tive of Pepita's, he might yet
come forward in her defense, as a man of honor; but he saw well the
scandal this would give rise to, since, far from saying a word in her
favor, all the other persons present joined in applauding the wit of the
count. He, already the minister, almost, of a God of peace, could not be
the one to give the lie to this ruffian, and thus expose himself to the
risk of a quarrel.

Don Luis was on the point of departing in silence. But his heart would
not consent to this, and, striving to clothe himself with an authority
which was justified neither by his years nor by his countenance, where
the beard had scarcely begun to make its appearance, nor by his presence
in that place, he began to speak with earnest eloquence in denunciation
of all slanderers, and to reproach the count, with the freedom of a
Christian and in severe accents, with the vileness of his conduct.

This was to preach in the desert, or worse. The count answered his
homily with gibes and jests; the by-standers, among whom were many
strangers, took the part of the jester, notwithstanding the fact that
Don Luis was the son of the squire. Even Currito, who was of no account
whatever, and who was, besides, a coward, although he did not laugh, yet
made no effort to take the part of his friend, and the latter was
obliged to withdraw, disturbed and humiliated by the ridicule he had
drawn on himself.

* * * * *

"This flower only was wanting to complete the nosegay," muttered poor
Don Luis between his teeth when he had reached his house and shut
himself up in his room, vexed and ill at ease because of the jeers of
which he had been the butt. He exaggerated them to himself; they seemed
to him unendurable. He threw himself into a chair, depressed and
disheartened, and a thousand contradictory ideas assailed his mind at
once.

The blood of his father, which boiled in his veins, incited him to
anger, and urged him to throw aside the clerical garb, as he had in the
beginning been advised to do in the village, and then give the count his
deserts; but the whole future he had planned for himself would be thus,
at a blow, destroyed. He pictured to himself the dean disowning him; and
even the Pope, who had already sent the pontifical dispensation
permitting him to be ordained before the required age, and the bishop
of the diocese, who had based the petition for the dispensation on his
approved virtue and learning