d in vain
through the catalogue of saints for that name. At the time I was
employed in the municipal offices, and I had to intervene. This was all
before the Revolution; Gonzalez Brabo was boss in those days--and good
old days they were! Let an enemy of law and order or sound religion just
raise his voice and he was off on his way to Fernando Pio in no time.
Well, what a racket the Doctor raised! He sat himself down in that
church--first time he'd ever been in the place--and insisted that his
daughter be labeled as he directed. Later he thought he would take her
home without any baptism at all, saying he had no use for the ceremony
anyhow, and that he put up with it only to please his sister. During
the argument, he called all the curates and acolytes assembled in the
sacristy there, a pack of 'brahmans.'"

"He must have said Brahmins," interrupted Rafael.

"Yes, that's it: and Bonzes, too--just joking, of course--I remember
very well. But finally he compromised and let her be baptized with the
orthodox name of 'Leonor.' Not that he cared what they called her in the
church. As he went out he said to the priest: "She will be 'Leonora' for
reasons that please her father, and which you wouldn't understand even
if I were to explain them to you." What a hubbub followed! Don Ramon and
I had to interfere to calm the good curates; they were for sending him
up for sacrilege, insult to religion, what not! We had to go some to
quiet things down. In those days, boy, a matter of that sort was more
serious than killing a man."

"Which name did she keep?" asked a friend of Rafael.

"Leonora, as her father wished. That girl always took after the old man.
Just as queer as he was. The Doctor all over again! I haven't seen her
yet. They say she's a stunning beauty, like her mother, who was a
blonde, and the handsomest girl in all these parts. When the Doctor had
dressed his wife up like a lady, she wasn't much for manners, but she
certainly was something to look at...."

"And what became of Moreno?" asked another. "Is it true, as they said
years ago, that he shot himself?"

"Oh, some say one thing, some another. Perhaps it's all a lie. Who
knows! It all happened so far away.... After the Republic fell, it was
the turn of decent people again. Poor Moreno took it all harder than he
did the death of his Teresa, and kept himself locked up in his house day
in, day out. Your father was stronger than before and we ran things in a
way that