ould be followed and everything
that had happened ascertained.

The impression produced in the town by this assassination was enormous.
Some people said that Father Martin and his followers had ordered
"Lengthy" killed. In the Workmen's Club there was talk of setting fire
to the Benevolent Society of Saint Joseph and of burning the monastery
of la Pena.

Caesar was in Madrid at the time of the crime. Some days later a
committee from the Club came to see him; it was necessary to have a
charge pushed and for Caesar to be the private attorney.

According to the Club people, the Clericals wanted to save "Driveller"
Juan, and if he was not disposed of completely, he would begin his
performances again.

Caesar could see nothing for it but to accept the duty which the town
put upon him.

Because of the crime, the history of "Driveller's" family came to be
public property. He had a mother and two sisters who were seamstresses,
whom he exploited, and he lived with a tavern-keeper nicknamed "The
Cub-Slut," a buxom, malicious woman, who said horrible things about
everybody.

* * * * *

_LIFE OF "THE CUB-SLUT"_

There were reasons for "The Cub-Slut's" being what she was. Her parents
being dead when she was a baby, having no relatives she had been left
deserted. A farrier they called "Gaffer," who seemed to have been a
kind person, took in the infant and brought her up in his house. It was
"Gaffer" who had given the nickname to the child, because instead of
calling her by her name, he used to say:

"Hey, 'Cub-Slut!' Hey, little 'Cub-Slut!'" and the appellation had
stuck.

When the girl was fourteen, "Gaffer" ravished her, and afterwards, being
tired of her, took her to a house of prostitution in the Capital and
sold her. "The Cub-Slut" left the brothel to go and live with an old
innkeeper, who died and made her his heiress. Six years later she went
back to Castro. Those that had seen her come back maintained that when
she reached the town and was told that "Gaffer" had died a few months
before, she burst into tears; some said it was from sentiment, but
others thought, very plausibly, that it was from rage at not being able
to get revenge. "The Cub-Slut" set up a tavern at Castro.

"Driveller" and "The Cub-Slut" got along well, although, by what any one
could discover, "The Cub-Slut" treated the bully more like a servant
than anything else.

"The Cub-Slut" was said to be very outspoken. One