"Do you know that house?" I said, pointing to the residencia. The gaunt peasant, who had just told me he had much frequented these mountains in former years, looked at me darkly and crossed himself. "Too well," he said. "It was there that one of my comrades sold himself to Satan; the Virgin shield us from temptation He has paid the price and is now burning in the reddest place in Hell " He then spoke words that had the ring of prophecy, leaving me shaking with terror. Which way to turn I knew not. But fate decided for me: for while still hesitating I beheld the veiled figure of a woman drawing nearer up the pathway . . .