The Velvet Glove

than a quiet admiration or a peaceful wonder. Here and there on the face of the earth, however, t

even a French geologist with his quick imagination and

h height of Montserrat the traveler mu

throwing up its rugged peaks into a cloudless sky. It is a piece from nothing near it---from nothing nearer, on

compasses the finest wreck, Loyola, wounded in the defense of that strongest little city in Europe, Pampeluna--wounded, alas! and not killed--jumped to the conclusi

history, they are given a legend. Do they demand a fact, they are told a miracle. On payment of a sufficient fee they are shown a small, ill-carved figure in wood. The monastery is not without its story; for the French occupied it and burnt it to the ground. F

te, there is a good and exceedingly prosperous restaurant where the traveler may feed. In the vast houses, is accommodation for rich and poor; a cell an

l evening air was ambient with culinary odours. Mon went at once to the office of the monastery, and there received his sheets and pillow-case, his towel, his candle, and the key of h

ilence; for Spain is a silent country, and only babbles in that home of fervid eloquence and fatal verbosity, the Cortes. It is always dangerous to enter into conversation with a stranger in Spain, for there is practically no subject upon which the various nationalities are unable to quarrel. A Frenchman is

vitable Andalusian--he who takes the place of the Gascon in France--is present with his babble and his laugh, his fine opini

their station in life. For they were obviously gentlemen, and obviously of a thoughtful and perhaps devout habit of mind. A keen observer who has had the cosmopolitan education, say, of an attaché, is usually able to assign a nationality to each member of a mixed assembly; but there was

man seated opposite. A second time he met the glance of another diner, a stout, puffy man, who breathed heavily while he ate. Both men alike averted their eyes at once, and both looked towar

mill. He was oblivious to his surroundings; had forgotten his companions. His mind had more to occupy it than one brief lifetime could hope to compass. Yet he was so clearly a man in authority that a casual obs

h men as Evasio Mon--and the other four seem

ely eaten a baked almond, more from habit than desire, the little wizened

. We have no time to discuss our business at this table. Shall we go within the m

s a great man. For all stood aside as he passed out, and one ope

e farther end, and is, of course, the centre of interest. Here is kept the sacred image, which has survived so many chances and changes; which, hidden for a hundred and fifty years in a cavern on the mountainside, made itself known at last by a mir

sheer fall of three thousand feet. A fountain splashes in the courtyard below, and a low wall forms a long seat where the devout pass the eveni

companions to do the same. Had any idle observer been interested in their movements he would have concluded that

alian born, "and have left Rome at a time when the Church requires the help of even the humblest of he

at the impl

man, breathing hard, as if to illustrate the length of his jou

ness of a Frenchman; for this was

of the match towards the last speaker,

a! You have not taken Pampeluna yet, my friend. One does not hear that Bilboa has fallen into the hands of the C

n in his quiet, neat enunciat

o look at the Pole through the upp

of the North Pole," said the stout man w

ttle wizened man, who seemed to be the leader thou

plied the

ound as if making a mental calculation. "You have forced Germany and France into war. You have made France withdra

ent to play on thos

clumsy Do

we are an ignorant nation. It is the ignorant and

uy a new Don Carlos with o

en ruined by success, because it took them by surprise. In case we succeed, this

pain want?" inqu

doesn't

ked to be your king. Is not that a spoke i

e--not even Prim--thinks that he will las

or Emmanuel is clever and capable. One can never tell

tale. No honest king can hope to reign over this country

face for a moment, and--who knows?--perha

nest, in a word,

him; for the word

u received a large sum of money, you made a di

hat his memory had ever made slip

could show something tangible--a fortress taken and hel

answe

for instance, that Spain has had more than her share of the common funds--you would lay before us some proposal

ask for any sum that I co

t absolute stillness which is peculiar to great heights--a

um that you can double

you for three m

man gave a gasp. With three million pesetas he c

said the little man, "I will hand you anothe

answered Mon, reflectivel

he chapel bell, which was slowly tol

et us say a prayer