Bishop of Burgos, for some cause he is immovable

"The Bishop of Burgos is Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, is he not?"

"He is."

He was an

"I begin to understand it now. enemy of Christopher Columbus, and my father, being a personal friend of the admiral, drew down on him the hatred of the bishop. Governor Velasquez and his nephew Antonio are likewise enemies of my father and myself, and have helped to poison the mind of the bishop against me."

The priest groaned.

"The bishop is all-powerful and we are forced to obey him," he said. "Recalcitration will be

impossible; the order has been issued, and you must bow in mute submission."

"I dare not return home."

"I am outlawed. Governor Velasquez proclaimed me an outlaw."

"For what reason?"

The student told the priest of the old feud and the bitter rivalry between himself and Antonio over Doña Inez Oviedo.

"If I had known all this sooner I might have averted this blow," sighed the priest.

"Is it too late?"

"It is. You are even now in danger of arrest and chains."

"I will carry my cause to the throne,” he cried. Again the priest shook his head.

"It will not avail you, my son; it's too latetoo late. Do nothing, say nothing for the present. King Charles is determined to uphold the governors in the New World."

Estevan went out from the principal seat of learning of the world in disgrace. His proud spirit felt most keenly the deep humiliation of this expulsion.

"Antonio has gained the ear of the bishop," he thought, "and most cruelly maligned me."

The gentle twilight of an autumnal evening was falling, as the student, sad and dejected, wended his way along the well-beaten path to the castle on

the hill.

How would she receive him? Was she already aware of his disgrace, or would she first hear it from his own lips? The castle, grim and silent, loomed up before him. The sun had set, and the moon was shedding a silvery light upon the scene. Estevan was walking hurriedly toward the frowning castle, when a tall, dark form suddenly came from the shadows of some wide-spreading oaks and advanced to meet him.

"Stop, Señor Estevan!" said a deep, solemn

voice. It was Don Oviedo himself, and, trembling with dread, the youth came to a halt. "I must forbid you my castle, señor. You may not sing and play beneath my daughter's balcony. I have learned of your disgrace, and my daughter cannot wed an outlaw and heretic."

For a moment Estevan strove to speak; but he was unable to utter a word. Don Oviedo saw the effort.

"I know what you would say," he added, "but it's no use, señor, I have it all from the bishop." "The bishop is an enemy to my family," Estevan gasped.

Don Oviedo was a religious zealot, and to utter a word against a priest was an offence not to be condoned. He raised his hand to enjoin silence. "Do not say aught against the bishop. He is above petty jealousies or envy. He is too great to be questioned; but as this has come to my ears from the best authority, which cannot be doubted, you must consider your engagement to my daughter broken off."

"Don Oviedo, will you not consult your daughter's happiness?"

"I am doing so."

"Give me time to establish my innocence.

Give

me a few months, a few weeks to prove that the good bishop has been deceived."

The Don considered the matter a moment.

"I will give you a week," he said; "but, meanwhile, you must not come to the castle.'

"A week, a whole week," said the student hopefully, as he turned and walked away. "A stay of opinion has been granted for a week. Heaven grant that I may be able to establish my innocence."

The intrigues of Antonio and the bishop went on. The day after the scene we have witnessed, Antonio met Inez, but, knowing that she had learned of Estevan's disgrace, he was too shrewd to add more. He saw her frequently, and each time he strove with consummate skill to prepare her for the impressions he designed to have her receive. Inez read him like an open book, and knew that, while he never recurred to the disgrace of Estevan, he was secretly exulting over his downfall. She took great care to conceal her anguish; but she had a cunning man to deal with, and, if she read Antonio, he was no less slow in discovering her inmost thoughts. One day, by a seeming accident, Estevan's disgrace was referred to, and Antonio treated the subject as unworthy of consideration.

"I warned you against the adventurer and outlaw," he said. "Could more be expected than that he should be expelled from the convent?"

"He is not the only one who has been expelled,

señor," was the spirited answer. "I have heard that even you study under a private tutor."

He stammered, blushed, and after many efforts made a partial explanation and took his leave. On reaching Salamanca, he discovered his rival leaving the town on a mule.

66

Why have not the officers done their duty?" he asked himself. "Diego and Miguel should even now have him in chains on shipboard. Once get him to Cuba, and he will be put out of my way."

Antonio lost no time in hunting up the officers who had the warrant for Estevan's arrest, and told them that their man had just made his escape, and was on his way from town by the old Seville road, riding a mule. By Antonio's aid the officers procured a pair of swift horses and started in hot pursuit.

"Slay him if he resists—and he will resist," was Antonio's parting instruction to Diego and Miguel.