“True, I had almost forgotten the speech: indeed for that matter, it would not have been a great loss if I had forgotten it altogether. You are to know, señor, that while I was enquiring about you of the landlord, this stranger passed by. He stopped, and looked at me earnestly.

“ ‘Youth!’ said he in a solemn voice, ‘He whom you seek, has found that which he would fain lose. My hand alone can dry up the blood: bid your master wish for me when the clock strikes one.’

“How?” cried I, starting from my sofa. (The words which Theodore had repeated, seemed to imply the stranger’s knowledge of my secret: “Fly to him, my boy! Entreat him to grant me one moment’s conversation!”)