The following is the manner in which I passed the morning to strike awe
into the soul of that vicious brute, to confound his feeble intellect,
and to render him harmless to me.

As soon as Lawrence had left us I told Soradaci to come and take some
soup. The scoundrel was in bed, and he had told Lawrence that he was ill.
He would not have dared to approach me if I had not called him. However,
he rose from his bed, and threw himself flat upon the ground at my feet,
and said, weeping violently, that if I would not forgive him he would die
before the day was done, as he already felt the curse and the vengeance
of the Holy Virgin which I had denounced against him. He felt devouring
pains in his bowels, and his mouth was covered with sores. He shewed it
me, and I saw it was full of ulcers, but I cannot say whether it was thus
the night before. I did not much care to examine him to see if he were
telling me the truth. My cue was to pretend to believe him, and to make
him hope for mercy. I began by making him eat and drink. The traitor most
likely intended to deceive me, but as I was myself determined to deceive
him it remained to be seen which was the a cuter. I had planned an attack
against which it was improbable that he could defend himself.

Assuming an inspired air, I said, "Be seated and take this soup, and
afterwards I will tell you of your good fortune, for know that the Virgin
of the Rosary appeared to me at day-break, and bids me pardon you. Thou
shalt not die but live, and shalt come out of this place with me." In
great wonderment, and kneeling on the ground for want of a chair, he ate
the soup with me, and afterwards seated himself on the bed to hear what I
had to say. Thus I spoke to him:

"The grief I experienced at your dreadful treason made me pass a