The Velvet Glove

ds thereafter to his name a title which carries with it not only the distinction conferred upon

hat the Church may dictate--that wise old Church, which fills so well its vocation in the minds of the restless and the unsatisfied. He had been many t

er family of daughters, he could tell her of some littl

. It is the right thing to do. The air of the moun

e than it is for the profane reader, to inquire why latter-day mira

n a long journey to a gay city, where the devout

ccount for his serene demeanour and that even health which he seemed to enjoy. He had traveled without perturbment, it would

rubbed against him and left him unmarked--as sandstone may rub against a diamond. It is upon the sandstone that the scratch remains. He was not part of all

t. James when traveling through Spain, Mon naturally interested himself in the pilgrims, who came from all parts of the world t

o del Ebro was a known resort of the more cultured of the pilgrims, of these who came from

ft. Here, night and day, the clink of bells and the gruff admonition of refractory mules told of travel, and the constant come and go of strange, wild-looking men from the remoter corners of Aragon, far up by the foothills of the Pyrenees. The huge two-wheeled carts drawn by six, eight or ten mules, came lumbering throug

e, remembered faithfully through the long and dusty journey, to the man who, though no priest himself, seemed known to every priest in Spain. Thes

us appearance, at which time the graven image set up in the cathedral is understood to be more amenable to supplication than at any other. And, having accomplished their pilgrimage, the simple churchmen turned quite naturally to the house that stood adjoining the cathedra

y attended. For it will be found that the miracles and other events attractive to the devout nearly always happen at that season of the year which is most suitable to the environments. Thus the traditions of the Mid

r in the summer, when the number of the devout was more restricted and their quality more select. Scores of thousands of the very

ions for it must have been made in advance, and his departure by an early train the day after

n the long, narrow street which forms nearly the whole town of Lerida. In Navarre and Aragon the train service is not quite up to modern requirements. There is usually one passenger train in either direction d

by the bank of the river, where the low wall is rubbed smooth by the trousers of the indolent, men stood in groups and talked in a low voice. It is not too much to state that the only serene face i

d been born in stirring times and their fathers before them. Stirring times had reigned in this country for a hundred years. Ferdinand VII--the beloved, the dupe of Napoleon the Great, the god of

unfortunate position in which a nation or a man--and, above al

every man a Carlist and every woman that which her confessor told her to be. In the south, Andalusia only asked to be left alone to go her

nations of Europe were at each other's throats. It was a long cry from Ems to Lérida, and the talke

med, flow with blood before the year ran out. For the greatest catastrophe that the Church has had to face was preparing in the new and temporary capital

scene at Ems as soon as any man in the Peninsula; for history will undoubtedly show, when a generation or so has passed away, that the latter stages of Napol

et other nations by the ears. The Republic had been tried and had miserably failed. There was yet a Don Carlos, a direct descendant of the brother whom Ferdinand the beloved cheated

the lips against the evening air. He went to the large caf

but not with that comfort which is begotten of a love of the animal. For him the horse was esse

rcely known peace these hundred years. The teller of news cannot help telling with his tidings his own view of them; a

d passed, the spirit of unrest was left behind. In remote Aragonese villages, as in busy Catalan towns where the artisan (t

a, in every Posada of the towns, that which is

on was a not