The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was an American short story writer and journalist. He is probably best known for his story 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek', published in 1890. In 1913 he went to Mexico in order to observe the civil war there. Whilst travelling with Pancho Villa's army in 1914, he vanished without a trace.
Arriving at a rural monastery, the monk Ambrosius meets a young girl called Benedicta, shunned by the local community for being the daughter of the local hangman. Ambrosius is