"Where have you come from?" he asked him, in a rough voice. "Is it the custom for monks of your order to ramble about the country at this hour of the night?"
"My lord!" Fray Arsenio stammered, thrown off his guard by this question, which he was far from expecting.
"Come, come!" the Count continued; "Answer at once, and let us have no subterfuge or tergiversation."
"But, my lord, I do not at all understand this great anger which you appear to have with me. I am innocent, I vow!"
"Ah! ah!" he said, with an ironical laugh; "You are innocent! ¡Viva Dios! you make haste to defend yourself before you are accused; hence you feel yourself guilty."
Fray Arsenio was aware of the Count's jealousy, which he concealed so poorly, that, in spite of all his efforts, it was visible to everybody. Hence he understood that Doña Clara's secret had been revealed to her husband; and he foresaw the peril that menaced him for having acted as her accomplice. Still, he hoped that the Count had only learnt certain facts, while remaining ignorant of the details of the Countess' voyage; and hence, though he trembled at heart at the thought of the dangers to which he was doubtless exposed, alone and defenceless, in the hands of a man blinded by passion and the desire of avenging what he regarded as a stain on his honour, he resolved, whatever might happen, not to betray the confidence which a woman had unhappily placed in him.
He raised his head and replied with a firm voice, and with an accent at which he was himself astonished—
"My lord, you are governor of Saint Domingo; you have a right to exercise justice over those placed under your rule. You possess almost sovereign power, but you have no right, as far as I know, to ill treat me, either by word or deed, or to make me undergo an examination at your caprice. I have superiors on whom I am dependant; have me taken before them; hand me over to their justice, if I have committed any fault they will punish me, for they alone have the right of condemning or acquitting me."
The Count had listened to the monk's long answer, while biting his lips savagely and stamping his foot with passion. He had not thought to find such resistance in this man.
"So, then," he exclaimed, when Fray Arsenio at length ceased speaking, "you refuse to answer me?"