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They've been looking for him all the time for their revenge, but it is only now that they have begun to find him out."

"They discovered him a year ago," said Miss Burnet, who had sat up and was now intently following the conversation.

"Once already his life has been attempted, but some evil spirit shielded him.

Now, again, it is the noble, chivalrous Garcia who has fallen, while the monster goes safe.

But another will come, and yet another, until some day justice will be done; that is as certain as the rise of to-morrow's sun." Her thin hands clenched, and her worn face blanched with the passion of her hatred.

"But how come you into this matter, Miss Burnet?" asked Holmes. "How can an English lady join in such a murderous affair?"

"I join in it because there is no other way in the world by which justice can be gained.

What does the law of England care for the rivers of blood shed years ago in San Pedro, or for the shipload of treasure which this man has stolen? To you they are like crimes committed in some other planet.

But WE know.

We have learned the truth in sorrow and in suffering.

To us there is no fiend in hell like Juan Murillo, and no peace in life while his victims still cry for vengeance."

"No doubt," said Holmes, "he was as you say. I have heard that he was atrocious. But how are you affected?"

"I will tell you it all.

This villain's policy was to murder, on one pretext or another, every man who showed such promise that he might in time come to be a dangerous rival.

My husband-yes, my real name is Signora Victor Durando-was the San Pedro minister in London.

He met me and married me there.

A nobler man never lived upon earth.

Unhappily, Murillo heard of his excellence, recalled him on some pretext, and had him shot.

With a premonition of his fate he had refused to take me with him.

His estates were confiscated, and I was left with a pittance and a broken heart.

"Then came the downfall of the tyrant.

He escaped as you have just described.

But the many whose lives he had ruined, whose nearest and dearest had suffered torture and death at his hands, would not let the matter rest.

They banded themselves into a society which should never be dissolved until the work was done.

It was my part after we had discovered in the transformed Henderson the fallen despot, to attach myself to his household and keep the others in touch with his movements.

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