, very spruce, very
good-looking, with breasts as hard as a rock. My wife loved her as
'muchly' as if she had been our daughter, and so did I. Suddenly we
heard the poor child had made a false step... or two false steps... and
a little while later the girl was in a bad condition. Well, then; she
went to town, and came back here to the cafe, and again we heard that
the poor child had made a false step... or two false steps; and as I
have daughters, you know, this 'pro... missiousness' didn't please me,
and I went and told her: 'Look here, Maria, this isn't right at all, and
what you ought to do is get out.' She understood me, and went away, and
went to her uncle the monk, and the two of them formed a 'cohabit.'...
Curse her! I went after them; and if I ever find them, I'll kill them.
All very well for the poor child to make a false step... or two false
steps; but this thing of getting into a 'cohabit' with a monk, and he
her uncle, that is a 'hulimination' for the family. You may believe that
we had to empty the cup down to the 'drugs.'"

FATHER MARTIN

Caesar was listening to Uncle Chinaman with joy, when he saw two friars
passing along the road below the balcony.

"They are from the monastery of la Pena, I suppose," he said.

The Chinaman looked out and replied:

"One of them is the prior, Father Lafuerza. The other is an intriguing
young chap who has been here only a short while."

"Man, I have to see them," said Caesar.

"They are coming up the street now."

Uncle Chinaman and Caesar went to the other end of the cafe, and waited
for them to pass.

The younger of the two friars had an air of mock humility, and was
weakly-looking, with a straggling yellowish beard and a crafty
expression; Father Martin, on the contrary, looked like a pasha parading
through his dominions. He was tall, stout, of an imposing aspect, with a
grizzly blond beard, blue eyes, and a straight, well-shaped nose.

The two friars came up the narrow, steep street, stopping to talk to the
women that were sewing and embroidering in the arcades.

Caesar and the Chinaman followed them with their eyes until the two
friars turned a corner. Then Caesar left the cafe and walked back to
Castro Duro.

VII. A TRYING SCENE

Don Platon Peribanez's reply was delayed longer than he had promised. No
one knew whether the Duke of Castro Duro would get married or not get
married, whether he would come out of prison or stay in.

Caesar had