(Signed) DON DIEGO DE PARRACES."
The Corregidor sent off this letter with all speed to Madrid, where the greatest diligence was exerted to trace out the murderer; but he arrived at home the very day when the search was made, and, discovering how matters were, instead of alighting, he gave his horse the rein, and disappeared altogether. Thus the crime remained unpunished: the dead man was not to be restored to life; the prisoners were set free, and some of the links of the chain that Ricla kept, were employed to pay the expenses of justice. The Corregidor kept the portrait to please himself. The archer of the holy Brotherhood received ample satisfaction for his wound.
The younger Antonio began anew to describe the story of their picture, and left the people all wondering greatly thereat.
The whole time the investigation had been going on, Feliciana kept her bed under pretence of illness, that she might not be seen. They took the road to Guadaloupe, talking, as they travelled, over their strange adventure, and hoping that some chance might occur to allow them to hear Feliciana sing. She willingly consented to give them this pleasure, since there is no sorrow that does not soften with time, only that she might keep up the proper decorum due to her misfortune and sad condition: her songs were dirges, and her voice, mournful; but this diminished a good deal after meeting the shepherd's sister on the road, returning from Truxillo, where she told them she had left the infant in the care of Don Francisco Pizarro, and Don Juan de Orellana, who felt convinced that the child must belong to their friend Don Rosanio, judging by the place where he was met, for they knew of no one else in all the neighbourhood who would have so confided in them; "and," said the good woman, "they told me that he should not be deceived in his expectations by trusting them thus. So you perceive, sirs, that the child is placed according to your desires at Truxillo: if there is anything else you wish me to do to serve you here, I am ready to do it, and here is the chain, for I have not parted with it yet, since what I have done was from Christian kindness, and that weighs more heavily with me than gold." To which Feliciana answered, that she wished it might remain many years in her possession before she found herself under the necessity of parting with it, for rich trinkets do not stay long with the poor. The shepherd's sister then took leave of them, and they sent a thousand kind messages to her brother and the other shepherds. In process of time, little by little our pilgrims reached the saintly walls of Guadaloupe.
CHAPTER V.
Scarcely had our devout pilgrims set foot on one of the two entrances that lead to the valley, which is formed and enclosed by the lofty mountains of Guadaloupe, than at each fresh step they found new subjects of admiration; but their admiration reached the highest possible point when they saw the noble and sumptuous monastery, the walls of which contain the blessed image of the Queen of Heaven; that blessed image, which gives freedom to the captive, cleanses his sins, and relieves his distress; that blessed image, which gives health to the sick, comfort to the afflicted, which is a mother to the orphan, and a defence from all misfortune. They entered the church, and where they expected to find walls adorned with the Tyrian purple, the damask of Syria, the brocades of Milan, in their place they saw, crutches left by the cripple, wax eyes that had belonged to the blind, arms hung there by the maimed, shrouds cast aside by the dead, all, who after having been cast down by misery, now living, healthy, free and happy, loudly return thanks to the Mother of mercies, who in this small space, makes intercession with her blessed Son for his infinite mercy.