ork. Fray Ignatius says they have
to keep an army of police there. No wonder! And my son is so full
of nobilities, so generous, so honorable, he will not keep himself
exclusive. He is the true resemblance of my brother Don Juan Flores.
Juan was always pitying the poor and making friends with those beneath
him. At last he went into the convent of the Bernardines and died like a
very saint."

"I think our Jack will be more likely to die like a very hero. If there
is any thing Jack hates, it is oppression. He would right a beggar, if
he saw him wronged."

"Poco a poco! I am tired of rights and wrongs. Let us talk a little
about our dresses, for there will be a gay winter. Senora Valdez assured
me of it; many soldiers are coming here, and we shall have parties, and
cock-fights, and, perhaps, even a bull-feast."

"Oh!" cried Isabel clapping her hands enthusiastically; "a bull-feast!
That is what I long to see!"

At this moment the doctor entered the room, and Isabel ran to meet
him. No father could have resisted her pretty ways, her kisses, her
endearments, her coaxing diminutives of speech, her childlike loveliness
and simplicity.

"What is making you so happy, Queridita?" [1]

"Mi madre says there is perhaps to be a bullfeast this winter. Holy
Virgin, think of it! That is the one thing I long to see!"

With her clinging arms around him, and her eager face lifted to his for
sympathy, the father could not dash the hope which he knew in his heart
was very unlikely to be realized. Neither did he think it necessary
to express opposition or disapproval for what had as yet no tangible
existence. So he answered her with smiles and caresses, and a little
quotation which committed him to nothing:

"As, Panem et Circenses was the cry
Among the Roman populace of old;
So, Pany Toros! is the cry of Spain."

The Senora smiled appreciatively and put out her hand. "Pan y Toros!"
she repeated. "And have you reflected, children, that no other nation
in the world cries it. Only Spain and her children! That is because
only men of the Spanish race are brave enough to fight bulls, and only
Spanish bulls are brave enough to fight men."

She was quite pleased with herself for this speech, and finding no one
inclined to dispute the statement, she went on to describe a festival
of bulls she had been present at in the city of Mexico. The subject
delighted her, and she grew eloquent over it; and, conscious only o