y the irony of fate I have fought against his friends and
been saved by his enemies."

"We were saved by Concha Cabezos there, I tell you," said John Mortimer,
who thought all this mere rant. "Let the old priest alone, Rollo. Marry
the girl you want to marry, and take a good job when it is offered to
you. You may not get a second chance of either. And that is a plain
man's mind upon the matter, whether you want it or not!"

Sadly but determinedly Rollo shook his head.

"No, John," he said, "that I cannot do. I were bankrupt for life in my
own esteem if I did not go straight to the Prior, frankly explain our
failure, resign my commission into his hands, and offer him any other
service in my power. I think I see my way to one even now!"

"My advice," said Etienne, suddenly striking in, "is to let my good
uncle continue in his mistake a little longer, if indeed any mistake
there be. You use a delicacy he would have been the last to use with
you. I do not believe the old fox would have cared a straw if all our
throats had been cut, so that we had served his turn. Depend upon it, we
three were the poorest kind of pawns in his game. If I am not greatly
mistaken Cabrera and Elio were only his prancing knights, and Don
Carlos, my dear cousin, the stupid old king who is of no use except to
get himself checkmated."

"And who," said Rollo, smiling for the first time, "may the Queen be
upon this little family chessboard?"

"There is indeed rather a superabundance of Queens, as we have seen,"
said Etienne, "but he who pushes about all the pieces is doubtless the
petticoated old rogue himself. Baltasar Varela has been at the bottom of
every plot these thirty years, and if anything goes wrong, he will be
the first to skip over the mountains! Take a friend's advice,
Rollo"--here the honest fellow grasped his friend's hand hard--"send
your explanations and unused commissions to my respected relative by
post. For me, I would not go within fifty miles of him for all the
revenues of Montblanch twice told!"

"Well, El Sarria, what say you? They are all against me, you see!" said
Rollo, mournfully, adding after a moment, "as indeed I knew they would
be!"

As usual the ex-outlaw had little to say, and was deplorably shy as to
saying it.

"Senor," he said after a long pause, "you have doubtless your own point
of honour. I had one once which very nearly cost myself and another a
lifetime of misery. Let the senor weigh the matter well