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I lost no time in complying with their counsel, and felt my heart relieved from an oppressive weight, as I left the gloomy and fate-bound battlements of Tetefoulques behind me. "I arrived at Bayonne, on my way to Spain, on the following Friday. At midnight I was startled from my sleep, as I had formerly been; but it was no longer by the vision of the dying commander.
"I found the castle of Tetefoulques a grand but gloomy and dilapidated pile. All the gates were closed, and there reigned over the whole place an air of almost savage loneliness and desertion. I had understood that its only inhabitant were the concierge, or warder, and a kind of hermit who had charge of the chapel.
His conscience smote him to the core; he gathered up the sword of the commander, which he had been enjoined to take to Tetefoulques, and hurried from the fatal Strada Stretta. The duel of course made a great noise in Malta, but had no injurious effect upon the worldly fortunes of Don Luis.
The commander staggered to the wall, and leaned against it. "On Good Friday!" ejaculated he again, with a failing voice, and despairing accents. "Heaven pardon you!" added he; "take my sword to Tetefoulques, and have a hundred masses performed in the chapel of the castle, for the repose of my soul!" With these words he expired. The fury of Don Luis was at an end.
"I knew nothing of this Tetefoulques, whither the defunct was so urgent I should carry his sword. I made inquiries, therefore, concerning it among the French chevaliers. They informed me that it was an old castle, situated about four leagues from Poitiers, in the midst of a forest.
The vision continued to be repeated on every Friday night, the commander always appearing in the same manner, and uttering the same words: 'Take my sword to Tetefoulques, and have a hundred masses performed in the chapel of the castle for the repose of my soul! On questioning my servant on the subject, he stated, that on these occasions he dreamed that he was lying in a very narrow street, but he neither saw nor heard any thing of the commander.
He promised me absolution, after I should have performed certain acts of penance, the principal of which was, to execute the dying request of the commander, by carrying the sword to Tetefoulques, and having the hundred masses performed in the chapel of the castle for the repose of his soul. "I set out for France as speedily as possible, and made no delay in my journey.
I again saw the commander leaning against the wall; I again heard his dying words: 'Take my sword to Tetefoulques, and have a hundred masses performed in the chapel of the castle, for the repose of my soul! "On the following night, I caused one of my servants to sleep in the same room with me.
On arriving at Poitiers, I found that the tidings of the death of the commander had reached there, but had caused no more affliction than among the people of Malta. Leaving my equipage in the town, I put on the garb of a pilgrim, and taking a guide, set out on foot for Tetefoulques, Indeed the roads in this part of the country were impracticable for carriages.
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