelings, and then in a low voice: "He knew of my passion for her, and—and thought that if she was to be arrested, I had best do it."
"You are lying, Colonel Livenza," I said.