The executioners did not approach to examine the supposed corpse, but returned to the prison immediately; and when they had gone, the bold Don Cæsar calmly got up and walked away! Having thus escaped with his life, he determined to find his mysterious bride and hurry from Madrid before recapture became possible; but as, knowing nothing of the pardon that had been accorded him, he dared not show himself in daylight, he kept in hiding until evening, when he issued forth cautiously in search of Lazarillo, whom he knew would now be in the service of the Minister.
Now Don José had laid all his plans with great skill; and knowing that a certain dependent of his, the Marquis de Montefiori, upon whom he had bestowed a remunerative appointment, was holding a grand reception that evening, he decided that Maritana should be introduced to this assembly as the Marquis's niece. Accordingly, when evening fell, he repaired with the gipsy-girl, splendidly attired, to the festive scene, and taking her into an ante-room off the salon where the guests were being received, he sent for the Marquis, and informed him that Maritana was his (the Marquis's) long-lost niece.
"But I have no niece," exclaimed the puzzled Marquis.
"Pardon me, but I say that this lady, the Countess de Bazan, is your long-lost niece!" repeated Don José firmly. "And you must introduce her to your guests as such!"
On hearing this, the Marquis—a weak, foolish person, completely the tool of Don José, who made use of him for various unscrupulous purposes—pretended to suddenly remember his new-found relation, seeing that the Minister desired him to do so, and after welcoming her with exaggerated effusiveness, he led the bewildered Maritana to the salon beyond to be introduced to his wife and the assembly as his long-lost niece.
Don José was just about to follow, when a stranger, muffled in the robe of a monk, suddenly entered the ante-room; and to his surprise and dismay, he quickly recognised the handsome features of Don Cæsar de Bazan! Alarmed at this unexpected appearance of the man he had hoped and believed was dead, the Minister tremblingly asked how he came to be alive; and Don Cæsar gaily related the story of Lazarillo's trick, and of his own feigned death, adding: "And now I have come to demand my wife, the Countess de Bazan, who, I have been told, is here!"
For a moment Don José was nonplussed, knowing that if the bold Count took Maritana away now, his own base schemes with regard to the Queen would fall to the ground; but quickly thinking out a plan of escape, he sought the Marchioness de Montefiori, and bringing her into the ante-room, introduced her with much ceremony to Don Cæsar as the Countess de Bazan.
Now, the Marchioness was old, ugly, silly, and frivolous, and when Don Cæsar saw that he had been wedded to such an unattractive person, he was filled with disappointment and disgust, and gladly agreed to sign a contract suggested by the quick-witted Minister to relinquish his wife and quit Madrid for ever in exchange for a yearly sum of money paid in compensation.
Before the paper was signed, however, Maritana's voice was heard singing in the salon beyond; and instantly recognising the voice as that of his mysterious veiled bride, Don Cæsar, knowing now that he had been cheated, flung the pen away, and angrily declared that he would have his true wife at all costs.