ate occupation, and might
well have interests and ambitions beyond it. I make him my excuses for
intruding my print upon him, but I would give untold gold if I had it to
know all about such a man in such a city, walking up and down under
the embrowning trees and shrinking flowers of its Alameda, on a Sunday
morning like that.

Our guide led us to the back gate of our hotel garden, where we found
ourselves in the company of several other students of English. There
was our charming young guide of the day before and there was that sad
hunchback already mentioned, and there was their teacher who seemed so
few years older and master of so little more English. Together we looked
into the valley into which the vision makes its prodigious plunge at
Ronda before lifting again over the fertile plain to the amphitheater of
its mighty mountains; and there we took leave of that nice boy who would
not follow us into our garden because, as he showed us by the sign, it
was forbidden to any but guests. He said he was going into the country
with his family for the afternoon, and with some difficulty he owned
that he expected to play there; it was truly an admission hard to make
for a boy of his gravity. We shook hands at parting with him, and with
our yesterday's guide, and with the teacher and with the hunchback; they
all offered it in the bond of our common English; and then we felt that
we had parted with much, very much of what was sweetest and best in
Ronda.

VI

The day had been so lovely till now that we said we would stay many
days in Ronda, and we loitered in the sun admiring the garden; the young
landlady among her flowers said that all the soil had to be brought for
it in carts and panniers, and this made us admire its autumn blaze the
more. That afternoon we had planned taking our tea on the terrace for
the advantage of looking at the sunset light on the mountains, but
suddenly great black clouds blotted it out. Then we lost courage; it
appeared to us that it would be both brighter and, warmer by the sea and
that near Gibraltar we could more effectually prevent our steamer from
getting away to New York without us. We called for our bill, and after
luncheon the head waiter who brought it said that the large black cat
which had just made friends with us always woke him if he slept late
in the morning and followed him into the town like a dog when he walked
there.

It was hard to part with a cat like that, but it was