She had the sisters roused and gathered in the refectory where the lamps were bright and there were no shadows and no walls that opened.

She had the strong young novices post themselves at the bench-jammed opening so the passage could not be used.

She sent Dr.

Guadalupe to examine every sister who had lost her nights, and she sent word — by the first cart out at dawn — to the civil authorities in Puebla, plainly and completely: that a wanted man had been living beneath the convent, that he had been drugging and robbing the sisters, and that he was still somewhere in the tunnels beneath their feet.

Chapter 16 — Following the Passages