The place bore a desolate air, and neither sound nor light betokened the presence of a human being.

It had long been uninhabited, and some declared it was haunted, so that the Padre had some time before sprinkled holy water profusely about, in order to drive away the evil one.
Cautiously Inez tried the fastening; it swerved not beneath her firm, strong grasp.

She shook it slightly: a hollow echo answered back.
Entrance was impossible; and even as she lingered irresolute, the sound of approaching steps was borne to her listening ears by the night wind.

What should she do?
Without a moment's hesitation she glided swiftly to a cluster of chapperal, and crouched low among its thorny branches.

Inez had scarcely secreted herself, when the figure of a man, directing his steps to the house she had just left, warned her to keep quiet.