I came hither, and I will give
thee--this--together with my blessing!' And with one hand he gave me a
golden ounce worth sixty _pesetas_ and more in these bad times. And with
the other, as I kneeled down (for I am a good Christian), he bestowed
upon me his episcopal blessing with two fingers outstretched, being as
you remember a bishop as well as an Abbot! Then after he had stood
awhile and the sun was quite gone down, Baltasar Varela, Abbot of
Montblanch--the last they say of eighty-four, went out into the
darkness, weeping very bitterly."

* * * * *

With the after history of the Queens Maria Cristina and Isabel the
Second, this historian is not concerned. Nor is it his to tell how,
greatly wronged and greatly tempted, the daughter followed all too
closely in the footsteps of her mother. Such things belong to history,
and especially to Spanish history--which, because of its contradictions
and pitiful humanities, is the most puzzling in the world. His business
is other and simpler.

For a moment only he must lift the curtain, or rather a corner of
it--like one who from the stage desires to see how the house is filling,
or perchance to give the carpet a final tug for the characters to pair
off upon and make their farewell bows.

* * * * *

In another southern province far enough from the village of Sarria,
there is a white house with sentinels before it. They do not slouch as
they walk nor lean bent-backed against a pillar when nobody is looking,
as is the wont of Spanish sentries elsewhere. It is the house of the
Governor of the once turbulent province of Valencia. The Governor is
one General Blair, Duke of Castellon del Mar, and twice-hatted grandee
of Spain, but he is still known from Murcia even to Tarragona as "Don
Rollo." For he has cleared the southern countries of Carlists, put down
the Red Republicans of Valencia and Cartagena with jovial good humour,
breaking their heads affectionately with his stout oak staff when they
rioted. They had grown accustomed to being shot in batches, and rather
resented the change at first, as reflecting on their seriousness.
However, they have since come to understand the firebrand General and to
like him. Usually they favour him with a private message a day or two
before they intend to make a revolution. Whereupon Rollo goes himself
into the woods and cuts himself a new stick of satisfactory proportions.

In th