We now agreed to set off together the following night. Meanwhile I made every Preparation to accomplish my purpose with safety, and without any danger from pursuits.
Night came, and at the appointed hour, I went to meet Francisca at the window, as it had been previously agreed on. An alarm was given, as if some robbers had attacked the house. I first intended to feign a wish to secure her; and afterwards go in pursuit of her with Don Pedro's servants, on a different road from that she should have taken. A ladder being put up and the window open, I ascended in disguise and entered the apartment, but Francisca's bed was empty. We went all over the house; her maids were all asleep, but no where was she to be found.
Certain traces in her closet, showed, that she had been violently carried off, It seemed she had made a long and vigorous resistance; her bed was quite destroyed, and a great part of the furniture thrown down, and damaged, I was terrified at this spectacle,
