as long as heaven and earth
should last, the torment of hell would continue.

When the priests came in to their master in the morning, they found him
lying dead, with his eyes wide open, staring with a ghastly brilliancy
into the unknown. Then there was weeping and lamentation, and from house
to house the people told one another that the archbishop had died in his
sleep. The bells were set tolling, and as Don Sebastian, in his
solitude, heard them, referring to the chief ingredient of that strange
wine from Cordova, he permitted himself the only jest of his life.

'It was _Belladonna_ that sent his body to the worms; and it was
_Belladonna_ that sent his soul to hell.'

VII

The chronicle does not state whether the thought of his brother's
heritage had ever entered Don Sebastian's head; but the fact remains
that he was sole heir, and the archbishop had gathered the loaves and
fishes to such purpose during his life that his death made Don Sebastian
one of the wealthiest men in Spain. The simplest actions in this world,
oh Martin Tupper! have often the most unforeseen results.

Now, Don Sebastian had always been ambitious, and his changed
circumstances made him realise more clearly than ever that his merit was
worthy of a brilliant arena. The times were propitious, for the old king
had just died, and the new one had sent away the army of priests and
monks which had turned every day into a Sunday; people said that God
Almighty had had His day, and that the heathen deities had come to rule
in His stead. From all corners of Spain gallants were coming to enjoy
the sunshine, and everyone who could make a compliment or a graceful bow
was sure of a welcome.

So Don Sebastian prepared to go to Madrid. But before leaving his native
town he thought well to appease a possibly vengeful Providence by
erecting in the cathedral a chapel in honour of his patron saint; not
that he thought the saints would trouble themselves about the death of
his brother, even though the causes of it were not entirely natural, but
Don Sebastian remembered that Pablo was an archbishop, and the fact
caused him a certain anxiety. He called together architects and
sculptors, and ordered them to erect an edifice befitting his dignity;
and being a careful man, as all Spaniards are, thought he would serve
himself as well as the saint, and bade the sculptors make an image of
Dona Sodina and an image of himself, in order that he might use the
chapel also