, and the two men mounted a staircase with a carved
balustrade, made for a king. Two stories up, the great staircase ended,
and another of small, steep and narrow steps succeeded it. When Baeza's
match went out there was no light anywhere; from a room somewhere above
came a sound of quarrelling voices--a woman's voice high and shrill, a
man's voice hoarse and drunken, and, as an accompaniment, the wailing of
a child wakened from its sleep.

At the very top of the house Baeza rapped on a door. The door was
opened, and a heavy, elderly man, wearing glasses on his nose, stood in
the entrance with the light of an unshaded lamp behind him.

"Ramon, it is the chief," said Baeza.

Ramon Castello crossed the room and closed an inner door. Then he
invited Hillyard to enter. The room was bare but for a few pieces of
necessary furniture, but all was scrupulously clean. Ramon Castillo set
forward a couple of chairs and asked his visitors to be seated. He was
in his shirt-sleeves, and he wore the rope-soled sandals of the Spanish
peasant, but he was entirely at his ease. He made the customary little
speech of welcome with so simple a dignity and so manifest a sincerity
that Hillyard could hardly doubt him afterwards.

"It is my honour to welcome you not merely as my chief, but as an
Englishman. I am poor, and I take my pay, but Senor Baeza will assure
you that for twenty-five years I have been the friend of England. And
there are thousands and thousands of poor Spaniards like myself, who
love England, because its law-courts are just, because there is a real
freedom there, because political power is not the opportunity of
oppression."

The little speech was spoken with great rapidity and with deep feeling;
and, having delivered it, Ramon seated himself on the side of the table
opposite to Hillyard and Baeza and waited.

"It is about Pontiana Tabor," said Hillyard. "He is making a mistake?"

"No, senor; he is lying," and he used the phrase which has no exact
equivalent in the English. "He is a _sin verguenza_."

"Tell me, my friend," said Hillyard.

"Pontiana Tabor swears that Jose Medina was seen to enter the German
Consulate before noon on August the 22nd. But on August the 21st Medina
was in Palma, Mallorca; he was seen there by a captain of the Islana
Company, and a friend of mine spoke to him on the quay. If, therefore,
he was in the German Consulate here on the 22nd, he must have crossed
that night by the steamer to Ba