er Gonzales.

One day the good priest came up the stairs quite out of breath. He
carried a letter in his hand.

"Here, Mariano, my boy, you can run, while my poor old legs are full of
rheumatism. Here, take this letter down to the Diligence Office and tell
them to send it tonight, sure. It is for the Bishop at Barcelona and it
must be in his hands before tomorrow. Run now, for the last post closes
very soon."

Mariano took the letter, dived hatless out of the door and, sitting on
the first stair, shot to the bottom like the slide to doom.

Grandfather Fortuny and the gentle old priest leaned out over the stone
window-sill and laughed to see the boy scurry down the street.

Then the priest went his way.

Grandfather Fortuny waited, looking out of the window, for the boy to
come back. The boy did not come.

He waited.

Lights began to flicker in the windows across the way.

A big red star came up in the West. The wind blew fresh and cool.

The old man shut down the sash, and looked at the untasted supper of
brown bread and goat's milk and fresh fruit.

He took his hat from the peg and his cane from the corner and hobbled
down the stairs. He went to the Diligence Office. No one there remembered
seeing the boy--how can busy officials be expected to remember
everything?

Grandfather Fortuny made his way to the house of Father Gonzales. The
priest had been called away to attend a man sick unto death--he would not
be back for an hour.

The old man waited--waited one hour--two.

Father Gonzales came, and listened calmly to the troubled tale of the old
man. Then together they made their way over to the tall tenement and up
the creaky stairway.

There was the flicker of a candle to be seen under the door.

They entered, and there at the table sat Mariano munching silently on his
midnight supper.

"Where have you been?" was the surprised question of both old men,
speaking as one person.

"Me? I've been to Barcelona to give the letter to the Bishop--the last
diligence had gone," said the boy with his mouth full of bread.

"To Barcelona--ten miles, and back?"

"Me? Yes."

"Did you walk?"

"No, I ran."

Father Gonzales looked at Grandfather Fortuny, and Grandfather Fortuny
looked at Father Gonzales; then they both burst out laughing. Mariano
placed an extra plate on the table, and the three drew up chairs.

* * * * *

Business was looking up with Grandfather Fortuny and