"If it only rest on the suppositions of this old couple, in one of whom it is pretty evident, prejudice is stronger than clearly defined truth, methinks that, despite this circumstantial evidence, there is still hope of the prisoner's innocence, more especially as we have one other important fact to bring forward.

You are certain," he continued, addressing old Pedro, "that the bell chimed eleven when Senor Stanley quitted your dwelling ?" The man answered firmly in the affirmative.
"And you will swear that the Senor slept from sunset till that hour ?" "I dare not swear to it, your Reverence, for Juana and I were at a neighbor's for part of that time; but on our return, Juana took up his supper again, and found him so exactly in the same position as we had left him, that we could not believe he had even moved." "Was he alone in the house during this interval ?" "No; the maid Beta was at her work in the room below Senor Stanley's." "Let her be brought here." The order was so rapidly obeyed, that it was very evident she was close at hand; but so terribly alarmed at the presence in which she stood, as to compel the Sub-Prior to adopt the gentlest possible tone, to get any answer at all.

He merely inquired if, during the absence of her master and mistress, she had heard any movement in the prisoner's room.

She said that she thought she had--a quiet, stealthy step, and also a sound as if a door in the back of the house closed; but the sounds were so very indistinct, she had felt them at the time more like a dream than reality; and the commencement of the storm had so terrified her, that she did not dare move from her seat.
"And what hour was this ?" It might have been about nine; but she could not say exactly.

And from the assertion that she did hear a slight sound, though puzzlingly cross-questioned, she never wavered.