The Velvet Glove

They had lived together like brothers, and like brothers, they had fall

and Germans and Englishmen are not notable for a pretty and fanciful treatment of the subject of love

without looking up, must have seen the action,

rt of effort to be gay and careless, "What do

Marcos, curtly, with a

what i

Count lighted another cigar

understood each other, except about Juanita. We h

table and looked across the room to

nsion. It may not be as bad as that. I allow you, that as the heart grows older it loses a certain sensitiveness and delicacy of feeling. Still the comprehe

was the

-the only education open to Spanish girls-

a question

or a mother, if they are wise, will choose better than a girl thrown suddenly into the world from the convent gates. But that

the choice. We ha

the Church will recognise, and the C

d. She does not kno

see that her only chance of happiness is the veil. Few men, and no women at all, can be happy in a life of their own choosing if they are assured by persons in daily intercourse with them--p

glanced at his f

e said. "That is what I

st and most dangerous influence. Look at the question also from the point of view of a man of the world--and tell me... tell me after thinking it over c

happiness," said Marcos,

ppiness?" ... su

es

anita's chance of happiness would be greater in the convent--whether the Church could make her hap

And oddly enough Sarrio

ce, "if we may go on the presumption that you are co

ntent to

sked Sarrio

way

into the room, and as he passed Marcos he lai

n. That will please you better than words, I know. Let us go and see Leon--the weakest link

le affection, had made him a liberal allowance which had been spent, so to speak, on his Soul. It

e mistook for holiness. He was a dandy in the care of his So

thedral. On the suggestion of the servant, the Sarrions decided to wait until Leon's return. The man, w

rayer myself,"

in the poor-box," answered S

hen they were left alone, "th

the walls with a

out--why he made that will. He sent for Leon, you see, and must have seen at a glance that he had for a son--a mule, of the worst sort. He probably saw that to leav

re blame for the downfall of their country from its great estate to a Church, which can

orth scheming for. They would make a difference in any cause. They might make all the difference at this moment in Spain. Kingdoms have been won and lost for less than three million pesetas. I bel

Marcos, "what reason his fathe

lie to you,"

urmured Marcos, with his l

anita at the last moment, as a forlorn hope--leaving it to you and me to get her out of the hob

to this reiteration of the dead man's hope. The silen

d that dulness which betokens, if not an absorption in the things to come, th

himself to Sarrion. "I am having a mass celebrate

e," said Sarrion

Mar

," repli

e can," said Leon, w

bring out the true colour, and is powerless to alter it by more than a shade. Those who have lived in religious communities know that human nature is the same there as in the world--that a man who is not straig

of amateur monk, and, like all amateurs, he was apt to ex

of-fact way, "to make any effort to disc

een advis

wh

uld seem, that the friend of his childhood s

cret of the

back in his chair as one may see a leader sit back whil

anita of the terms o

difference to Juanita. She has her allowance as I have mine

k. He had, it appeared, finished his cross-examination,

contempt for Leon, who, for his part, was not free from embarrassment. They had nothing in common but the subject which had brought the Sarrions hither, a

velty for him. He had organised and taken part in many interesting and gorgeous ceremonies. But a requiem mass for one's own father must necessarily be unique in the mo

on to the number secured for to-morrow's ceremony. He was very earnest about it, and Marcos left hi

o Mon has made him. I do not know whether you are disposed to hand

ly, but walked on,

, and Sarrion's wise eyes were softened by a smile which flitt

child. She cannot be expected to know

head, as if he kne

Mon is not the man to let the grass grow beneath his

" answer