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On a day such as had just passed the wildest storm was to be

desired, since the tempest, which covered the battlefield with

darkness, drenched the roads and destroyed the bridges over the

river, and made of the farm an inaccessible fortress. So of what

had been done in the Soplicas' camp the news could not spread

abroad on that day-and it was precisely upon secrecy that the

fate of the gentry depended.

In the Judge's room an important consultation was in progress.

The Bernardine lay on the bed, exhausted, pale, and

blood-stained, but wholly sound in his mind; he issued orders and

the Judge carried them out to the letter. He invited the

Chamberlain to join them, summoned the Warden, had Rykov brought

in, and then shut the door. For a whole hour the secret

conversation continued, until Captain Rykov, throwing on the

table a heavy purse of ducats, interrupted it with these words:-