On arriving at Ciudad Rodrigo, the Empecinado went immediately to
General Cuesta, who, although he did not receive him unkindly, could not
but blame him greatly for the enormous crime he had committed in
carrying off a lady who was distinguished by so mighty a personage as
the Duke of Infantado. He told him it was absolutely necessary to devise
some plan by which the Duke's anger might be appeased. Murat also had
sent a message to the central junta, saying, that if satisfaction were
not given, he would send troops to lay waste the whole district of
Penafiel, in which Castrillo was situated; and it was probable, that if
he had not done so already, it was because a large portion of the
inhabitants of that district were believed to be well affected to the
French. Without exactly telling him what he must do, the old general
gave him a despatch for the _corregidor_ of Penafiel, and desired him to
present himself before that functionary, and concert with him the
measures to be taken.

The Empecinado took his leave, and was quitting the governor's palace
when he overtook at the door an _avogado_, who was a countryman of his,
and whom he had left at Castrillo when he set out from that place. The
sight of this man was a ray of light to the Empecinado, who immediately
suspected that his enemies were intriguing against him. He proposed to
the lawyer that they should walk to the inn, to which the latter
consented. They had to traverse a lonely place, known by the name of San
Francisco's Meadow, and on arriving there, behind the shelter of some
walls, the Empecinado seized the advocate by the collar, and swore he
would strangle him if he did not instantly confess what business had
brought him to Ciudad Rodrigo, as well as all the plans or plots against
the Empecinado to which he might be privy.

The lawyer, who had known Diez from his childhood, and was fully aware