ic is there, needing no subtlety to be
discovered; and the least imaginative may feel a certain thrill when he
understands that the life he leads is not without its aesthetic meaning.

* * *

I rode for a long way in complete solitude, through many miles of this
sandy desert. Then the country changed, and olive-groves in endless
succession followed one another, the trees with curiously decorative
effect were planted in long, even lines. The earth was a vivid red,
contrasting with the blue sky and the sombre olives, gnarled and
fantastically twisted, like evil spirits metamorphosed: in places they
had sown corn, and the young green enhanced the shrill diversity of
colour. With its clear, brilliant outlines and its lack of shadow, the
scene reminded one of a prim pattern, such as in Jane Austen's day young
gentlewomen worked in worsted. Sometimes I saw women among the trees,
perched like monkeys on the branches, or standing below with large
baskets; they were extraordinarily quaint in the trousers which modesty
bade them wear for the concealment of their limbs when olive-picking.
The costume was so masculine, their faces so red and weather-beaten,
that the yellow handkerchief on their heads was really the only means of
distinguishing their sex.

But the path became more precipitous, hewn from the sandstone, and so
polished by the numberless shoes of donkeys and of mules that I hardly
dared walk upon it; and suddenly I saw Carmona in front of me--quite
close.

XXVII

[Sidenote: By the Road--I]

The approach to Carmona is a very broad, white street, much too wide for
the cottages which line it, deserted; and the young trees planted on
either side are too small to give shade. The sun beat down with a fierce
glare and the dust rose in clouds as I passed. Presently I came to a
great Moorish gateway, a dark mass of stone, battlemented, with a lofty
horseshoe arch. People were gathered about it in many-coloured groups, I
found it was a holiday in Carmona, and the animation was unwonted; in a
corner stood the hut of the _Consumo_, and the men advanced to examine
my saddle-bags. I passed through, into the town, looking right and left
for a _parador_, an hostelry whereat to leave my horse. I bargained for
the price of food and saw Aguador comfortably stalled; then made my way
to the Nekropolis where lived my host. There are many churches in
Carmona, and into one of these I entered; it had nothing of great
interest,