The apartment into which I was ushered was a large saloon, dimly lighted by narrow windows piercing the thick walls. The furniture had once been handsome, but from time and neglect had become worn and disfigured. A small table, spread with a very tolerable breakfast, stood in one of the windows, at which I was invited to seat myself, and then I was left alone to my own lucubrations. Hunger prevailed over grief, I ate heartily; and having concluded my meal, amused myself by studying the Trojan war, which was displayed upon the walls in a very ancient tapestry.
I had traced the fortunes of Greeks and Trojans on the walls till 1 was well-nigh wearied. I had even gazed upon the little patches of brown gra.s.s beneath the windows till my eyes grew dim with watching; but no one came to look after me, and, in the unbroken silence around, I half feared that I should be utterly forgotten, and left, like the old tapestry, to die of moths and years; but at last, as day was declining, I heard something like the clank of arms and the tramp of soldiery, and soon the sounds were more distinctly marked, approaching my door.
Suddenly the two leaves of the folding-door were thrown wide, and an elderly man, in a general"s uniform, followed by two other officers, entered.
Without taking any notice of the salute I made him, he walked towards the fireplace, and, standing with his back to it, said to one of his aides-de-camp, "Read the "proces-verbal," Jose."
Jose bowed, and, taking from his sabretache a very lengthy roll of paper, began to read aloud, but with such rapidity and such indistinctness withal that I could only, and with the greatest difficulty, catch a stray word here and there. The t.i.tles of her Majesty the Queen appeared to occupy full ten minutes, and an equal time to be pa.s.sed in setting forth the authority under whose jurisdiction I then stood. These over, there came something about an individual who, born a Mexican or a native of Texas, has a.s.sumed the style, t.i.tle, and dignity of a Count of Spain, such rank being taken for purposes of deception, and the better to effect certain treasonable designs, to be set forth hereafter. After this there came a flourish about the duties of loyalty and fidelity to the sovereign, whose private virtues came in by parenthesis, together with a very energetic denunciation on all base and wicked men who sought to carry dissension into the bosom of their country, and convulse with the pa.s.sions of a civil war a nation proverbially tranquil and peace-loving.
Nothing could be less interesting than the style of this paper, except the manner of him who recited it. State truisms, in inflated language, and wearisome plat.i.tudes about nothing, received no additional grace from a snuffling nasal intonation and a short cough.
I listened at first with the anxiety of a man whose fortunes hung on the issue; then, as the vague, rambling character of the doc.u.ment diminished this interest, I heard with more indifference; and, lastly, completely wearied by the monotony of the voice, and the tiresome iterations of the style, I could not prevent my thoughts from wandering far from the affair in hand.
What fearful crimes were alleged against me,--what dire offences I was charged with,--I was not to hear, since, lost in the pleasant land of day-dreams, I fancied myself strolling in the shade of a forest, with Donna Maria beside me, while I poured out a most impa.s.sioned narrative of my love and fidelity. Nor was it till the reading was concluded, and a loud "Hem!" from the General resounded through the chamber, that I remembered where I was.
"Prisoner!" said he, in a stern, authoritative tone, "you have now heard the nature of the charge against you, and the reasons of your arrest; you will answer certain questions, the replies to which, if not in accordance with truth, const.i.tute the crime of "Traicion," the penalty being death. What is your name?"
"Con Cregan."
"Native of what country?"
"Ireland."
"What rank and position do you hold in society?"
"A variable one,--as luck favors me."
"What trade or profession do you follow?"
"Whatever seems most convenient at the moment."
"Have you served?"
"I have."
"In the land or sea service?"
"In both."
"With what grade?"
"Nothing very distinguished."
"Have you ever held the command of an expedition?"
"I have."
"With what object, and where?"
"In the prairies of South America, to shoot red-deer.". "Remember, sir,"
said the General, "this is no occasion for untimely jest; these sallies may cost you more dearly than you think for."
"If I am to speak the truth," said I, boldly, "I must answer as I have done. If you want fiction, I "m ready for you at a moment"s notice."
"Make a note of that, Jose!--" says that he is perfectly indifferent whether he tells truth or falsehood.""
"And add, by way of parenthesis," said I, "that the General is precisely of my own way of thinking."
"Write down," insults the commission,"" said the General, boiling with rage.
The paragraph seemed a full one, for the interrogating was not resumed for some minutes.
"Now, sir," resumed the General, "state your object in coming to the country."
"To get out of it as fast as I could."
"For whose use were the arms provided,--the horses and horse equipage with which you embarked?"
"My own."
"Name the agent or agents of Don Carlos with whom you have held correspondence?"
"None. I never knew any."
"By whose hands were the large sums of money in your possession intrusted to you?"
"I found them."
"How, and where?"
"In a hole."
The General"s face grew purple; and more than once I could see the struggle it cost him to repress his bursting indignation. And in the mutterings he let fall to his secretary, it was easy to mark that his comments on the evidence were not too favorable.
"Were you acquainted with Brigadier Hermose Gonzillos?"
"No."
"Nor with his brother, the Canon Gonzillos?"
"No."
"When did you first meet Senhor Ruy Peres Y" Hacho?"
"Never saw him in my life."
"Nor held intercourse with him?"
"Never."