happen they are new to you. We shall
be pleased if you taste them."

Then proud, hesitating fingers hesitated no longer, but descended upon
thin slices of ham, shredded and sweetened eggs, cheese, and _mazapan_.
Nobody betrayed eagerness, but faces beamed, especially when the
road-mender, proud of us as if we had been his relations, went round with
our wineskin, cordially bidding every man put it to his lips.

As the company ate and drank, the Cherub circulated among them, and soon
was primed with the abbreviated life-story of each person, though he had
apparently asked no questions. Somehow, it was the first impulse of the
most reserved soul to confide in the Cherub; and when the meal was
finished, and no excuse remained for lingering, the wild birds, tamed by
kindness, flew away regretfully.

"They'll all have good words to speak for automobilists after this," said
Pilar.

"Until some ruffian comes tearing along, upsetting their carts and
breaking their illusions," added Dick.

When we were ready to go on, the road-mender's wife would not be content
unless Pilar would have a look at the house, which she took, and came back
delighted. "Tiny rooms, but clean as wax," she reported. "Pictures and
crucifixes and Toledo knives on the snow-white walls, and beautiful bright
copper in the kitchen. I believe I could be happy to live there--with
someone I loved."

Was the image of Don Cipriano in her mind as she said this? or Dick's
tanned face and whimsical grey eyes? Or did she think only of an existence
in the society of her father?

"Beware gutters!" was the road-mender's last word as we spun away; and we
were glad of the warning; for despite careful driving, a few seconds of
inattention might have sent us crashing into and over a deep trough across
the road, half hidden by thick dust. There were many of these gutters,
which might have been put underneath in the form of culverts; but, as the
Cherub remarked, since nobody takes the trouble to complain, in Spain, why
should anyone bother?

There were broken patches, too, where somebody had begun to build a
bridge, and then apparently forgotten all about going on with it; but
luckily there were side tracks made by other pioneers, by which, with
care, one could skirt the great square hole, and land safely on the other
side.

Thus we arrived before a walled town with a Moorish gateway; and, for all
the changes which had come or gone since the days of those who set it