this, his thin hands seized and held the priest's
arm with almost supernatural force.

What was the meaning of those words? What
were Despenadores? Why should his fate depend
upon them? These were questions the priest
was quite unable to solve; but he determined,
as far as possible, to tranquillise the poor wretch
by assuring him that he would not leave his side
until desired by himself to do so. This in some
measure relieved the sick man's fright. There
the priest sat for hours, during which the two
visitors more than once drew near the bedside,
inquiring of the patient (who shuddered afresh
at each approach) the state of his body and
mind, considerately observing that the Señor
Parroco must be wearied by his long attendance,
and offering to relieve him in waiting upon and
praying by the dying man. But the priest,
warned by the clutch of his friend's hand,
declined to accept their proposal, and, finally,
finding no pretext for a longer stay at that time,
they had to withdraw.

Perceiving that there was a mystery he
could not for the present trace, and that the
conflict of terror and hope rendered the patient
for the time incapable of clearing it up, the
clergyman resolved on staying by him until
his latest hour, should his disorder finally
take a fatal turn; and he gave strict injunctions
that no one whatsoever but the medical
attendants should be admitted into the sick-
room: his clerical presence being a sufficient
excuse to any others who might seek entrance.
On the succeeding day he was gratified by learning
that the crisis of the disorder had passed,
and that the patient's condition was much
more hopeful. As soon as he found him
sufficiently tranquil and reassured to revert to
the mysterious subject, the priest urged him
to disclose everything relating to his strange
hints of the preceding night. Ultimately he
drew from him, though with much difficulty,
this acknowledgment: That there existed a
secret Brotherhood of which he was a member,
not numerously, but widely, disseminated
throughout Spain, who were sworn to seek
every opportunity of gaining access to such
persons as, being in articulo mortis, had received the
last sacraments and rites of their religion, and,
under pretext of praying with and giving them
spiritual consolation, to seize the first moment of
being alone with them to terminate their
remaining hours — by strangulation, by smothering
with a pillow, or in any other way not calculated
to awaken suspicion: That this association
was guided by a much higher object than the
merely charitable one which their adopted name
of Despenadores would indicate; for, instead of
merely intending to abbreviate the death agony
of the sufferer, their object was to prevent
all possibility of his escaping death by an unlooked-
for recovery, as would sometimes happen:
That the Despenadores knew that,
after having received plenary absolution and
the other final rites of the Church, the sick
were in a state of beatitude, and certain of
admission to heaven; while, should they
be restored to health, they would be again
exposed to all the snares and temptations of
this wicked world, which, according to the weakness
of nature, would lead them to sin anew and
unavoidably imperil their souls should they
afterwards be cut off by accidental sudden
decease: That the Brotherhood, therefore, sought
the eternal welfare of the absolved, and insured
them a certain entrance into Paradise.

Avowing that he had personally taken part in
these acts on more than one occasion, the patient
was sternly asked by the priest why they had never
been referred to in his frequent confessions to
him? He answered, that it was not incumbent on
him or on any of his companions to name them,
for, so far from being sins, they were meritorious
actions, inasmuch as they rendered certain the
salvation of souls that might otherwise perish;
but apparently, he trusted so fully in his own
strength and virtue, that he was disinclined to
have this positive security accorded to himself.

The poor priest was shocked and puzzled by
the revelation, for he could not easily
decide whether he ought or ought not to regard
it as made under the seal of confession, and
consequently of inviolable secrecy; but, after
some consideration, he judged it his duty to
lay the whole matter privately before his
diocesan, the Archbishop of Toledo. That prelate
being one of the grand inquisitors, found
sufficient reason in it for having the three
individuals whom the clergyman pointed out as
Despenadores, lodged in the cells of the Holy
Office. On being examined, they exhibited
neither fear nor compunction at owning
themselves members of that secret but, as they
contended, most praiseworthy association; or, in
naming such others of the fraternity as they
knew.

How to act towards the fanatics implicated
in this most horrible league, who were
within a short time all arrested, became a
matter of perplexity as well to the Inquisition
as to the Council of Castille (which,
as civil crime had been committed in the
formation of a secret society, had also to
take part in it), for it was desirable to avoid, as
far as possible, giving publicity to the facts, lest
an indignant spirit of revenge should be roused
among survivors who conceived that their
deceased relatives had been murdered. The
question of culpability was, therefore, in many
instances put hypothetically for consideration of
the most eminent jurists in Spain, as well of
common as of canon law, and the majority
of their conclusions was, that crime had
been committed, not with a wilfully guilty
intent, but from a deplorably misguided and
fanatical belief. The punishment was consequently
limited to such different terms of confinement
as were considered necessary to indoctrinate
the culprits in a proper manner, and when
they were released it was under the assurance
that the utmost severity of the law would be put
in force against them in the event of relapse.
The higher ecclesiastical and civil authorities
were commanded to keep a most vigilant watch,