* * * * *

The morning of the day fixed for the execution came, and still the judge had not returned.  The scaffold had been erected in the center of the square, and an enormous crowd had gathered.  I stood by the door of the prison, for, while I had obeyed the wish of my friend that I should not call on Gabriela in her prison, I believed it my duty to represent him in that supreme moment and accompany the woman he had loved to the foot of the scaffold.

When she appeared, surrounded by her guards, I hardly recognized her.  She had grown very thin and seemed hardly to have the strength to lift to her lips the small crucifix she carried in her hand.

“I am here, senora.  Can I be of service to you?” I asked her as she passed by me.

She raised her deep, sunken eyes to mine, and, when she recognized me, she exclaimed: 

“Oh, thanks, thanks!  This is a great consolation for me, in my last hour of life.  Father,” she added, turning to the priest who stood beside her, “may I speak a few words to this generous friend?”

“Yes, my daughter,” answered the venerable minister.

Then Gabriela asked me:  “Where is he?”

“He is absent—­”

“May God bless him and make him happy!  When you see him, ask him to forgive me even as I believe God has already forgiven me.  Tell him I love him yet, although this love is the cause of my death.”

We had arrived at the foot of the scaffold stairway, where I was compelled to leave her.  A tear, perhaps the last one there was in that suffering heart, rolled down her cheek.  Once more she said:  “Tell him that I died blessing him.”

Suddenly there came a roar like that of thunder.  The mass of people swayed, shouted, danced, laughed like maniacs, and above all this tumult one word rang out clearly: 

“Pardoned!  Pardoned!”

At the entrance to the square appeared a man on horseback, galloping madly toward the scaffold.  In his hand he waved a white handkerchief, and his voice rang high above the clamor of the crowd:  “Pardoned!  Pardoned!”

It was the judge.  Reining up his foaming horse at the foot of the scaffold, he extended a paper to the chief of police.

Gabriela, who had already mounted some of the steps, turned and gave the judge a look of infinite love and gratitude.

“God bless you!” she exclaimed, and then fell senseless.

As soon as the signatures and seals upon the document had been verified by the authorities, the priest and the judge rushed to the accused to undo the cords which bound her hands and arms and to revive her.

All their efforts were useless, however.  Gabriela Zahara was dead.

LUIGI CAPUANA

The Deposition

“I know nothing at all about it, your honor!”

“Nothing at all?  How can that be?  It all happened within fifty yards of your shop.”