"Men of good blood hate to see such a thing, and there may be murmurings," Don Diego warned. "I should hate to see your excellency make a wrong step at this juncture."
"What would you have me do?" the governor asked.
"Place Don Carlos and the ladies under arrest, if you will, but do not incarcerate them. It is unnecessary; they will not run away. Bring them to trial as gentle folk should be brought to trial."
"You are bold, caballero."
"By the saints, am I talking too much?"
"It were better to leave these matters to the few of us who are trusted with attention to them," the governor said. "I can understand, of course, how it irks a man of good blood to see a don thrown into a carcel, and to see his ladies treated likewise, but in such a case as this—"
"I have not heard the nature of the case," Don Diego said.
"Ha! Perhaps you may change your mind when you learn it. You have been speaking of this Señor Zorro. What if I tell you that the highwayman is being shielded and protected and fed by Don Carlos Pulido?"
"That is astonishing!"
"And that the Doña Catalina is a party to the treason? And that the lovely señorita has seen fit to talk treasonably and dip her pretty hands into a conspiracy against the state?"