quiet again. What a serene breathing of peace there was over everything tonight.
The quietude of the night soothed him; the desire of sleep descended on him heavily. He drew the candle forward, leaning to puff the flame. There was no thought in his mind of Gertrudis and the sacrifice she had proposed to make in the simplicity of her deep faith; the sorrowful act of devotion had been carried through so quietly that no murmur of those who witnessed it had reached to his open window, and he had been so deeply occupied with the business which crowded his mind that he had not looked out upon the arcade, or the white gleaming church at its farther end until this moment.
"It is almost as light without as within," he said, his hand held for a moment between the candle and his eyes. "It is the hour of peace."
Padre Ignacio blew out his candle. The moon was shining in at his eastern window, the bars across its face in curious effect. Padre Ignacio sat looking at it in a calm reverie.
"Padre Ignacio! Padre Ignacio!"
The voice was beneath his north window, where the gleam of his candle had shone but a moment before. Sharp, clear, insistent in its clamor, its emphasis of alarm. Padre Ignacio sprang to his feet, to the window.
"Who calls?" he demanded, straining to see directly below him, whence the voice sounded.
"Padre Ignacio! The Angelenos—they are breaking down the dam!"
