For the Soul of Rafael

by Marah Ellis Ryan

"Then you know him? You see him sometimes?"

"Sometimes."

"And he is called—?"

"Libertad."

"Padre Libertad—the Liberated? I never have heard him spoken of. Where can I find him? Anita, I will go alone, but this feud shall be ended. He will help me. And I—I never knew what he saved me from that night. I scarcely thanked him. He was so strange, so abrupt, so masterful, I accepted all he did, and never knew! Tell me. Anita. I will go to him—I will—"

"No one goes to him," said Ana. "He never stays in one place. If you see him, you see him—but—"

"But he comes to San Juan?"

"Oh, yes, he comes to San Juan once a year at least, so they will not forget him."

Ana's lips curled in a little smile, quickly suppressed.

"But, Anita, that he tells you all these things, so that you know the reasons of Capitan—"