feeling as though this was the
worst of all. Harry had it now all his own way: a gay, careless,
impulsive dog--a fellow who would forget the whole world while under
the influence of a pair of bright eyes--a fellow who was even now,
perhaps, trying to cut him out. The miserable humbug, also, by a most
abominable chance, had both these girls. Both! Insatiate monster!
would not one suffice?

Thus Ashby chafed, and fumed, and, I am sorry to add, swore terribly;
but all the while the train kept rolling on and on, until at length
the Ebro valley was reached. Here the scenes that opened to view were
most attractive. Far away on either side was a broad plain, dotted
with towns and villages, and filled with olive-groves and vineyards,
where cattle, and sheep, and goats grazed peacefully, and shepherds,
goatherds, and vine-dressers stared lazily up as the train rolled by.
The distant horizon was everywhere terminated by lofty mountains--on
the south, the circling range of the Sierra de Grados; on the north,
the long line of the Pyrenees and the Asturian mountains, their sides
covered with foliage, their summits crowned with snow. It was a
ground, too, which was rich in associations of history and romance,
the arena of gallant struggle and heroic effort for many and many an
age; a place that called up memories of Hannibal, with his conquering
armies; of Rome, with her invincible legions; of Charlemagne, with
his Paladins; of Abd-er-Rahman, with his brilliant Saracens; of the
steel-clad Crusaders; of the martial hosts of Arragon; of the
resistless infantry of Ferdinand and Isabella; of the wars of the
Spanish succession; of the redcoats of Wellington; through all the
ages down to the time of this story, when Don Carlos was standing
among these northern mountains, as Pelajo stood more than a thousand
years ago, leading on his hardy warriors to battle against all the
rest of Spain.

So the train rolled on--past the numerous stations; past the towns
and villages; past the long groves and vineyards; past the barren,
sandy tracts; past the hill-sides, with shepherds, and flocks, and
herds; past the roads, with long trains of mules; past the peasants
lolling over walls and fences--so the train passed on, mile after
mile and hour after hour; but nothing of all this was noticed by
Ashby, who sat buried in his gloomy reverie, from which he was unable
to rally, until at length the train came to a sudden full-stop.

About such a sudden an