“I ask your pardon for intruding, but don’t these belong to your ladyships?”
They saw their watches and other effects obtained from them by “false pretences,” as they were now to learn.
The revelation that succeeded put an end to their joyous humour; their hearts that had been light for a moment were now becoming heavier than ever. The treachery of the hunchback and his intentions were manifest. He meant to guide Santander and his soldiers to the old monastery, where they would take the patriotas by surprise.
“What is to be done, Ysabel?” despairingly asked the Donna Luisa. “How can we give them warning?”
To which the cochero, not the Countess, made answer, saying:
“I can do that, Señorita.”
His confident tone reassured them; more still his making known the design he had already conceived, and his ability to execute it. He was acquainted with the old convent and the paths leading to it—every inch of them.
It needed not their united appeal to urge him to immediate departure. He was off the instant after, and long before the clock of Talpam had struck the midnight hour, well up the mountain road, with eyes looking to the right, in the direction of the Cerro Ajusco.