She regarded him steadily. "You know that I am willing, Gil Perez."
"It was Tormillo you saw yesterday?"
"Yes, Tormillo—like a toad."
"He was sent to mock you in your pain. He is a fool. We will show him a fool in his own likeness. Are you content to die?"
"You know that I am content."
He turned to the nun. "Sister Chucha, you will let this lady go. She goes out to die—I, who love her, am content that she should die. If she dies not, she returns here. If she dies, you will not ask for her."
The sister stared. "What do you mean, you two? How is she to die? When? Where?"
"She is to die under the knife of Don Luis," said Gil Perez. "And I am to lay her there."
"You, my friend! And what have you to do with Don Luis and his affairs?"
"Manuela is young," said Gil, "and loves her life. I am young, and love Manuela more than life. If I take her to Don Luis and say, 'Kill her, Señor Don Luis, and in that act kill me also,' I think he will be satisfied. I can see no other way of saving the life of Don Osmundo."