"And now, dear uncle," she went on, "permit me to ask you one question, after which I will answer yours, if you have any to ask."
"Speak, child."
"Why did you seize me and bring me here?"
"Because I fancied you the daughter of that Sandoval, and wished to immolate you on the tomb of his victims," Bloodson answered, in a trembling voice.
"Did you not hear, then, what the man said to me?"
"No; seeing you bent over him, I thought you were watching him die. Your fainting fit, which I attributed to sorrow, only augmented my certainty; that is why I rushed on you so soon as I saw you fall."
"But the letter you took from me would have revealed all to you."
"Do you think, then, child, I took the trouble to read it? No, I only recognised you by the scapulary hung round your neck."
"The finger of God is in all this," the girl said, with an accent of conviction; "it was really He who directed it all."
"Now it is your turn, Mercedés tell me who the assassins are."