The judge recovered himself, and then, like a man who is staking more than life upon the cast of a die, he ordered the guard to open the black box.
"Madame!" said the judge sternly, his eyes seeming to dart flames, "approach and tell me whether you recognize this head?"
At a signal from the judge the guard opened the black box and lifted out the skull.
A cry of mortal agony rang through that room; one could not tell whether it was of fear or of madness. The woman shrank back, her eyes dilating with terror, and screamed: "Alfonzo, Alfonzo!"
Then she seemed to fall into a stupor. All turned to the judge, murmuring: "She is guilty beyond a doubt."
"Do you recognize the nail which deprived your husband of life?" said the judge, arising from his chair, looking like a corpse rising from the grave.
"Yes, sir," answered Gabriela mechanically.
"That is to say, you admit that you assassinated your husband?" asked the judge, in a voice that trembled with his great suffering.
"Sir," answered the accused, "I do not care to live any more, but before I die I would like to make a statement."
The judge fell back in his chair and then asked me by a look: "What is she going to say?"