"Not a word was spoken by any of us in the deep silence of the solemn midnight, in which the awful crime was perpetrated.
"It was completed at last; where the door had been was a wall of solid masonry, which her death-cries could never penetrate.
"'It is well!' said he who appeared to me the superior. 'Give him the reward I told you of.'
"The other silently handed me the purse.
"'And now swear never to reveal what you have this night seen till your dying day!'
"'I swear!' said I, for I dared not refuse.
"'That will do. Take him away,' said the speaker, leaving the room.
"My guide blindfolded me as I had been before, and led me out, locking the door on the awful secret.
"As I had been brought up, I was led to the beach. The boat was in waiting, and I was taken away, landed, conveyed into the carriage, which for upward of half an hour drove round some circuitous route. Then I was assisted out and left standing alone. I tore the bandage from my eyes and looked around, but the carriage was gone; and I never heard or discovered aught more of the event of that night.
"From that day my peace of mind was gone. Years passed, but it haunted me night and day, till I became a morose and dreaded man. Then I traveled from land to land, but nothing ever could banish from my ears that woman's dying shrieks and despairing eyes.