THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 University of Illinois Library 
 
 KOV 17 
 
 * 
 961 
 
 C 191988 
 
 JU! 
 
 364 
 
 973 
 
 KWB. 
 
 L161 H41 
 
THE S E A-G U L L 
 
 (LA G-AYIOTA). 
 
 *;v o> , nv,- 
 ' :>*.\> Y 
 
 FROM THE SPANISH OF FERN AN CABALLERO. o SC 
 
 o S 
 
 BY THE HON. AUGUSTA BETHELL. 
 
 IX TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 
 
 in ('Vaimun to ijrr niajrstij. 
 
 1867. 
 
LONDON: J>RINTKP BT w. CLOWES ANI> SOKB, PTAWFORP 
 
 AND CHAItlNO CK068. 
 
v,\ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE rapidly growing interest in England 
 for everything connected with Spain, leads 
 to the hope that this translation of a 
 graphic picture of the Spaniards of all 
 classes, as drawn by one of the most 
 eminent of their modern writers, will be 
 well received. 
 
 The name of Fernan Caballero, which is 
 the nom de plume adopted by Dona Cecilia 
 Faber, has been several times of late 
 brought to the notice of the English public 
 by recent writers on Spain, who have borne 
 testimony to the high esteem in which her 
 works are held in that country and on the 
 
 169633 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 Continent generally. The novels are also 
 favourably mentioned in an article in the 
 'Edinburgh Review' of July, 1861. By 
 adhering, as closely as possible, to a strictly 
 literal translation, it is hoped that the cha- 
 racter and spirit of the original have been 
 preserved. 
 
 Some few omissions have been made, viz. : 
 Several pages of purely local description, 
 which the Author herself, in an apologetic 
 note, confesses to be " demasiado prolija" (too 
 prolix), and two or three other passages, 
 which it was thought might prove tedious 
 or distasteful to the English reader. 
 
 These omissions, however, in no way 
 affect the tenour of the story. 
 
 MARCH 11, 1867. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 (LA GAYIOTA.) 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ix the month of November, 1836, the 
 steamer * Boyal Sovereign ' bore away from 
 the foggy shores of Falmouth, lashing the 
 waves with her paddles, and unfurling her 
 gray and damp sails, in a mist even grayer 
 and damper than they. 
 
 The interior of the vessel presented the 
 disagreeable spectacle usual to the begin- 
 ning of a sea voyage. The passengers 
 were crowded together, contending with 
 the horrors of sea-sickness; the women 
 
 VT. T. t ^ 
 
2 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 in every imaginable attitude, with dis- 
 hevelled hair, disordered dresses, and 
 crushed bonnets; the men pale and ill- 
 tempered; the children deserted and in 
 tears, and the servants with staggering steps 
 carrying tea, coffee, and other imaginary 
 remedies, to those who were ill ; while the 
 vessel, Queen of the waters, careless of the 
 sufferings she occasioned, battled with the 
 waves, mastering them when they offered 
 resistance, and pursuing them closely when 
 they yielded. Walking the deck were those 
 who were saved from the common evil by 
 peculiarity of constitution, or by having 
 been long inured to the sea. Among these 
 was the governor of an English colony, a 
 tall, handsome man, accompanied by two 
 aides-de-camp. Others wrapped in mac- 
 kintoshes, their hands in their pockets, 
 with flushed or pale faces, appeared gene- 
 rally discomposed and uncomfortable. In 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 3 
 
 short, this beautiful ship seemed to have been 
 transformed into the abode of misery. 
 
 Conspicuous among the passengers was a 
 young man, about twenty-four years of age, 
 in whose quiet, gentlemanly manners, and 
 calm, handsome features, no sign of discom- 
 posure could be perceived. He was tall 
 and well-made, of graceful and dignified car- 
 riage, his dark hair curled over his high, 
 white forehead, and the expression of his 
 large black eyes was at once soft and pene- 
 trating. His lips, shaded by a small black 
 moustache, wore a pleasing, intelligent smile, 
 and nobility of rank and mind could be 
 clearly traced in his general bearing, even in 
 his walk and gestures, yet without the slight- 
 est symptom of that hauteur which some un- 
 justly attribute to superiority of any kind. 
 
 He was travelling for pleasure, and though 
 essentially a good man, was not impelled by 
 any sentiment of virtuous anger to wuiru 
 
 B2 
 
4 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 war with the yices and follies of society. 
 In other words, he did not feel that it was 
 his vocation to tilt at windmills like Don 
 Quixote. 
 
 His physiognomy, easy manners, the pecu- 
 liar grace with which he wore his cloak, and 
 his disregard of the cold and of the general 
 discomfort, proved him, beyond doubt, to be 
 a Spaniard. 
 
 He walked about, observing with quick 
 glances the various people whom chance had 
 brought together on those planks ; but there 
 was little to observe in men who staggered 
 about as if intoxicated, or in women who 
 were pale and inanimate as the dead. 
 
 Nevertheless, his interest was greatly 
 excited by the family of an English officer, 
 whose wife had arrived on board so ill that 
 it was necessary to carry her to her cabin. 
 Soon after the same service was rendered to 
 the nurse, and then the father followed, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 5 
 
 carrying an infant in his arms, leaving three 
 other little creatures of two, three, and four 
 years of age, on the deck, with strict injunc- 
 tions to be good, and to stay quietly where 
 he had placed them. The poor children, 
 who apparently had been brought up with 
 great strictness, remained as iminoveable 
 and silent as the angels pictured at the feet 
 of the Virgin. 
 
 By degrees the bright colour faded from 
 their cheeks, and their large, widely-opened 
 eyes grew dull and heavy, but no movement 
 or complaint betrayed their sufferings, 
 which, however, could easily be discerned in 
 their pale, sad faces. 
 
 Nobody came to their assistance in this 
 silent torture, in this sad and gentle resig- 
 nation. 
 
 The Spaniard was about to call the stew- 
 ard, when he heard him replying impatiently 
 to a young man, who, speaking in German, 
 
O THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 seemed, by expressive gestures, to be asking 
 help for these forsaken little creatures. As, 
 however, the young man's personal appear- 
 ance indicated neither elegance nor dis- 
 tinction, and as he could only speak German, 
 the steward turned his back on him, saying 
 lie couldn't understand him. Upon this the 
 German went down to his berth in the fore- 
 cabin, returning quickly with a pillow, a 
 counterpane, and a thick coat. With these 
 he made a kind of bed, on which he laid the 
 children, covering them up with the greatest 
 care. But scarcely had he done so when 
 they were taken violently ill, and in an 
 instant the pillow, coverlet, and greatcoat 
 were entirely spoiled. 
 
 The Spaniard looked at the German, on 
 whose face he could only discover a smile of 
 benevolent satisfaction, which seemed to say, 
 " Thank God ! they will be better now." 
 
 He spoke to him in English, French, and 
 
THE SEA-GULL. < 
 
 in Spanish, but received no other reply than 
 an ungraceful bow and the words, " Ich 
 verstehe nicht" (I don't understand). 
 
 After dinner, when the Spaniard went on 
 deck again, it had become much colder. He 
 wrapped himself in his cloak and walked up 
 and down, passing and repassing the German, 
 who, seated on a bench, was gazing intently 
 at the sea which was displaying its pearls of 
 foam and diamonds of phosphoric light on 
 the sides of the vessel. The youth was 
 dressed very lightly, for his greatcoat was 
 useless, and without it he must have been 
 dreadfully cold. 
 
 The Spaniard approached him, and then 
 drew back, not knowing in what language to 
 begin the conversation. Suddenly he smiled 
 as if a happy idea struck him, and going 
 straight up to the other, said in Latin, " You 
 must be very cold." 
 
 His voice and words seemed to please the 
 
8 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 foreigner, and with a smile he replied in the 
 same language, 
 
 " The night is certainly very cold ; but I 
 was not thinking of that." 
 
 " Of what then were you thinking ? " asked 
 the Spaniard. 
 
 " Of my father and mother, and of my 
 dear brothers and sisters." 
 
 " Why do you travel then, if you feel the 
 separation so much ? " 
 
 " Ah ! senor, necessity; that implacable 
 despot 
 
 " Then you are not travelling for 
 pleasure ? " 
 
 " Pleasure belongs to the rich, and I am 
 poor! For my pleasure ! .... If you only 
 knew the motive of my journey, you would 
 see how far it is from being an agreeable one." 
 
 " Where then are you going? " 
 
 "To the war, the civil war, the most 
 terrible of all wars, to Navarra." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " To the war ! " exclaimed the Spaniard, 
 looking with surprise at the German, whose 
 appearance was mild, and almost humble; 
 in fact, anything but warlike. " You are a 
 soldier, then ? " 
 
 "No, that is not my calling. Neither 
 my inclination nor my principles would lead 
 me to bear arms, unless it were to defend the 
 holy cause of the independence of Germany, 
 if it were ever again attacked by foreigners. 
 I am going to the army of Navarra, to take 
 service as a surgeon." 
 
 " And you don't understand the language ?" 
 " No, senor -, but I shall learn it." 
 " Nor do you know the country ? " 
 " Not at alL I have never quitted my 
 own village, except to go to the University." 
 " I suppose you have letters of introduc- 
 tion ? " 
 "None." 
 " Do you depend on any interest ? " 
 
10 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " I know no one in Spain." 
 
 " On what, then, do you depend ? " 
 
 " On knowledge of my profession ; on my 
 readiness to work; on my youth, and my 
 trust in God." 
 
 At these words the Spaniard preserved a 
 thoughtful silence. He felt strongly inte- 
 rested in the German, and even affected, as 
 he looked at his face, expressive of so much 
 candour and gentleness, wearing a sad but at 
 the same time confiding smile, and lighted up 
 by blue eyes pure as those of a child. 
 
 After a short pause, he said, " Will you 
 come below and take a glass of punch with 
 me, to keep out the cold ? " 
 
 The German bowed, and followed the* other 
 to the saloon, where some punch was brought 
 to them. 
 
 At the head of the table were seated the 
 Governor and his two aides-de-camp ; at one 
 side were two Frenchmen; the Spaniard 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 11 
 
 and the German placed themselves at the 
 bottom. " What made you think of going 
 to our unfortunate country ? " inquired the 
 former. 
 
 In reply, the German gave him a true 
 history of his life. He was the sixth son of 
 a professor living in a small town in Saxony, 
 who had spent all he possessed on the educa- 
 tion of his sons. When the one with whom 
 we are now acquainted left the University, 
 he found, like many poor young men in Ger- 
 many, that after devoting his youth to deep 
 study of his profession, and practising his 
 art under the best masters, he had very little 
 chance of obtaining employment so as to 
 gain a livelihood. His maintenance being a 
 burden on his family, he made up his mind, 
 with true German philosophy, and without 
 allowing himself to feel disheartened, to set 
 out for Spain, where, unhappily, the terrible 
 war of the North gave him hopes of finding 
 
12 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 a field for his services. " Under the linden 
 trees which shade the door of my home," he 
 said, as he concluded his story, " I embraced 
 for the last time my father, my darling 
 mother, my sister Lotte, and my little bro- 
 thers, who cried to come with me on my 
 wanderings. Thus, in tears, I entered the 
 path of life which so many find strewed with 
 flowers. But I do not despair : man is born 
 to labour, and Heaven will crown my efforts. 
 I love my profession, because it is a grand 
 and noble one ; its object being to relieve 
 the sufferings of others, the result is there- 
 fore beautiful, even though the task may be 
 painful." 
 
 " Your name is ?" 
 
 "Fritz Stein," replied the German, half 
 rising and bowing slightly. 
 
 Soon after this the new friends left the 
 saloon. One of the Frenchmen, who hap- 
 pened to be opposite the door, saw the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 13 
 
 Spaniard, as they reached the companion- 
 ladder, throw his beautiful cloak lined with 
 fur, over the German's shoulders, and then 
 escape to his cabin, refusing to listen to any 
 remonstrances on the part of the other. 
 
 " Could you make out what they said ? " 
 asked the other Frenchman. 
 
 " To tell the truth," replied the first, who 
 was a commercial traveller, " Latin is hardly 
 my strong point ; but that fair, pale youth 
 appears to me to be one of the weeping 
 Werther kind. I heard something about 
 Charlotte and the children, in his story, just 
 as in the German novel ; but instead of 
 running to pistols for consolation, he seeks it 
 in punch, which, if not quite as romantic, is 
 much more philosophical and German. As 
 for the Spaniard, I take him to be a Don 
 Quixote, protector of the helpless, a would- 
 be St. Martin dividing his cloak with the 
 poor. Add to which his haughty looks, firm 
 
14 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 penetrating glances, and face pale as the 
 moonlight, and you have an unmistakeable 
 Spaniard." 
 
 "You know," said the other, "that as a 
 historical painter, I am going to Tarifa to 
 paint a picture of the siege of that city, at 
 the moment when the son of Guzman makes 
 a sign to his father, to give him up as a 
 sacrifice sooner than surrender the place. If 
 this young man would only sit to me as a 
 model, my picture would be a sure success. 
 I have never before seen nature so nearly 
 approach the ideal." 
 
 "Just like an artist, always poetical!" 
 replied his friend. " For my part, if I don't 
 deceive myself, I should say, judging from 
 the man's graceful appearance, his womanish 
 foot, and the elegant turn of his waist, that 
 he is a bull-fighter. Perhaps he is the fa- 
 mous Montes himself, who, besides the other 
 points of likeness, is both rich and generous." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 15 
 
 " A bull-fighter ! " exclaimed the artist, 
 *' one of the people ! You must be joking." 
 
 "Not at all," said the other. " I am very 
 far from doing so. You have never lived in 
 Spain as I have, and therefore don't know 
 the aristocratic appearance of the people. 
 You will see ! you will see ! My opinion is, 
 that, thanks to the progress of equality and 
 fraternity, these provoking aristocratic airs 
 are becoming extinguished, and in a short 
 time will only be met with in Spain among 
 the lower orders." 
 
 " The idea of taking this man for a bull- 
 fighter," said the artist, with such a con- 
 temptuous smile that the other, vexed by 
 his manner rose quickly, saying, 
 
 " We can easily find out which is right. 
 Come along, and we'll ask his servant." 
 
 The two friends went up on deck, where 
 they soon found the man they sought. The 
 commercial traveller, who spoke a little 
 
1C THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Spanish, entered into conversation with him, 
 and, after a few commonplace remarks, asked, 
 
 " Has your master gone to bed ? " 
 
 " Yes, seuor," replied the servant, giving 
 him a cunning, mischievous look. 
 
 " Is he very rich ? " 
 
 " I am not his steward, only his valet," 
 
 "Is he travelling on business ? " 
 
 " I don't know that he is." 
 
 "Does he travel for the sake of his 
 health ? " 
 
 "He is very well." 
 
 " Is he travelling incognito ? " 
 
 " No, seuor ; under his own name." 
 
 " Which is ?" 
 
 " Don Carlos de la Cerda." 
 
 " An illustrious name, by heaven ! " ex- 
 claimed the artist. 
 
 " Mine is Pedro de Guzman," added the 
 Spaniard ; " and I am your very humble 
 servant." 
 
THE SEA-GULL 17 
 
 So saying, lie made them a very low bow, 
 and retired. 
 
 " Gil Bias is right," said the Frenchman ; 
 " there is nothing so common in Spain as 
 high-sounding names. It is true that my 
 shoemaker at Paris is called Martel, my 
 tailor Roland, and my laundress Madame 
 Bayard. In Scotland there are more Stu- 
 arts than paving-stones. We have been 
 taken in ! That rogue of a servant has been 
 making game of us. On consideration, 
 however, I suspect his master is an agent of 
 the rebels, a small spy of Don Carlos." 
 
 "Not he," retorted the artist. "He is 
 my Alonso Perez de Guzman, the Good, 
 the hero of my dreams." 
 
 His friend shruorp:ed his shoulders. 
 
 o<-> 
 
 When the boat arrived at Cadiz, the Spa- 
 niard said to Stein, on taking leave of him, 
 
 " I find that I shall be detained some time 
 in Andalusia, but my servant, Pedro, will 
 
 VOL. i. c 
 
18 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 accompany you to Seville, and take a place 
 for you in the diligence to Madrid. Here 
 are two letters of recommendation ; one to 
 the Minister of War, the other to the general 
 in command of the army. If at any time 
 you are in need of a friend, write to me at 
 Madrid to this address." 
 
 Stein could not speak from sheer emotion. 
 With one hand he took the letters, with the 
 other put back the card which the Spaniard 
 held out to him. 
 
 "Your name is engraved here," he said 
 at length, placing his hand on his heart. 
 " Ah ! while I live I shall never forget it. 
 I have only to think of the most noble- 
 hearted, generous-minded, and best of men." 
 
 " But with that address," replied Don 
 Carlos, smiling, " your letters might never 
 reach me. You must have a clearer and 
 shorter one:" and, putting the card into 
 his hand, he took his leave. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 19 
 
 Looking at it, Stein read, 
 
 " The Duke of Almansa" 
 and Pedro de Guzman, who was close by, 
 added, 
 
 " Marquis de Guadalmonte, de Tal de 
 Flores, and de Eoca Fiel ; Count of Santa 
 Clara, de Eneinasola and de Lara. Knight 
 of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and 
 Grand Cross of Carlos III. Gentleman of 
 the Chamber to his Majesty, Grandee of 
 Spain of the first class, etc., etc., etc," 
 
 c2 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OXE morning in October, 1838, a man 
 might have been seen making his way on 
 foot from a village in the County of Xiebla 
 to the nearest seaport. Such was his im- 
 patience to arrive there that, hoping to shorten 
 the way, he struck across one of those vast 
 plains so common in the south of Spain, 
 real deserts abandoned to the breeding of 
 wild cattle, whose herds never wander beyond 
 their boundaries. The traveller, though in re- 
 ality not more than twenty-six years of age, 
 appeared much older. He wore a military 
 frock-coat, buttoned to the chin, a shabby 
 old forage-cap on his head, and carried over 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 21 
 
 his shoulder a thick stick, from which hung 
 a small mahogany box, covered with green 
 baize, a packet of books, a handkerchief con- 
 taining some linen, and a greatcoat rolled 
 up. His strength seemed scarcely equal to 
 even this light burden, and every now and 
 then he stopped, pressing his hand on his 
 chest, or on his burning forehead, often look- 
 ing sorrowfully at a poor dog who followed 
 him, and who, at each of these halts, stretched 
 himself panting at his feet. 
 
 " Poor Trusty," said his master, " the only 
 being who makes me feel that there is a little 
 affection and gratitude still left in the world. 
 I shall never forget the day when I first saw 
 you ! You were with a poor shepherd, who 
 was condemned to be shot because he 
 wouldn't turn traitor. He was on his knees, 
 expecting his death every moment, and 
 striving, in vain, to drive you from his side. 
 He entreated that you might be taken away, 
 
22 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 but nobody ventured to touch you. The 
 volley was fired, and you, faithful friend in 
 adversity, fell, cruelly wounded, by the dead 
 body of your master. I took charge of you, 
 cured your wounds, and since then you have 
 never left me. When I was laughed at in 
 the regiment, and called the l dog doctor,' 
 you came and licked my hand as much as to 
 say * dogs are grateful.' Oh, my God ! how 
 I once loved my fellow-creatures. It is now 
 two years, since full of life, hope, and good- 
 will, I arrived in this country, to devote my 
 time, talents, and heart, to the good of others. 
 I have cured many wounds, and in return 
 I have received many in my soul. Great 
 God! My heart is broken. Here am I 
 ignominiously dismissed from the army after 
 two years' service, after two years of inces- 
 sant labour, persecuted and treated as a 
 criminal, merely because I tried to relieve 
 ^ the sufferings of a man belonging to the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 23 
 
 opposite party a poor creature who, hunted 
 like a wild beast, fell dying into my arms. 
 Can it be possible that the laws of war should 
 turn into a crime an action demanded both 
 by humanity and religion ? And now what 
 can T do ? Where shall I find rest for my 
 prematurely gray hairs and wounded heart ? 
 Under the linden-trees at home ? There, at 
 least, I shall not be blamed for having pitied 
 a dying man ! " 
 
 After a short pause the unhappy man 
 roused himself, and calling his dog, pursued 
 his wearisome journey. But in a little while 
 he lost the narrow path worn by the shep- 
 herds' feet, which he had hitherto followed, 
 and found himself in the midst of brambles, 
 briars, and thick bushes, which increased at 
 every step, so that it was impossible to 
 follow a straight line, and he was obliged 
 to wind in and out among them, in order to 
 make any progress. The sun was sinking, 
 
24 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 and no sign could be perceived of any human 
 habitation; a boundless plain was before 
 him, a desert, green, and uniform as the 
 ocean. 
 
 Fritz Stein, whom our readers have doubt- 
 less recognized, found out too late that in 
 his impatience he had given himself credit 
 for more strength than he really possessed. 
 His swollen and tender feet could hardly 
 carry him; his heart beat violently, his 
 temples ached, and he suffered from intense 
 thirst. To add to the horror of his situation 
 loud and prolonged bellow ings announced 
 the neighbourhood of some of those wild 
 bulls so dangerous in Spain. 
 
 " God has saved me from many dangers," 
 thought the unfortunate traveller ; " if it be 
 His will, He can protect me in this one ; if 
 not, His will be done." 
 
 He quickened his pace as much as was 
 possible; but what was his terror when, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 25 
 
 after passing through a small plantation of 
 mastic-trees, he found himself face to face 
 with a bull ! Stein stood as if petrified. 
 The animal, taken aback by the unexpected 
 meeting, as well as by so much apparent 
 boldness, remained also perfectly motionless ; 
 his large, fierce eyes glaring like two live 
 coals. The traveller felt that at the slightest 
 movement he was lost. The bull, conscious 
 of his strength and courage, waited to be 
 provoked, throwing his head up and down 
 with impatience, he pawed the ground, stir- 
 ring up clouds of dust as a signal of defiance. 
 Stein stood firm. The animal took a step 
 backwards, lowered his head, and was rush- 
 ing forward to the charge, when he felt him- 
 self bitten in the hind legs. At the same 
 moment, a furious barking told Stein that he 
 had been saved by his faithful companion. 
 
 The bull, enraged, turned to repel this 
 unexpected attack, and, taking advantage of 
 
26 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 the movement, Stein fled. Horror of the 
 position from which he had so narrowly 
 escaped, gave him strength to run into the 
 plantations of evergreen oaks and mastics, 
 whose thickness sheltered him from his for- 
 midable enemy. After passing through a 
 little valley, he ascended some rising ground, 
 and, almost breathless, turned to look back 
 on the scene of his perilous adventure. 
 
 Between the trees, at some distance, he 
 could see the ferocious animal tossing his 
 poor dog in the air. Stein, much affected, 
 stretched out his arms towards his faithful 
 and brave companion, saying, "Poor, poor 
 Trusty ! My only friend ! How justly you 
 were named ! How dearly you have paid 
 for the affection you have borne your 
 masters." 
 
 To escape from this painful sight, Stein 
 
 hastened on, shedding many tears. 
 
 < 
 
 In a short time he arrived at the summit, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 27 
 
 of another hill, which commanded a beautiful 
 view. The ground descended almost imper- 
 ceptibly towards the sea, which calm and 
 tranquil, reflecting the last rays of the sun, 
 shone like a vast field sown with diamonds, 
 rubies, and sapphires. Standing out in the 
 midst of all this splendour was the white sail 
 of a ship, like a pearl, set as it were, in the 
 golden waves. 
 
 The beach was covered with yellow sand, 
 fringed by the soft waves' silvery foam, and 
 here and there rose up gigantic rocks, which 
 appeared proud of having so long resisted 
 the attacks of the mighty ocean. To the 
 left could be seen, in the distance, the ruins 
 of a fort man's work, and therefore not 
 lasting ; its base was the rock God's work, 
 and therefore everlasting. On the right, at 
 the top of a hill, he perceived a pile of 
 buildings, but at that distance could not dis- 
 tinguish whether it were a village, a palace 
 
28 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 with its offices, or a convent. Towards this 
 point he directed his steps, but, exhausted 
 by his efforts and recent emotion, it was 
 night before he reached it. The building 
 was one of those monasteries raised in the 
 olden days of enthusiastic faith. It had 
 formerly been rich and hospitable, giving 
 bread to the poor, and bestowing help on all 
 who were in need, whether spiritual or phy- 
 sical ; but now it was empty, poor, and dis- 
 mantled. It had been offered for sale for a 
 mere song, but as yet remained unsold. 
 
 The bell-tower, despoiled of its legitimate 
 ornament, reared itself like a gigantic 
 spectre, from the empty sockets of whose 
 eyes the light of life has departed. A white 
 marble cross still stood before the entrance, 
 its half-ruined pedestal causing it to lean on 
 one side as if bowed down by sorrow. The 
 gate, formerly open to all who chose to enter, 
 was now shut and fastened. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 29 
 
 Stein's strength forsook him, and he sank 
 almost insensible on a stone bench near the 
 door. His brain whirled in a tumult, and, 
 in the delirium of fever, it seemed to him 
 that the waves of the sea were swallowing 
 him np, that the moon was looking down in 
 pale astonishment, and that the stars were 
 dancing before his eyes with mocking 
 glances. He heard again the bellowing of 
 bulls, and fancied that one came from behind 
 the cross and tossed the lifeless body of his 
 dog to his feet. Everything appeared to 
 turn round and round the unhappy man, his 
 ideas were becoming more and more con- 
 fused, when he was suddenly aroused by a 
 clear, shrill sound the crowing of a cock. 
 
 This rural, domestic sound seemed to 
 waken his faculties, and rising, he staggered 
 with great difficulty to the door, and knocked 
 at it with a stone. The violent barking of 
 a dog was the only reply. Making another 
 
30 TUB SEA-GULL. 
 
 effort he knocked again, and fell to the 
 ground insensible. 
 
 The door opened and two persons ap- 
 p'eared : one a young woman with a candle 
 in her hand, who, on perceiving the figure 
 of a man at her feet, started back, crying 
 out, "Good God! It isn't Manuel, but a 
 stranger, and apparently dead. What can 
 be done ? " 
 
 " We must do our best for him," said the 
 other, who was an old woman, very neatly 
 dressed. "Brother Gabriel! Brother Ga- 
 briel ! " she called out ; " come quickly, 
 here is a poor man who is dying." 
 
 Quick but heavy steps were heard ap- 
 proaching. They were those of an old man 
 of middle height, whose calm, placid face 
 indicated a pure and simple heart. His 
 costume was somewhat grotesque, consisting 
 of a pair of pantaloons and a loose jacket 
 of gray serge, made something like a lay 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 31 
 
 brother's habit ; sandals on his feet, and 
 a black woollen cap on his bald shiny 
 head. 
 
 "Brother Gabriel," said the old woman, 
 4 'we must help this poor man." 
 
 " We must help this poor man," repeated 
 Brother Gabriel. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " exclaimed the young 
 woman with the candle, " how can we take 
 a dying man in here ? " 
 
 "Daughter." replied the other, "if no 
 other place can be found, I will give my 
 own bed up to him." 
 
 " And you will take him into the house 
 without knowing who he is ?" 
 
 "What does that matter?" asked the 
 old woman. " The proverb says, * Do what 
 is right, without respect of persons.' Come, 
 help me lend a hand to the work." 
 
 Dolores obeyed, her zeal mingled with 
 fear. 
 
32 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " When Manuel returns," she said, " I 
 hope he won't be very angry." 
 
 "Shall a son question his mother's 
 actions ? " said the old woman. 
 
 By the united exertions of the three, Stein 
 was carried into Brother Gabriel's room, 
 where a bed was made up for him with a 
 large woollen mattress and some fresh straw, 
 tia* Maria adding a pair of coarse, but clean, 
 sheets, and a blanket, which she took out of 
 a large chest. 
 
 Brother Gabriel wished to give up his 
 pillow, but to this tia Maria would not con- 
 sent, saying that she had two, and could 
 sleep very well with one. Stein was soon 
 undressed and put into bed. In the mean- 
 while, several knocks were heard at the en- 
 trance-door. " There is Manuel," said his 
 
 * Tio and Tia are titles of respect given to old men and 
 women in Spain. They answer to our gossip, or granny 
 the literal meaning is uncle (tio), aunt (tia). 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 33 
 
 wife. " Come with me, mother; I don't wish 
 to be alone with him, when he hears that 
 we have admitted a stranger without know- 
 ing who he is." 
 
 Maria followed her daughter-in-law to the 
 door. 
 
 " God be praised ! Good evening, mother ; 
 good evening, wife," said a tall, well-made 
 man, some thirty-eight or forty years of age, 
 who entered, followed by a boy of thirteen, 
 or thereabouts. " Come, Momo,* unload the 
 ass, and take her to the stable ; the poor 
 beast can't help herself." 
 
 Momo obeyed, bringing into the kitchen, 
 where the family spent their evenings, a large 
 supply of loaves of white bread, some well- 
 filled saddle-bags, and his father's thick coat. 
 Then, taking up Golondrina'sf halter, ne 
 went to the stable. 
 
 * Short for Jeronimo, in Andalusia, 
 t " Swallow," name of the ass. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
34 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " Have you brought the starch and the 
 
 V 
 
 soap ?" asked Dolores of her husband, after 
 shutting the. door. 
 
 " Yes, here they are." 
 
 " And my flax ?" inquired his old mother. 
 
 " I had a good mind to forget it," he re- 
 plied, smiling, handing her several hanks at 
 the same time. 
 
 tf And why, my son ? " 
 
 " I was reminded of the story of the vil- 
 lager who went to the fair, and whom all the 
 neighbours loaded with commissions. 
 
 " ' Bring me a hat,' said one ; ' a pair of 
 gaiters,' said another. A cousin wanted a 
 comb, an aunt some chocolate, and for all 
 these purchases nobody offered to advance a 
 single farthing. He was mounted on his mule, 
 ready to start, when up came a little boy, 
 who said, ' Here's twopence to buy a flute. 
 Will you bring me one ? Stooping down, 
 and taking the money, the man said, ' You 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 35 
 
 shall play the flute. And sure enough, 
 when he returned from the fair, of all the com- 
 missions entrusted to him, he only brought 
 back the flute." 
 
 " Come, that's a good ,' joke," said tia 
 Maria; "I spend my days and nights in 
 spinning and for whom ? Isn't it for you 
 and for your children ? Perhaps you'd like 
 me to imitate the tailor who sewed for 
 nothing and provided the thread into the 
 bargain ? " 
 
 At this moment Momo reappeared at 
 the door of the kitchen. In person he was 
 short and stout, with high shoulders, which 
 he was continually shrugging in a contemp- 
 tuous " what-does-it-matter-to-me " manner, 
 until they nearly touched his enormous fan- 
 shaped ears. His head was too large for 
 his body, his hair short, his lips thick, and 
 his nose flat. Moreover, he squinted hor- 
 ribly. 
 
 D2 
 
36 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " Father," he said, maliciously, " there is 
 a man in bed in Brother Gabriel's room." 
 
 " A man in my house ! " cried Manuel, 
 jumping up from his chair. " Dolores, what 
 is the meaning of this ? " 
 
 " Manuel, it is a poor sick creature. 
 Your mother insisted on taking him in; I 
 objected, but to no purpose. What could 
 I do?" 
 
 ""Well well; but although she is my 
 mother, she has no right to lodge strangers 
 in my house." 
 
 " No ; this poor man should have been 
 allowed to die at the door like a dog," said 
 the old woman, quietly ; " don't you think 
 so?" 
 
 " But, mother," remonstrated Manuel, " is 
 my house a hospital ? " 
 
 " No ; but it's the house of a Christian ; 
 and if you had been here, you would have 
 acted as I have." 
 
THE SEA-GTJLL. 37 
 
 " Not I. I should have put him on the 
 ass and taken him to the village.'* 
 
 " You forget that the donkey wasn't here, 
 nor was there anyone who could have taken 
 care of the poor man." 
 
 "Suppose he should turn out to be a 
 thief?" 
 
 " Dying men don't steal." 
 
 " If he should have a long illness, who 
 will bear the expenses ? " 
 
 " They've already killed a fowl for broth," 
 put in Momo; "I saw the feathers in the 
 yard." 
 
 "Have you lost your senses, mother?" 
 cried Manuel, angrily. 
 
 " You've said quite enough," replied his 
 mother, in a severe and dignified manner- 
 " You ought to be ashamed of yourself for 
 daring to quarrel with me for obeying God's 
 command. If your father were alive, he 
 wouldn't believe that a son of his could close 
 
38 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 liis doors on a poor, homeless, helpless, dying 
 man." 
 
 Manuel hung his head, and there was a 
 general silence. 
 
 " Well, mother," he said at length, " for- 
 get that I spoke, and do just as you please. 
 Women are always right, and always get 
 their own way." 
 
 Dolores breathed more freely. 
 
 " How good he is ! " she said, joyfully, to 
 her mother-in-law. 
 
 " Could you ever doubt it ? " she replied, 
 smiling on her daughter-in-law, whom she 
 loved very tenderly, and rising to take her 
 place in the sick-room ; " I who brought him 
 into the world, never doubted it for a moment." 
 
 Passing by Momo, she added, 
 
 "I always knew you had a bad heart, 
 but to-day you have shown it more than 
 ever. I pity you, for you are wicked ; and 
 wickedness brings its own punishment." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 39 
 
 " Old women are good for nothing but 
 preaching," growled Momo, looking askew 
 at his grandmother. But the last word was 
 hardly out of his mouth when his mother, 
 overhearing him, darted forward and gave 
 him a good box on the ear, saying, 
 
 " That will teach you to be insolent to 
 your father's mother, to one who is doubly 
 your mother." 
 
 Momo slunk off howling to the yard, 
 where he gave vent to his rage by beating 
 the dog. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TIA MARIA and Brother Gabriel vied with 
 each other in taking care of the invalid, but 
 they entirely disagreed as to the treatment 
 by which his cure was to be effected. Tia 
 Maria, without having studied Brown,* was 
 all for good strong broths, stimulants, .and 
 tonics, because she considered Stein very 
 weak and half-starved. Brother Gabriel, 
 without having heard the name of Brous- 
 sais,f prescribed emollients and cool, refresh- 
 
 * Dr. Brown was a celebrated physician at Edinburgh, in 
 the last century. His remedies consisted chiefly of tonics and 
 stimulants. 
 
 f Broussais, a celebrated French physician, and physiolo- 
 gist, author of ' L'Histoire de Plegmasies Chroniques,' and 
 other works of great authority. He died in the year 1838. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 41 
 
 ing draughts, because, in his opinion, Stein 
 was suffering from brain fever; his blood 
 being heated, and his skin burning. 
 
 Both were right ; and from the combined 
 effects of Maria's soups, and Gabriel's lemon- 
 ade, it came to pass that Stein recovered his 
 life and health on the very day that the good 
 old woman killed her last fowl, and that the 
 lay-brother gathered the last lemon from his 
 lemon-tree. 
 
 "Brother Gabriel," said Maria, "what do 
 you think our invalid is? Do you think 
 he's a soldier ? " 
 
 " He may be a soldier," replied the brother, 
 who accustomed to look up to the old woman 
 as a perfect oracle in all matters but those 
 relating to physic and horticulture, invaria- 
 bly accepted her opinions, and mechanically 
 repeated her words. 
 
 "No, he can't be a soldier," continued 
 Maria, shaking her head, " for if he were he 
 
42 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 would carry arms about him, and he has 
 none. When I folded up his coat and put it 
 away, I only found a flute in his pocket ; so 
 he can't be a soldier." 
 
 "He can't be a soldier," echoed Gabriel. 
 
 " Suppose he were a smuggler ? " 
 
 " He may be a smuggler," said the good 
 monk. 
 
 " Well, no," replied the old woman ; " for 
 to smuggle, one must have stuffs or jewels, 
 and he has neither one nor the other." 
 
 "That's true; he can't be a smuggler," 
 agreed Gabriel. 
 
 " Let's see what the titles of his books 
 say. Perhaps we shall find out his business 
 from them," proposed Maria. 
 
 The brother got up, took out his horn- 
 framed spectacles, put them on his nose, and 
 taking the parcel of books to the window, 
 inspected them there for some time. 
 
 "Well, Brother Gabriel," asked the old 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 43 
 
 woman at last, " have you forgotten how to 
 read ? " 
 
 " No ; but I don't understand these 
 characters. I think they're Hebrew." 
 
 " Hebrew ! Blessed Virgin ! Suppose he 
 should be a Jew ! " 
 
 At this moment Stein, awaking from a 
 long trance, opened his eyes and said in 
 German, ' Gott ! wo bin ich ? ' (God ! where 
 ami?) 
 
 The old woman sprang with one bound 
 into the middle of the room. Gabriel drop- 
 ped the books and stood as if petrified, 
 with his eyes opened as wide as his spec- 
 tacles. 
 
 *' What language did he speak in ? " asked 
 Maria. 
 
 "It must have been Hebrew, like his 
 books. Perhaps he is a Jew, as you sug- 
 gested, tia Maria." 
 
 " God help us ! " she cried ; " but stay ! if 
 
44 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 he were a Jew, shouldn't we have seen his 
 tail when we undressed him ? " 
 
 "Tia Maria," ventured the lay-brother, 
 " the Prior said that the story about Jews 
 having tails was a foolish superstition, and 
 that they had nothing of the kind." 
 
 " Brother Gabriel," replied the old woman 
 very gravely, " since this blessed constitution 
 everything is changed. This community that 
 now governs instead of the king, wishes that 
 nothing should remain as it used to be. 
 That's why they won't allow Jews to wear 
 tails now, though from the beginning of time 
 they have had them, just like the devil. If 
 the father prior says the contrary, it is be- 
 cause they force him to say so, just as they 
 force him to say at mass "constitutional 
 king." 
 
 " It may be so," said the monk. 
 
 "He's not a Jew though," continued 
 Maria. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 45 
 
 " More likely lie is a Turk, or a Moor, 
 shipwrecked on our coast." 
 
 "A Moorish pirate," replied the good 
 brother. " Very likely." 
 
 " But then he would wear a turban and 
 yellow slippers like the Moor I saw thirty 
 years ago, when I was at Cadiz. He was 
 called Seylan. How handsome he was! 
 But his beauty went for nothing in my eyes, 
 as he was not a Christian. Never mind, 
 Jew, Turk, or Moor, we must do our best 
 for him." 
 
 " Jew or Christian, we must help him," 
 said Gabriel, and the two approached the 
 bed. Stein was sitting up, looking about 
 in astonishment at the objects which sur- 
 rounded him. 
 
 "He won't understand what we say," 
 said Maria, "but we may as well try 
 him." 
 
 " We may as well try," repeated the monk. 
 
46 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 The common people in Spain think that 
 the best way to make themselves understood 
 is to scream at the top of their voices. 
 With this conviction Maria and Gabriel 
 began shouting, both together; she : "Would 
 you like some broth ? " he : " Would you 
 like some lemonade ? " 
 
 Stein, whose ideas were gradually getting 
 clearer, asked in Spanish, " Where am I ? 
 Who are you ? " 
 
 " This gentleman," replied the old woman, 
 " is Brother Gabriel ; I am Tia Maria ; 
 and we are both very much at yonr 
 service." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Stein, " may they whose 
 names you. bear, the Holy Archangel and 
 the Blessed Virgin, health of the sick, and 
 consoler of the afflicted, bless and reward 
 you for your goodness to me." 
 
 " He speaks Spanish ! " cried Maria, joy- 
 fully, " and he's a Christian ! and he knows 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 47 
 
 the litanies ! ! " And, unable to restrain her 
 delight, she threw her arms round Stein and 
 kissed him on the forehead. 
 
 " And now tell us who you are," she said, 
 after making him take a cup of broth, " and 
 what brought you, sick and almost dying, to 
 this out-of-the-way place ? " 
 
 " My name is Fritz Stein, and I am a 
 surgeon. I served in the war at Navarre,, 
 and was returning by Estramadura, in order 
 to find a port from which I could embark for 
 Cadiz, and thence to Germany, which is my 
 country. I lost my way, and, after wander- 
 ing about for a long time, arrived here at 
 last, worn out by fatigue, and almost at the 
 point of death." 
 
 " You see," said Maria to Gabriel, " that 
 his books are not written in Hebrew, but in 
 the language of surgeons." 
 
 " Just so," replied the brother, repeating 
 her words as usual. 
 
48 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " On which side were you ? " inquired the 
 old woman. " Were you for Don Carlos or 
 for the others ? " 
 
 " I served with the Queen's troops," re- 
 plied Stein. 
 
 Turning to her friend, with an expressive 
 gesture, Maria said, in a low voice, " He was 
 not with the good ones." 
 
 " He was not with the good ones," re- 
 peated Gabriel, sadly. 
 
 " But where am I ? " again asked Stein. 
 
 "You are in a convent, and yet not a 
 convent, for it is a body without a soul. 
 Nothing is left but the walls, the white cross, 
 and Brother Gabriel. The others carried off 
 the rest. When there was nothing more to 
 take, some gentlemen, who called themselves 
 the ' credito publico,' made inquiries for a 
 respectable man to look after the monastery 
 or, rather, its carcass. They heard of my 
 son, and we came and settled here ; and I 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 49 
 
 live with him the only son remaining to 
 me. When we entered the monastery the 
 fathers left it. Some went to America, 
 others joined their missions in China ; some 
 returned to their families, and others had to 
 earn their bread by labour, or by begging. 
 We saw a monk, broken down by age 
 and sorrow, sitting on the steps of the white 
 cross weeping, as much for the brothers who 
 were going away, as for the convent they 
 were leaving. 'Are you not coming?' a 
 young servitor asked him. ' Where should 
 I go ? ' he replied. ' I have never left these 
 walls, which have sheltered me ever since 
 the good fathers received me into them, 
 when I was a poor orphan-boy. I know 
 no one in the world, nor anything, but 
 how to look after the convent garden. 
 Where shall I go? What shall I do? 
 I can only live here.' 'Then stay with 
 us,' I said ; and my son added, ' Well 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 said, mother! What will do for seven 
 will do for eight, and, as the saying 
 goes, 'we shall eat more, and we shall 
 eat less.' ' : 
 
 "And, thanks to their charity," said 
 Brother Gabriel, " I am still here. I look 
 after the garden, but since the big pump 
 was sold I have been sorely put to it for 
 water, and the orange and lemon trees are 
 sadly dry." 
 
 " Brother Gabriel," continued the grand- 
 mother, " has never left these walls, which he 
 clings to like the ivy ; but, as I said, nothing 
 remains but the walls. The barbarians ! 
 They acted on the principle, * Destroy the 
 nest, in order that the birds may not re- 
 turn.' " 
 
 "Nevertheless," said Stein, "I have 
 heard that there are too many convents in 
 Spain." 
 
 Tia Maria fixed her piercing black eyes 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 51 
 
 on the German ; then turning to the monk, 
 said in a low voice, 
 
 " Could our first suspicions have been 
 right?" 
 
 " It may be that they were right ! " replied 
 Brother Gabriel. 
 
 E 2 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE end of October had been rainy, and 
 November was clad in its thick green winter- 
 mantle. Stein, whose recovery had been 
 rapid, was one day walking about outside 
 the monastery. A magnificent panorama 
 extended before him ; on the right was the 
 boundless sea ; on the left the endless plain. 
 Between them, on the horizon, was traced 
 the dark outline of Fort San Cristobal. The 
 sea heaved gently, idly lifting its waves, 
 gilded by the sunshine, like a queen whose 
 golden mantle is moved by the passing air. 
 
 The convent, with its huge, severe, and 
 angular lineaments, was in harmony with the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 53 
 
 grave and uniform landscape ; and its dark 
 mass was the only point that broke the 
 horizon of that immense panorama. 
 
 Not far off, situated on the banks of a river, 
 as turbulent in winter as it was sluggish in 
 summer, stood the village of Yillamar. Its 
 well-cultivated environs gave the idea, from 
 a distance, of a chessboard, whose squares 
 were coloured with the various shades of 
 green. Here, the warm tint of the vine, still 
 in leaf; there, the silvery gray of the olive, 
 or the emerald-green of the wheat, which 
 the October rains had caused to spring up, 
 or the dark green of the fig-trees ; and the 
 whole was divided by fences of blue-green 
 aloes. At the mouth of the river lay some 
 fishermen's boats ; on a hill near the monas- 
 tery stood a chapel ; in front of it was a large 
 cross on a whitewashed stone pedestal ; and 
 behind it a piece of ground covered with 
 smaller crosses painted black. This was the 
 
54 THE SEA-GDLL. 
 
 cemetery the Cainpo Santo. A lamp, which 
 was always kept burning, hung on the white 
 cross, so that the emblem of salvation served 
 also, most appropriately, as a beacon to the 
 sailors. 
 
 While Stein was admiring the view, Momo 
 came out from the farmyard on his way to 
 the village, and on seeing the doctor, asked 
 him to join his walk ; he agreed, and they 
 started together. 
 
 The day was most beautiful, clear and 
 brilliant as a diamond of the first water. The 
 spirit of repose seemed to pervade all nature. 
 One small white cloud alone appeared on the 
 azure sky, resting motionless, like an Oda- 
 lisque veiled in gauze, reposing on a deep 
 blue ottoman. 
 
 They soon reached the top of the hill, on 
 which stood the cross and the chapel ; but 
 although the ascent was short and easy, 
 Stein was already fatigued, and obliged to 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 55 
 
 rest for a few moments. Then they entered 
 the pretty cemetery, which, green and gay 
 with flowers, seemed to smile at death. The 
 crosses were entwined with beautiful convol- 
 voluses, among which little birds fluttered 
 about, singing " Sleep in peace." 
 
 The following inscription over the en- 
 trance alone told that this was the abode of 
 death : 
 
 " I believe in the remission of sins, in the resurrection of 
 the body, and in the life everlasting. Amen." 
 
 The chapel was a square building, of 
 simple architecture ; the only entrance was 
 through a small door close to the altar. 
 Over this there was a large oil-painting, 
 representing one of the Falls of our Saviour 
 with the Cross, so darkened by age that it 
 was difficult to distinguish the figures. 
 
 Pious hands had decorated some of them 
 with silver leaf: our Lord wore a crown of 
 silver thorns, the Virgin a diadem of rays, 
 
56 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 and the points of the cross were also edged 
 with silver. 
 
 The walls of the chapel were covered with 
 ex votos. Among these votive offerings 
 was one which, from its strange appearance, 
 particularly attracted Stein's attention. 
 
 The altar-table was not perfectly square 
 from top to bottom, narrowing towards its 
 foot in a curved line, so that there was a small 
 space between its base and the wall against 
 which it stood. In this dark recess Stein 
 saw something resting against the wall, and 
 after fixing his eyes upon it for some time, 
 at length came to the conclusion that it was 
 a blunderbuss. It was of such immense 
 size, and apparently so heavy, that it was 
 difficult to understand how a man could ever 
 have handled it ; an idea which often strikes 
 us when looking at arms of the middle ages. 
 Its muzzle was so wide that an orange could 
 easily have been put into it. The weapon 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 57 
 
 was broken, but the pieces had been roughly 
 tied together with cord. 
 
 " What does this mean, Momo ? " asked 
 Stein. " Is it really a blunderbuss ? " 
 
 " I should say it had very much the look 
 of one," replied Morno. 
 
 "But why should a murderous weapon 
 be placed in this holy and peaceful spot? 
 Truly one can't help feeling that it is as 
 inappropriate as it would be to arm the 
 Crucifix with a pair of pistols." 
 
 " Don't you see," replied Momo, " that 
 the blunderbuss is not placed in the hands, 
 but as an offering at the feet of our Lord. 
 The same day that the weapon was brought 
 here, ever so many years ago, this picture re- 
 ceived the name of " Our Lord of Good Help." 
 
 " For what reason ? " inquired Stein. 
 
 " Don Federico ! " said Momo, staring at 
 him in amazement, " why all the world 
 knows the reason, and you don't ! " 
 
58 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " You forget that I am a stranger," re- 
 plied Stein. 
 
 "That's true. I'll tell you, then. A 
 long time ago there lived a highwayman in 
 these parts, who, not contented with robbing 
 people, killed men like flies, either for fun, 
 or because they didn't please him. One 
 day, two brothers from this place had to 
 make a journey. All the village turned out 
 to see them off, praying for them that they 
 mightn't meet the brigand, who spared no 
 one, and was the terror of the whole neigh- 
 bourhood. But they, like good Christians, 
 recommended themselves to this Christ, and 
 set out trusting in his protection. Entering 
 an olive plantation, they found themselves 
 face to face with the robber, who was coming 
 towards them with his blunderbuss in his 
 hand. He raised it to his shoulder, and took 
 aim at them. In this terrible moment the 
 brothers fell on their knees, calling on this 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 59 
 
 Christ,'. 'Help, Lord!' The brigand fired, 
 but whose soul was it that started for the 
 
 other world ? It was his own ! It pleased 
 
 
 God to weaken the blunderbuss, so that it 
 
 burst in his hands. And you see it there 
 now, because in remembrance of this mira- 
 culous help, the brothers tied the broken 
 pieces together and laid it here, and this 
 shrine has ever since been distinguished as 
 4 Our Lord of Good Help.' 
 
 " You really didn't know this, Don Fe- 
 derico?" 
 
 " No, Morno," he answered ; adding, as if 
 in reply to his own thoughts, " if you only 
 knew how many things are not known by 
 those who say they know everything ! " 
 
 " We must go on. Are you coming, Don 
 Federico?" said Momo, after a short pause* 
 " You know I mustn't stay." 
 
 " I'm tired," replied Stein. " You go, and 
 I'll wait here for you." 
 
60 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 "God keep you ! " and Morao went on his 
 way, singing. 
 
 Stein's eyes fell on the quiet little village, 
 inhabited by fishermen and sailors, who, how- 
 ever, could turn their hand to the plough as 
 well as to the oar. It was not like German 
 villages, a mere collection of thatched cot- 
 tages and gardens, scattered about without 
 order ; nor like an English village, shaded 
 by its fine old elm-trees ; nor yet like a 
 Flemish one, with its row of neat formal 
 houses on each side of the road. Its streets 
 were wide, but irregular, and badly paved. 
 The houses of one story, but of various 
 heights, and roofed with old tiles. Windows 
 were rare, panes of glass still rarer, and or- 
 nament of any kind rarest of all. But it 
 had a beautiful church, standing in a large 
 square, which at that season of the year was 
 green as a meadow, and the general effect 
 was charmingly picturesque. 
 
TUB SEA-GULL. 61 
 
 Fourteen crosses, similar to the one near 
 which Stein was resting, were placed in a line 
 at equal distances, the last being in the centre 
 of the square, facing the church. This was 
 the Via Crucis. 
 
 Momo returned, but not alone. His com- 
 
 \x- 
 
 panion was an old man, tall, thin, and upright 
 as a wax-taper. He wore a coat and trousers^ 
 of coarse grey cloth, a waistcoat once re- 
 splendent with all the colours of the rain- 
 bow, now somewhat faded, and marvellously 
 patched ; a red sash'like a peasant's, a broad- 
 brimmed Catalan hat, on which was a cock- 
 ade, once scarlet, but now changed by time, 
 sun, and rain, into the colour of a carrot. On 
 his shoulders were strips of tarnished gold 
 lace, which had formerly served as fasten- 
 ings to a pair of epaulets ; an old-fashioned 
 sword, slung on a sword-belt of the same age, 
 completed this half-military, half-rustic cos- 
 tume. The scythe of Time had made sad 
 
62 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 havoc with his hair, entirely depriving the 
 anterior portion of his long, narrow skull of 
 its natural ornament. To supply the defi- 
 ciency, he had brushed forward the few locks 
 that remained behind, and, fixing them on 
 his forehead, by means of a black silk band, 
 had achieved a topknot worthy of a Chinese 
 Mandarin. 
 
 "Momo, who is this gentleman?" asked 
 Stein, in a whisper. 
 
 " The commandant," he replied, simply. 
 
 " The commandant ! Of what ?" 
 
 "Of Fort St. Cristobal." 
 
 " Your most obedient," said the new comer, 
 with a polite bow. " My name is Modesto 
 Guerrero, and I place, my useless services 
 entirely at your disposal." 
 
 This customary compliment harmonized 
 so exactly with the person who made it, that 
 Stein couldn't help smiling, as he returned 
 the commandant's military salute. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 63 
 
 " I know who you are," continued Don 
 Modesto, " and was sincerely sorry to hear 
 of your misfortune and illness. I beg to 
 congratulate you on your recovery, and on 
 having fallen into the hands of the Alerzas,. 
 who are, indeed, excellent people. My house 
 and my person are yours to command. I live 
 in the Plaza de la Tglesia, or, I should say, 
 de la Constitucion, for that is the present 
 name. If you are inclined to favour me with 
 a call some day, you will know the square by 
 the inscription at the corner. 
 
 " Just as if there were so many squares in 
 the village ! " said Momo, grinning. 
 
 " There is an inscription, then ? " asked 
 Stein, who, in his rough camp life, had not 
 had much opportunity of learning the lan- 
 guage of even ordinary compliments, and 
 was quite at a loss how to reply to those of 
 the courteous Spaniard. 
 
 "Yes, senor," answered Don Modesto; 
 
64 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " the alcalde was bound to obey the orders 
 he had received from high quarters. You 
 will readily understand that in so small a 
 village, it was not easy to procure a slab of 
 marble with letters of gold like those in 
 Cadiz or Seville so they had recourse to 
 the schoolmaster, who writes a most beauti- 
 ful hand. In order to paint the inscription 
 on the wall, he was obliged of course to be 
 raised to a much higher position in the 
 world than that which he usually occupies. 
 Having prepared some black paint with soot 
 and vinegar, he mounted his ladder, and set 
 to work, tracing splendid letters at least a 
 foot long. By ill-luck, in executing an ela- 
 borate flourish, he shook the ladder so vio- 
 lently that it fell to the ground, and the 
 schoolmaster and his pot of blacking rolled 
 in the gutter together. Rosita, my hostess, 
 who witnessed the catastrophe from her 
 window and saw the unfortunate man get up 
 
THE SEA-QULL. 65 
 
 from the ground, as black as charcoal, was 
 so horribly frightened, that she had spasms 
 for three days, at which I was not a little 
 alarmed. The alcalde, however, ordered the 
 poor bruised schoolmaster to complete his 
 work, for he had only got as far as C N- 
 S T I the poor man was compelled to obey 
 very much against his will ; but this time he 
 would have nothing to do with the ladder ; 
 so they brought him a cart, placed a table 
 in it, and made the whole safe with cords. 
 He climbed up on to this improvised scaf- 
 folding, but was so nervous, remembering 
 his accident, that his sole thought was, how 
 to get his work done as quickly as possible. 
 This accounts for the last letters being only 
 an inch in length, instead of a foot, like the 
 first ; but that's not the worst part of the 
 business in his haste, he left an at the 
 bottom of his paint-pot, and so the inscrip- 
 tion reads thus: PLAZA DE LA, 
 VOL. i. F 
 
66 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 C N S T I tucin. The alcalde flew into a 
 violent rage, but the schoolmaster was firm, 
 and declared, that neither for the alcalde nor 
 for all the saints would he do it over again, 
 for he would far rather mount an eight-year 
 old bull than that acrobat's spring-board. 
 So the inscription was left as it stood ; hap- 
 pily, no one ever reads it ; still it's a pity 
 the schoolmaster didn't alter it, as it would 
 have been so very beautiful, quite an honour 
 to Villamar." 
 
 Momo, who was in a hurry to return with 
 his well-filled saddle-bags, asked the com- 
 mandant if he were bound for Fort St. 
 Cristobal. 
 
 " Yes," replied Don Modesto ; " and 
 on my way there I am going to see 
 Pedro Santalo's daughter, who is very 
 ill." 
 
 " What ! the Gaviota ? " inquired Momo ; 
 " don't you believe a word of it. I saw her 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 67 
 
 v. 
 
 yesterday on the top of a rock screaming 
 like her fellow sea-gulls." 
 
 " Gaviota ! " exclaimed Stein. 
 
 " It's a wicked nickname," said the com- 
 mandant, "that Momo has given this poor 
 girl." 
 
 " Because she has very long legs," replied 
 Morno ; " because she lives as much on the 
 sea as on land, and because she sings and 
 shrieks, and springs from rock to rock, just 
 like a sea-gull." 
 
 "Your grandmother," said Don Modesto, 
 "is very fond of her, and never calls her 
 anything but Marisalada, on account of 
 her graceful singing and dancing, and her 
 pretty imitation of the songs of various 
 birds." 
 
 " That isn't it," said Momo. " It's because 
 her father is a fisherman, and she brings us 
 salt and fish." 
 
 " Does she live near the port ? " inquired 
 
 P 2 
 
68 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Stein, whose curiosity was aroused by these 
 details. 
 
 "Very near," replied the commandant. 
 "Pedro Santalo formerly owned a Catalan 
 barque, which, on a voyage to Cadiz, was 
 caught in a gale and wrecked on this coast. 
 Every soul perished except Pedro, and his 
 daughter who was with him. Anxiety to 
 save her gave him double strength, and he 
 managed to reach the shore with her. 
 Utterly ruined, he hadn't the heart to return 
 to his own country, so he built himself a 
 little hut among the rocks here with the 
 fragments of the vessel, and turned fisher- 
 man. He it was who supplied the Monastery 
 with fish ; the monks in return giving him 
 bread, oil, and vinegar. For twelve years he 
 has lived here at peace with all the world." 
 
 As he finished speaking, they reached the 
 point where the road branched into two 
 paths. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 69 
 
 "We shall meet again soon," said the 
 veteran as he left them; "I shall very 
 shortly pay my respects to you and your 
 hosts." 
 
 " Tell Gaviota," called out Momo, " that 
 her illness doesn't frighten me. Ill weeds 
 never die." 
 
 "Has the commandant been long at 
 Villamar ? " inquired Stein of Momo. 
 
 "Let's see about a hundred 
 
 and one years before the birth of my 
 father." 
 
 "And who is this Rosita, his host- 
 ess?" 
 
 Momo made a grimace. " Sena Eosa 
 Mistica ! She is the schoolmistress ! Such 
 a charming creature! She's uglier than 
 famine. She has one eye that looks east, and 
 the other west. Her face has been so honey- 
 combed by the smallpox that it's all over 
 holes big enough to give back an echo ! But 
 
70 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Don Federico, the sky is darkening, and 
 the clouds are flying as though pursued 
 by greyhounds. We must make haste 
 home." 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 BEFORE continuing our story, it will be as 
 well to say a few words about our new ac- 
 quaintance. Don Modesto Guerrero was the 
 son of an honest farmer, whose patents of 
 nobility were written on as good parchment 
 as many other folks. During the war of 
 Independence they, as well as his house, were 
 burnt by the French, on pretence that his 
 sons were brigands, which simply meant that 
 they had been guilty of the unpardonable X 
 crime of defending their country. The good 
 man was able to rebuild his house ; but as for 
 the parchments, they had not the fate of the 
 Phoenix. 
 
72 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 It fell to Modesto's lot to serve in the 
 army, and as his father was not rich enough 
 to purchase a substitute, he entered an 
 infantry regiment as a cadet. 
 
 His personal appearance was so strange, 
 and he was such an easy-going fellow, that 
 he soon became the butt of the regiment. 
 His companions, encouraged by his long 
 suffering, carried their jokes to such an ex- 
 tent that Modesto was at length obliged to 
 put a stop to them in the following manner : 
 
 One day, at a grand review, he being 
 in his usual place in rear of the line, one of 
 his comrades very dexterously passed a 
 noose round his leg, and tied the other end 
 of the cord to the wheel of a gun-carriage, 
 which stood near. The colonel gave the 
 word " March !" The drums beat, and every 
 man stepped off except Modesto, who re- 
 mained at the halt, with one leg in the air 
 like a sculptured zephyr about to take wing. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 73 
 
 After the review, Modesto returned to the 
 barracks as quietly and calmly as he had 
 left them, and without change of tone or 
 manner, demanded satisfaction from his com- 
 rades. No one of them, however, caring to 
 take upon himself the responsibility of the 
 practical joke, he informed them with perfect 
 sang froid, that he should fight them all, one 
 after the other. Then the culprit came for- 
 ward ; they fought, and the result was that 
 Modesto's adversary lost one of his eyes. 
 " If you would like to lose the other," said 
 the victor, with his usual calmness, " I shall 
 be ready to accommodate you at any time." 
 Having neither relations nor friends at court, 
 and being neither ambitious nor of an in- 
 triguing disposition, Modesto's career ad- 
 vanced at the pace of a tortoise, until the 
 siege of Gaeta in 1805, when his regiment 
 was ordered to join Napoleon's troops. 
 Modesto there distinguished himself so much 
 
74 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 by his courage and coolness that he gained a 
 cross and the praises of his commanding 
 officers. His name shone in the Gazette like 
 a meteor, to be lost afterwards in eternal ob- 
 scurity. Those laurels were the first and 
 last that he gained in his military career ; 
 being severely wounded in the arm, he was 
 unfitted for active service, and, as a reward, 
 was appointed Commandant of the ruined 
 Fort St. Cristobal. 
 
 It was now forty years since he had been 
 in command of the skeleton of a castle, gar- 
 risoned by a countless army of lizards. 
 
 For some time our warrior could not sub- 
 mit quietly to this state of affairs. Every 
 year he sent a memorial to government, beg- 
 ging for necessary repairs, and for the guns 
 and troops, which were required for the 
 defence of the Fort. No reply was ever 
 vouchsafed him, though he never failed to 
 suggest, at one time, the possibility of an 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 75 
 
 invasion by the English, at another, of 
 Americans, of French, or of revolutionists, 
 according to the state of the political horizon 
 at the time being. 
 
 The same indifference was shown to his 
 continued petitions that he might receive 
 his pay. 
 
 The government persisted in ignoring the 
 existence of these two ruins, the fort and 
 its commandant 
 
 Don Modesto was of a patient nature, and 
 so it ended by his calmly yielding to his 
 destiny. 
 
 On his first coming to Villamar, he lodged 
 with the widow of the late sacristan, who, 
 with her daughter, then still young, led a 
 life devoted to religion. They were excel- 
 lent women, somewhat prudish and bigoted, 
 but in the main thoroughly good, charitable, 
 and remarkably tidy. 
 . The villagers, who were all much attached 
 
76 THE SEA-GtfLL. 
 
 to the commandant, and at the same time 
 knew his poverty, did all they could to 
 assist him. There was never a pig killed 
 without his receiving his share of the bacon 
 and black-puddings. In harvest-time the 
 farmers sent him wheat or peas, some adding 
 oil and honey. The women made him pre- 
 sents from the produce of their poultry-yards, 
 so that his saintly hostess had always a 
 well-filled larder, thanks to the universal 
 good feeling inspired by Don Modesto, who, 
 with a spirit worthy of his name, far from 
 being puffed up by all this kindness, was 
 wont to say that Providence was every- 
 where, but that his head-quarters were at 
 Villarnar. And he showed how truly grate- 
 ful he was, by being always ready to do a 
 good turn to any one. He rose with the 
 sun, and his first duty was to assist the 
 Cura at early mass. Then, perhaps, he 
 would have a commission to execute for one 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 77 
 
 neighbour; or a letter to write for another, 
 whose son was a soldier; or to look after 
 the children for a third, while she went 
 about her household duties. He sat up with 
 the sick, prayed with his hostess, and, in 
 short, tried to make himself useful to every- 
 body in any matter that did not affect his 
 honour or integrity. 
 
 The sacristan's widow died, leaving her 
 daughter Rosa alone in the world, with forty- 
 five years of age well reckoned, and an 
 ugliness that could be seen a mile off. This 
 misfortune was chiefly owing to an attack of 
 smallpox. The disease had fixed upon one 
 of her eyes, especially affecting the eyelid, 
 so that she could only partially raise it. 
 
 This peculiarity had a veiy odd effect, the 
 half-closed eye giving a dull, vacant look to 
 the whole face, forming a striking contrast 
 to its fellow, which blazed like a bonfire at 
 the least suspicion of anything approaching 
 
78 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 to scandal or indecorum ; and, in truth, 
 opportunities offered themselves very fre- 
 quently. After the funeral, the nine days 
 of mourning being passed, the Senora Rosa 
 said one day to Don Modesto: "I very 
 much regret, Don Modesto, to be obliged to 
 tell you that we must part." 
 
 " Part !" exclaimed the good man, opening 
 his eyes wide with surprise, and pouring his 
 chocolate over the tablecloth instead of into 
 his cup ; "and why, Rosita ? " 
 
 Don Modesto had been accustomed for the 
 last thirty years to call the daughter of his 
 hostess by this diminutive. 
 
 " I should have thought," she replied 
 gradually raising her eyebrows, " that you 
 would not have needed to ask me why. 
 You must be aware that it is not proper for 
 two single people to live together under the 
 same roof. It would furnish food for 
 scandalous tongues." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 79 
 
 " And what on earth could they say about 
 you?" replied Don Modesto. "You, the 
 model of the village?" 
 
 "One is never safe with them. What 
 will you say when I tell you that you, not- 
 withstanding your age and the uniform and 
 cross you wear, and /, a poor girl who thinks 
 of nothing but serving God, are already the 
 laughing-stock of these unbridled tongues." 
 
 ""What do you tell me, Eosita?" ex- 
 claimed Don Modesto, amazed. 
 
 "Precisely what you hear; and no one 
 
 talks of us, excepting by the nicknames 
 which those wicked acolytes have given us." 
 
 "I am astonished, Eosita; I can't be- 
 lieve'^ 
 
 " So much the better for you, if you don't 
 believe it," said the devotee ; " but I declare 
 to you that those impious wretches, God 
 forgive them, when they see us going to 
 Matins together, say, one to the other, 
 
80 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 * Ring the bell for mass, for here come Rosa 
 Mistica and Tower of David, in love and 
 company as in the litanies.' They call you 
 so because you are so tall and upright." 
 
 Don Modesto sat with his mouth open 
 and his eyes fixed on the ground. 
 
 "Yes, senor," continued Rosa Mistica, 
 "the neighbour who told me was perfectly 
 scandalized, and advised me to complain to 
 the Senor Cura. I replied that it was better 
 to suffer and be silent. Many a holy martyr 
 has suffered even more than I without com- 
 plaining." 
 
 "For all that," said Don Modesto, "I 
 don't mean to suffer that any one should 
 make fun of me, and still less of you." 
 
 " It will be better," continued Rosa, " to 
 show by our patience that we are good 
 Christians, and by our indifference how little 
 we care for the judgments of the world; 
 besides, if you punish these evil speakers, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 81 
 
 they will only say worse things, believe me, 
 Don Modesto." 
 
 " You are right, as you always are, 
 Rosita," said Don Modesto ; " I know what 
 these babblers are, if you cut out their 
 tongues, they'd talk with their noses. But 
 if in other days one of my comrades had 
 dared to call me Tower of David, he would 
 have had some reason to add Ora pro nobis. 
 But is it possible that you, who are such a 
 blessed saint, can really be annoyed by 
 these calumnies ? " 
 
 "You know, Don Modesto, there is a 
 vulgar saying among those who think every- 
 
 v._- 
 
 body as bad as themselves : ' between saint / 
 and saintm there should be a strong \ 
 waU.' " 
 
 "But between you and me, there is no 
 need of a wall. I'm an old man, and never 
 was in love but once in my life, and then it 
 was with a very pretty girl, whom I should 
 
 VOL. i. G 
 
82 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 have married, if I hadn't caught her flirting 
 with the drum-major, who 
 
 "Don Modesto! Don Modesto!" cried Rosa, 
 drawing herself up, " respect your name and 
 my position, and be silent on your love 
 affairs." 
 
 " I had no intention of shocking you," 
 said Don Modesto in a contrite tone, " you 
 know very well, and I can swear that I 
 never have had, and never shall have a 
 wrong thought." 
 
 "Don Modesto," replied Rosa Mistica, 
 impatiently fixing upon him one eye full of 
 fire, while the other made vain efforts to 
 light up in unison, "do you think that I 
 am simple enough to suppose that two God- 
 fearing people, like you and I, could conduct 
 themselves like fools who have neither shame 
 nor dread of sin ? But in this world it is 
 not enough to do what is right, one must 
 also guard against appearances." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 83 
 
 " This is too much ! " replied the com- 
 mandant. " What appearances can there 
 be between us ? Remember that to excuse 
 oneself is to accuse oneself." 
 
 " I tell you," said the devotee, " that 
 accusers will not be wanting." 
 
 " What am I to do without you ?" asked 
 Don Modesto, mournfully ; " left alone in the 
 world, what would become of you without 
 me?" 
 
 " He who feeds the little birds," said Jftosa, ) 
 solemnly, " will take care of those who put ( 
 their trust in Him." 
 
 Don Modesto, quite upset and unable to 
 see his way through his difficulties, had re- 
 course to the . cura, who was both his friend 
 and Rosita's, and told him all that had 
 passed. The priest persuaded the good 
 woman that her scruples were exaggerated, 
 and her alarm groundless ; still more, that 
 the proposed separation would increase, and 
 
84 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 not prevent, disagreeable remarks. So they 
 continued to live together in the peace and 
 grace of God ; the commandant always 
 good and kind, Eosita always careful, atten- 
 tive, and disinterested; for Don Modesto 
 was not in a condition to remunerate her 
 services with money ; indeed so poor was he 
 that he would have forgotten the very ap- 
 pearance of silver, had not the hilt of his 
 dress-sword been made of that metal. 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 WHEN Stein returned to the Convent he 
 found the family sunning themselves in the 
 court. Dolores, seated on a low stool, was 
 mending one of her husband's shirts ; her 
 two daughters, Pepa and Paca, pretty little 
 creatures, of six and eight years of age, 
 were playing near their mother. The baby, 
 rolled up in its leading-strings, was a source 
 of great amusement to his brother, a little 
 fellow about five years old, who was teach- 
 ing it those droll little ways and tricks 
 which tend to develop that precocity of in- 
 telligence so observable in Spain. 
 
 This boy was very handsome, but remark- 
 ably small, on which account Momo often 
 
86 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 made him furious by calling him Francisco 
 de Anis (aniseed) instead of Francisco d 
 Asis, which was his real name. He wore a 
 tiny pair of coarse, gray cloth trousers, and 
 jacket to match, but both being much 
 shrunk, and the former garment only par- 
 tially fastened up by a single brace, made of 
 a shred of selvage, his shirt protruded be- 
 tween them, in the form of a large pouch 
 round his waist. 
 
 " Be an old woman, Manolillo," said Anis. 
 
 The little thing made a funny grimace, 
 half-closing its eyes, pursing up its lips and 
 nodding its head. 
 
 " Manolillo, kill a Moor ? " 
 
 The child opened its eyes wide, knitted 
 its brows, clenched its fists, and ended by 
 getting red as a pomegranate, in its 
 endeavours to put on a warlike appearance. 
 Then Anis, taking hold of his hands, turned 
 him round and round, singing a merry little 
 song. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 87 
 
 
 
 Tia Maria was spinning, and Brother 
 Gabriel was making baskets with the dried 
 leaves of the dwarf-palm. 
 
 Palomo, an enormous white woolly shep- 
 herd-dog, of the beautiful Estramadura breed, 
 was asleep, stretched out at full length, occu- 
 pying a considerable space with his great 
 broad paws and well-furnished tail ; while 
 Morrongo, a sleek, well-fed, yellow cat, who 
 in early life had been robbed of both its 
 ears and its tail, slept upon a piece of old 
 ..Maria's petticoat. 
 
 Stein, Momo, and Manuel arrived at the 
 same time from different points. The latter, 
 who among his other duties included that of 
 gamekeeper, had been going his rounds over 
 the farm, and appeared with his gun in one 
 hand and three partridges and a couple of 
 rabbits in the other. 
 
 The children flocked round Momo, who, 
 opening his wallet, poured from it, as from a 
 
88 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 cornucopia, a vast heap of all sorts of winter 
 fruits, walnuts, chestnuts, pomegranates, 
 yams, &c., with which in Spain a kind of 
 feast is made on the eve of All Saints. 
 
 " If Marisalada brings us some fish to- 
 morrow," said the eldest of the children, 
 " what a good dinner we shall have ! " 
 
 "To-morrow," replied her grandmother, 
 " will be All Saints' Day, and Pedro will 
 certainly not go out fishing." 
 
 " Then it must be the day after to-morrow." 
 
 " Still less will he fish on the Day of the 
 Dead." 
 
 " Why not ?" asked the child. 
 
 "Because it would profane a day conse- 
 crated by the Church to the souls of the 
 blessed. As a proof, some fishermen once 
 cast their nets on this day, and, when draw- 
 ing them in, were both surprised and de- 
 lighted at their weight ; on landing them, 
 however, they found them full of snakes 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 89 
 
 instead of fish. Isn't that true, Brother 
 Gabriel?" 
 
 "No doubt! I didn't see it, but I am 
 sure of it," replied the monk. 
 
 "And is this. why you make us pray so 
 much on the Day of the Dead ? " asked the 
 little girl. 
 
 " Yes," replied her grandmother ; " it is a 
 holy custom, and it is God's will that we 
 shouldn't neglect it. As a proof, I will give 
 you an example. There was once upon a 
 time, a bishop who didn't show much favour 
 to this pious practice, nor did he exhort 
 faithful believers to practise it. One night 
 he dreamt that he saw a wide abyss ; on the 
 brink was an angel, who, with a chain of 
 red and white roses, drew out a beautiful 
 woman, who was weeping, and appeared 
 very unhappy. 
 
 "When she was drawn forth from the 
 darkness the woman, covered with glory, 
 
00 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 flew up to heaven. On the following day, 
 the bishop was anxious to have an explana- 
 tion of the dream, and begged God to 
 enlighten him. He went to church, and the 
 first thing he saw was a little boy kneeling, 
 and saying his beads over his mother's 
 grave." 
 
 " Certainly," said Manuel ; " it is quite 
 right to pray for the dead. I recollect once 
 seeing a brother of the Congregation of Souls 
 standing at the door of a chapel, with a 
 plate in his hand, begging for them, and 
 saying, * Whoever will put a real into this 
 plate will deliver a soul from purgatory.' A 
 wag came up, put in the coin, and then said, 
 ' Tell me, brother, do you believe that the 
 soul is already out?' * There can be no 
 doubt of it,' replied the brother. 'Then 
 I'll take back my money,' said the other; 
 ' for that soul won't be such a fool as to go 
 in again ! ' ' 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 91 
 
 " You may be quite sure, Don Federico," 
 said Maria, " that my son will always find 
 something to say, appropriate or inappro- 
 priate ; a story, or a jest, or a pun, on every 
 subject." 
 
 At this moment Don Modesto entered the 
 court, as stiff and grave as when he met 
 Stein at the chapel, the only difference in his 
 appearance being that he had now hanging 
 from the end of his stick a large fish wrapped 
 in cabbage-leaves. 
 
 "The commandant! the commandant!" 
 was the joyful cry from all present. 
 
 " Do you come from your citadel of St. 
 Cristobal ? " asked Manuel, after the first 
 greetings were over, and Don Modesto had 
 seated himself on the stone bench by Stein. 
 " You can join with my mother, who is such 
 a good Christian, in praying to the saints to 
 build up the walls of your fortress, the re- 
 verse of what Joshua did in respect of the 
 walls of Jericho." 
 
92 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " I have more important things to pray 
 for," replied Maria. 
 
 " Certainly," said Brother Gabriel. " Tia 
 Maria has more important things to pray 
 for than the rebuilding of the walls of the 
 fort. It would be better to pray for the 
 restoration of the monastery." 
 
 Hearing these words Don Modesto turned 
 fiercely towards the monk, who at once re- 
 treated behind Maria, making himself so 
 small that he almost entirely disappeared 
 from view. 
 
 " So far as I can see," said the command- 
 ant, "Brother Gabriel does not belong to 
 the Church Militant. Do you not remember 
 that the Jews, before building their Temple, 
 had conquered the promised land, sword in 
 hand? Would there have been churches 
 and priests in the Holy Land if the Crusa- 
 ders had not first won it with the lance ? " 
 
 "But why should tia Maria pray for 
 impossibilities ? " inquired Stein, hoping to 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 93 
 
 divert the commandant's attention from a 
 subject which was raising his bile. 
 
 " That's of very little importance," replied 
 Manuel ; " old ladies don't trouble their 
 heads on that score." 
 
 " One thing is certain," remarked Don 
 Modesto. " I should be very grateful to any 
 saint who would inspire the Government with 
 the happy idea of restoring my fort." 
 
 " Of rebuilding, you should say," ob- 
 served Manuel; "but take care you don't 
 repent of your wish afterwards, as was the 
 case with a devotee, who had a daughter so 
 ugly, so silly, and so good-for-nothing, that 
 she couldn't find any man desperate enough to 
 marry her. The poor mother, grieved be- 
 yond measure, passed her days on her knees, 
 in the church, praying to her blessed saint 
 to send her daughter a husband. At length 
 one came, to the poor woman's great joy, 
 which, however, didn't last long, for he 
 
94 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 turned out such a bad character, and treated 
 his wife and mother-in-law so cruelly, that 
 the latter could bear it no longer, and, rush- 
 ing to the church, she threw herself on her 
 knees before the figure of the saint, ex- 
 claiming, 
 
 ' St. Christopher, listen to my complaint. 
 As I'm a sinner, and you're a saint, 
 Old clubfoot, muttonfist, hornyface ! Faugh ! 
 You're as big a Jew as my son-in-law ! ' " 
 
 During this conversation Morrongo awoke 
 from his long sleep, arched his back as high 
 as a camel's, gave a great yawn, and began 
 licking his whiskers. Then becoming aware 
 of certain, to him, most pleasing emanations 
 in the air, he approached Don Modesto with 
 soft stealthy steps, until he was close to 'the 
 odoriferous burden attached to his stick. 
 But at this moment, a small pebble, thrown 
 by Momo, with the dexterity peculiar to 
 boys of that age, hit him on his velvety paw, 
 and disturbed his plans. The cat made off at 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 95 
 
 a gallop, but returned very shortly, and again 
 took up his post of observation, pretending 
 to be asleep. Don Modesto saw through his 
 manoeuvre, and lost his peace of mind. 
 
 "You haven't told us, Senor Command- 
 ant," said tia Maria, "how you found 
 Marisalada." 
 
 "Ill very ill, tia Maria. She gets 
 weaker every day. It goes to my heart to 
 see the poor father's grief. This morning 
 she was in a violent fever, would take no 
 food, and coughed incessantly." 
 
 " What do you tell me?" exclaimed Maria, 
 "Don Federico! Cannot you, who have 
 performed so many wonderful cures, who 
 have extracted a wen from Brother Gabriel 
 and set Momo's eyes straight cannot you 
 do something for this poor creature ? " 
 
 " I will do all I can to relieve her with the 
 greatest pleasure," said Stein. 
 
 "And God will repay you; ^to-morrow 
 
96 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 morning we will go and see her. To-day 
 you are tired with your walk." 
 
 " I don't envy him the job," grunted 
 Momo ; " the proudest girl 
 
 "Not so," interrupted his grandmother. 
 " She is a little wayward and intractable, 
 but you must remember that she has been 
 brought up alone, and allowed to have her 
 own way by a father who is as soft-hearted 
 as a dove, though a trifle rough in manner, 
 like every good sailor and every good Cata- 
 lan. But Momo can't endure Marisalada, 
 because she called him Homo (snubnosed), 
 which indeed he is." 
 
 At this moment a noise was heard ; it 
 was the commandant pursuing with gigantic 
 strides the rogue of a cat, who had managed 
 to elude the vigilance of its owner, and was 
 running off with the fish. 
 
 " Ah ! commandant ! " cried Manuel, 
 laughing, " the sardine which the cat steals 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 97 
 
 returns to the dish late or never. Here is a 
 partridge in exchange " 
 
 Don Modesto seized the bird, thanked the 
 donor, and took his leave, anathematizing 
 cats in general. While this was going on, 
 Dolores was rocking her baby to sleep in 
 her arms, singing, 
 
 " High up, on Sainted Calvary, 
 Mid olive trees and rosemary, 
 Four linnets, and a nightingale 
 Christ's death upon the cross bewail." 
 
 It would be difficult for any one who catches 
 the poetry of the lower orders in Spain, in its 
 flight, as a child catches butterflies, to ex- 
 plain to those who wish to analyze it, why 
 the linnets and nightingales lament the death 
 of Christ ; why the swallow snatches the 
 thorns from His crown ; why the rosemary is 
 held in veneration from the belief that the 
 Virgin dried the swaddling-clothes of the 
 Child Jesus on a bush of it ; why, or rather 
 
 I. H 
 
98 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 how it is known, that ;the willow is of ill 
 omen since Judas hanged himself on a bough 
 of that tree ; why no misfortune ever comes 
 to a house which has been perfumed with 
 rosemary on Christmas Eve ; and why all the 
 instruments of the Passion are found in 
 
 ^the passionflower. In truth, there are no 
 /answers to these questions. The people do 
 not possess, nor do they require any they 
 have imbibed these ideas like vague sounds 
 , of distant music, without seeking their origin, 
 or investigating their authenticity. Some 
 such thoughts as these were passing through 
 Stein's mind, when Maria interrupted them 
 by saying, " You haven't yet told us, Don 
 Federico, how you liked our village." 
 
 "I only saw it from a distance," replied 
 Stein. "I didn't walk further than the 
 Chapel of Good Help." 
 
 " I never leave 'the monastery," said 
 Brother Gabriel, " except on Fridays, when 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 99 
 
 I go to this chapel to pray to the Lord for a 
 happy death." 
 
 "Ah!" Don Federico," said old Maria, 
 " there is only one reason why I am not so 
 happy here as I was in the village, and that 
 is because I cannot follow up my devotions 
 so well. My husband, your father, Manuel, 
 who never was a soldier, and was a better 
 Christian than you, thought as I do. He 
 blessed be his memory was a member of 
 the Rosario de la Aurora, a brotherhood who 
 leave their houses after midnight to pray for 
 the dead. Tired with the day's work, he 
 slept heavily, but precisely at twelve o'clock 
 a brother came to the door, ringing a bell, 
 and singing, 
 
 ' Hark I 'neath thy window rings a little bell so clear ; 
 It calls thee not, nor I It is a voice more dear 
 Thy father, and thy mother, from beneath the sod, 
 Call thee to follow me, and pray, for them, to God.* 
 
 When your father heard this verse, he 
 no longer felt fatigue, or any desire to sleep. 
 
 H2 
 
100 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 In the twinkling of an eye he rose and joined 
 the brothers. Even now I seem to hear him 
 singing as he went on his way." 
 
 The children, always fond of imitating 
 their seniors example, commenced singing 
 with their pretty voices, another verse of 
 the Aurora : 
 
 " If thou would'st wish to know, with what triumphal state, 
 Entered the King of Heav'n into Jerusalem, 
 He had no coach, nor gay calesa like the great, 
 He rode an ass's foal, a poor man lent to him." 
 
 "Don Federico," said Maria, after a few 
 moments' silence, "is it true that in this 
 world that God made, there are men who 
 don't believe in Him ? " 
 
 Stein was silent. 
 
 " Would that you could straighten the 
 eyes of their understanding, as you have 
 those in Homo's face," said the good old 
 woman, sadly and thoughtfully. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON the following day, tia Maria set out for 
 the cabin, accompanied by Stein and Momo, 
 the latter acting as running footman to his 
 grandmother, who was mounted on the phi- 
 losophic Golondrina. That worthy animal, 
 always gentle and docile, ambled along at 
 an easy pace, with its head down and ears 
 drooping, without one irregular movement, 
 except when its nose came too near to a 
 tempting thistle, its peculiar weakness. Ar- 
 rived at their destination, Stein was sur- 
 prised to find in the midst of a district so 
 uniform and arid, a charming green spot a 
 perfect oasis in the desert. 
 
102 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Between two high rocks, the sea had 
 formed a little creek, in the shape of a 
 horseshoe, which, edged with fine sand, 
 looked like a crystal plate upon a golden 
 table. Here and there were rocks rising 
 above the sand, like seats inviting repose 
 on this tranquil shore. To one of these 
 the fisherman's boat was moored, which, as 
 it danced on the waves, pulled at its moor- 
 ings, like an impatient horse at its halter. 
 Opposite, on a large rock, stood the ruined 
 Fort St. Cristobal, crowned with the 
 branches of the wild fig-trees, like an old 
 Druid with oak-leaves. 
 
 A little further on Stein came upon one 
 of those sunken gardens, called in Andalusia 
 "navazos," an object which both surprised 
 and interested him. It was formed by the 
 earth being dug out to a certain depth, and 
 the bottom cultivated with great care. A 
 thick belt of green reeds surrounded it, their 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 103 
 
 fibrous roots serving to hold the steep banks 
 together, while the dense growth of their 
 tall shoots screened the garden from the 
 drifting sand. At this low level, though so 
 close to the sea, and without any irrigation, 
 the land produced abundant crops of well- 
 flavoured vegetables, for the salt water, 
 filtering through a large mass of sand, lost 
 its bitterness, and reached the plants in a fit 
 state to nourish them. The water-melons 
 grown in these "navazos" are particularly 
 good, and some attain such a size, that two 
 of them are a load for a strong packhorse. 
 The fisherman had built a hut with the 
 remains of his ship, which the sea had cast 
 up on the shore. The roof rested against 
 the rock, so that it covered a series of steps 
 formed in the rock by nature, and the habi- 
 tation had, as it were, three stories. The 
 first consisted of one high room, large 
 enough to serve as parlour, kitchen, hen- 
 
104 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 house, and, in the winter, as a stable for the 
 donkey. The second story, which was 
 reached by some steps cut by the pickaxe 
 in the rock, contained two small bedrooms. 
 In the dark and gloomy one to the left, 
 adjoining the rock, slept Pedro; the right- 
 hand one was occupied by his daughter, 
 who enjoyed the exclusive privilege of a 
 small window, that once belonged to the 
 vessel, and which overlooked the creek. 
 
 The third story, to which a narrow 
 passage, separating the two last-named 
 rooms, led, was merely a dark and stifling 
 garret. The roof which, as we have said, 
 rested against the rock, was flat, and made 
 of rushes, the external coating of which, 
 decayed by the wet, had produced a forest of 
 plants and flowers which in autumn, revived 
 by the rain after the drought of summer, 
 made the cabin appear roofed with a beauti- 
 ful hanging garden. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 105 
 
 On entering the hut, Maria found the 
 fisherman sitting sad and downcast by the 
 fireside, opposite his daughter, who, with 
 her hair hanging in disorder on each side 
 of her pale face, moody and shivering, was 
 muffled up in a blanket of coarse grey 
 flannel. She did not appear to be more 
 than thirteen years old. As the new 
 comers entered, she fixed on them her large 
 wild black eyes, with a not very amiable 
 expression, then turned away and huddled 
 herself up again in the chimney-corner. 
 
 " 'Tio Pedro," said old Maria, "you forget 
 your friends, but they don't forget you. 
 Will you be good enough to tell me what 
 God gave you a tongue for ? Couldn't you 
 have come and told me that the child was 
 ill? If you had told me sooner, I should 
 have come sooner with this gentleman, who 
 is a doctor, such as you don't meet every day, 
 and who will cure your daughter in no time." 
 
106 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Pedro Santalo rose quickly, went up to 
 Stein, tried to speak to him, but too much 
 agitated to utter a word, stood silent, 
 covering his face with his hands. 
 
 He was an oldish man, somewhat rough 
 in appearance and of colossal size. His 
 sunburnt face was surmounted with a thick 
 mass of rough gray hair, and his chest, red 
 as that of an Ohio Indian's, was similarly 
 covered. 
 
 "Come, tio Pedro," said Maria, whose 
 tears fell fast at sight of the poor father's 
 despair. "A man like you as big as a 
 church, and who could almost swallow little 
 children whole, to give way like this ! Bah ! 
 You are only made up for appearance, after 
 all." 
 
 " Tia Maria," replied the fisherman, in a 
 stifled voice, " this will be the fifth child I 
 shall have buried." 
 
 " Senor ! But why lose courage so ? 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 107 
 
 Kemember your namesake St. Pedro began 
 to sink in the sea when he lost the faith 
 which supported him. I tell you that with 
 God's grace Don Federico will cure the 
 child." 
 
 Pedro shook his head sadly. 
 
 "How obstinate these Catalans are!" 
 exclaimed Maria, sharply, and passing in 
 front of the fisherman she approached the 
 invalid and added, 
 
 "Come, Marisalada, come get up, child, 
 and let this gentleman examine you." 
 
 Marisalada didn't move. 
 
 "Come, my child," repeated the good 
 woman, "you'll see that he will cure you 
 like magic." And, taking the girl's arm, she 
 tried to induce her to rise. 
 
 " I don't wish to move," said the invalid, 
 rudely shaking off Maria's hand. 
 
 " The daughter is as gentle as the father. 
 Those' who inherit don't steal," muttered 
 
108 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Momo, making his appearance at the 
 door. 
 
 " When one is ill, one is impatient," said 
 her father, trying to excuse her. 
 
 Marisalada had a violent fit of coughing. 
 The fisherman wrung his hands with grief. 
 
 " A mere cold," said Maria. " Come, come, 
 there's nothing out of the common in that ; 
 but still, friend Pedro, who would have 
 thought of letting a child run about the 
 rocks with bare feet and legs in such cold 
 weather ? " 
 
 " She would do it," replied Pedro. 
 
 " Why don't you give her wholesome food 
 good broth, milk, and eggs, instead of 
 letting her eat nothing but fish ? " 
 
 " She will eat nothing else," said the father, 
 disconsolately. 
 
 " She'll die of bad management," observed 
 Momo, who was leaning against the door- 
 post with his arms crossed. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 109 
 
 "Will you put your tongue into your 
 pocket ? " said his grandmother, sharply, 
 then turning to Stein, " Don Federico," she 
 said, " try and examine our invalid as well 
 as you can in her present position, for she'd 
 sooner be killed than made to move." 
 
 Stein began by asking the father some 
 details of her illness, then going up to the 
 girl, who was in a sort of stupor, he soon 
 perceived that her lungs were in a state of 
 great irritation. The case was serious ; 
 there was great weakness from want of 
 proper nourishment, a dry and hollow cough, 
 and constant fever. In short, there was 
 every reason to fear consumption. 
 
 " Is she as fond of singing as ever ? " 
 inquired the old woman during the examin- 
 ation. 
 
 "She'd sing although crucified, like the 
 bats," said Momo, putting his head outside 
 the door, so that the wind should carry his 
 
110 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 soft words out of his grandmother's hear- 
 ing 
 
 " The first thing to be done," said Stein, 
 ^ is to prevent this young girl from exposing 
 herself to the cold." 
 
 " Do you hear, my child ? " said the 
 afflicted father. 
 
 " It is essential that she should wear shoes 
 and warm clothing," continued Stein. 
 
 " If she only would ! " exclaimed the 
 fisherman, jumping up and opening a cedar 
 chest, from which he drew a number of 
 articles of dress. " Here is everything she 
 can want ; all that I have, and all that I 
 may earn, is for her. Maria ! my daughter, 
 say you will wear these clothes, do, my 
 Mariquilla, for Heaven's sake! You hear 
 that the doctor orders it." 
 
 Marisalada roused by the noise her father 
 was making, cast a fretful glance at Stein, 
 and said sharply, " Who governs me ? " 
 
THE SEA-GULL. Ill 
 
 "I wouldn't undertake the job, except 
 with the help of a good wild olive-stick," 
 muttered Momo. 
 
 " She must have good food, and strength- 
 ening broths," continued Stein. 
 
 Maria made a gesture of approval. 
 
 "She, should take inilk, fowls, fresh eggs, 
 and things of that sort." 
 
 " Didn't I tell you so ? " interrupted the 
 old grandmother, addressing Pedro. " This 
 gentleman is the best doctor in the world." 
 
 " You mustn't let her sing," said Stein. 
 
 "Shall I never hear her again?" cried 
 Pedro, sadly. 
 
 " What a dreadful misfortune ! " replied 
 Maria.' " Only let us cure her, and then she 
 may sing day and night, like the ticking of 
 a watch. But I think I'd better take her 
 home with me, for there's no one here to 
 look after her properly, and no one who 
 knows how to make good soup as I do." 
 
112 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 "I know by experience," said Stein, 
 smiling, "that my good nurse can make 
 broth, fit for a king." 
 
 Grandmamma Maria was full of delight 
 at this compliment. 
 
 " So now, tio Pedro, you have only to say 
 the word, and I will take her home with me." 
 
 " And I remain without her ? No, no ; 
 it can't be ! " 
 
 " Tio Pedro, tio Pedro, that's not how we 
 should love our children," replied Maria. 
 " The way to love them is to consider their 
 welfare before everything." 
 
 "Then so be it," answered the fisherman, 
 rising suddenly. "Take her with you; I 
 place her in your hands, and trust her to the 
 care of this gentleman, and to the goodness 
 of God." 
 
 Thus saying, he rushed out of the house, 
 as if afraid that his resolution might falter, 
 and began to saddle his ass. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 113 
 
 " Don Federico," asked old Maria, when 
 they were left alone with the girl, " isn't it 
 true that, with God's help, you will be able 
 to cure her ? " 
 
 " So I hope," replied Stein. " I can't tell 
 
 you how much this poor father interests 
 me." 
 Maria made a bundle of the linen the 
 
 fisherman had taken out of the chest, and 
 when he returned with the donkey they 
 lifted Marisalada into the saddle, the girl 
 being too much exhausted by the fever to 
 make any resistance. 
 
 As Maria was about to mount the faithful 
 Golondrina, who seemed much pleased to 
 return in the company of Urea* (the name of 
 Pedro's ass), the fisherman took her aside, 
 and trying to slip some pieces of gold into 
 her hand, said, "I saved this from the 
 wreck ; take it, and give it to the doctor. 
 
 * A species of whale. 
 VOL. I I 
 
114 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 All that I have belongs to him who will 
 save my child's life." 
 
 " Keep your money," replied Maria, " and 
 know that, in the first place, it was God 
 who brought the doctor here, and in the 
 second place it was I." There was just 
 the slightest touch of vanity in the way she 
 uttered the last words. 
 
 As they went along, Momo, who was 
 walking behind his grandmother's donkey, 
 said, "That's right, grandmother, fill the 
 monastery with people, large as it is ; don't 
 stop at one or two, pray. So the cabin wasn't 
 good enough for the Princess Gaviota?" 
 
 " Momo," replied Maria, " mind your own 
 business, will you ?" 
 
 " But what is this wild Sea-Gull to you, 
 that you must needs burden yourself with 
 her?" 
 
 " Momo, one proverb says, ' Who is thy 
 sister ? Thy next neighbour.' And another, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 115 
 
 * Wipe the nose of your neighbour's son, 
 and take him home.' The moral being, ' Dp 
 as you would be done by.' ' 
 
 " But another proverb says, * He^s a fool 
 who_troubles himself about other people.' 
 But never mind, you're determined to try and 
 get the palm away from St Juan de Dios." 
 
 "You won't be the good angel who'll 
 help me," said Maria, sadly. 
 
 Dolores received the invalid with open 
 arms, heartily approving of her mother-in- 
 law's action. 
 
 Pedro Santalo, who had accompanied his 
 daughter, took the charitable sick-nurse 
 aside before leaving, and putting the pieces 
 of gold into her hand, said, "This is to 
 cover all expenses, and that nothing may be 
 wanting. As for your care of her, good 
 Maria, God will repay you for it." 
 
 She hesitated a moment, and then took 
 the money, saying, " So let it be ; she shall 
 
 i 2 
 
116 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 want for nothing. Make yourself easy, tio 
 Pedro. Y.our child is in good hands." 
 
 The poor father hurried away, never 
 stopping till he reached the sea-shore, when, 
 throwing himself on the beach, his face 
 turned towards the convent, he wept 
 bitterly. 
 
 When he left, Maria said to Momo : 
 " Look sharp, and go to the village for me. 
 Bring me a ham from Serrano's ; he will 
 be kind enough to send me a good one when 
 he hears it's for a sick person ; and at the 
 same time, bring me a pound of sugar and 
 
 an ounce of almonds." 
 
 
 
 " That's the way ! G-o on, let's have it 
 altogether," cried Momo; "do you think 
 they'll let me have all this on trust, or for 
 the sake of my good looks ? " 
 
 " Here's something to pay with," replied 
 his grandmother, putting a piece of gold into 
 his hand. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 117 
 
 " Gold ! " exclaimed Momo, stupefied, for 
 it was the first time in his life that he had 
 ever seen that metal in the shape of coin ; 
 " from what demon did you get this money?" 
 
 " What does that matter to you ?" replied 
 Maria ; " don't interfere in other people's 
 affairs. Make haste and be off. You ought 
 to have been back by this time." 
 
 "Nothing was wanting but this," said 
 Momo, " that I should turn servant to this 
 accursed Gaviota, to this waif of the sea- 
 shore! I won't go." 
 
 " Come, boy, away with you at once." 
 
 "Not I. You'll have to drag me there 
 if you want me to go," said Momo, in a 
 decided tone. 
 
 "Jose," said Maria to the shepherd who 
 was passing at the moment, "are you 
 going to the village ? " 
 
 " Yes, seiiora, what commands have you ? " 
 
 The good woman gave him her commis- 
 
118 
 
 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 sions, and added, "This Momo is a bad- 
 hearted fellow, and won't go for me. I'm 
 weak enough not to tell his father, who'd 
 send him off in a hurry, with a coaxing 
 that would break every bone in his 
 body." 
 
 "Yes, yes, of course. Pray take every 
 care of this crow, who will peck out your 
 eyes," said Momo. "You'll see how she'll 
 repay you. You'll see ! Wait a bit ! " 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DURING the following month Marisalada 
 improved wonderfully in health, and did 
 not show the smallest desire to return to 
 her father. 
 
 Stein's strength was completely restored. 
 Each day he became more and more 
 attached to the good simple people among 
 whom he dwelt, and his affectionate dis- 
 position, and modest retiring nature en- 
 deared him to them. His spirits were no 
 longer depressed, his soul revived, and he 
 became reconciled to life and to his fellow- 
 creatures. One evening he was standing 
 in an angle of the monastery, which faced 
 
120 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 the sea, watching the grand effect of one 
 of those storms which usher in winter. 
 
 A. triple canopy of clouds was passing over 
 his head, driven rapidly before the south- 
 west wind. The lowest, in a dark heavy 
 mass, resembled the old dome of a ruined 
 cathedral toppling .to its fall. When the 
 mass burst, falling to the ground in rain, 
 the second canopy was seen, above. Clouds 
 lighter in colour, and less dense, racing with 
 the wind, which, tearing them to pieces, dis- 
 closed through their apertures other clouds 
 still higher and whiter, flying with the 
 utmost speed, as if they feared to sully their 
 pureness by contact with the rest. Every 
 now and then bright rays of light, peeping 
 through these apertures, fell suddenly, some- 
 times on the waves, sometimes on the plain, 
 and then as quickly disappeared, and were 
 replaced by the shadow of other gloomy 
 clouds. These rapid alternations of light 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 121 
 
 and shade gave extraordinary animation to 
 the landscape. Every living being had 
 sought shelter from the fury of the ele- 
 ments, and not a sound was heard, save, in 
 dismal concert, the moaning of the waves 
 and the howling of the hurricane. The 
 plants of the desert bowed their rugged 
 heads to the violence of the wind, which, 
 after lashing them, passed on till its 
 deafening threats were lost in the distance. 
 The sea, agitated, rose in enormous waves, 
 which gradually lifted themselves on high, 
 stood for an instant balanced, and then 
 burst, roaring and foaming, as Goethe says, 
 when, in his * Torquato Tasso,' he compares 
 them to anger in the breast of man. The 
 spray broke with such force on the rocks of 
 the Fort San Cristobal, that the dry golden 
 leaves of the fig-trees were bespattered with 
 flakes of white foam. 
 
 " Are you a cistern, Don Federico, that 
 
122 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 you wish to catch all the water that falls 
 from heaven ? " asked Jose the shepherd. 
 " Let's go in ; roofs are made on purpose for 
 nights such as these. My poor sheep would 
 give something to get under shelter." 
 
 Entering the house, they found the 
 Alerza family gathered round the fire. On 
 the left of the hearth was Dolores, seated on 
 a low chair, with her baby, who, standing 
 on her knees, with its back turned to its 
 mother, was leaning over the arm she held 
 round it, as over the balustrade of a bal- 
 cony, its little naked legs and .arms in a 
 state of perpetual motion, and crowing and 
 laughing >at its brother Anis, who, perched 
 on the edge of an empty pipkin in front of 
 the fire, sat as stiff and grave as a judge, 
 fearing to lose his balance and be swallowed 
 up in the pot, a fate which his mother had 
 predicted. 
 
 Tia Maria was spinning on the right of 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 123 
 
 the chimney. Near her were her two little 
 granddaughters, seated on stumps of dried 
 aloes and excellent seats they are light, 
 solid, and very safe. 
 
 Close to the fire were sleeping the large 
 dog Palomo, and the grave cat Morrongo, 
 tolerating each other from necessity, but 
 mutually agreeing to keep at a respectful 
 distance. 
 
 In the centre of the room was a low table, 
 on which stood a lamp with four burners. 
 Xear to it sat Gabriel, making baskets of 
 palm; Momo, mending Grolondrina's har- 
 ness ; and Manuel, cutting up tobacco. 
 
 Simmering on the fire was a large sauce- 
 pan filled with sweet potatoes, white wine, 
 honey, cinnamon, and cloves, and the humble 
 family was waiting impatiently till the 
 perfumed " compota " should be cooked to 
 a nicety. 
 
 " Come along, come along," said old 
 
124 THE SEA-GULL, 
 
 Maria, as Stein and the shepherd entered. 
 " What can you be doing out of doors such 
 weather as this ? The hurricane roars as if 
 it wanted to devour the whole world. Here, 
 here, Don Federico, as close as possible to 
 this inviting fire. Do you know that our 
 invalid has supped like a princess, and is 
 now sleeping like a queen ? She's recover- 
 ing at a fine rate, isn't she, Don Fede- 
 rico?" 
 
 "Her progress surpasses my hopes." 
 
 "My soups!" said tia Maria, triumph- 
 antly. 
 
 " And .the asses' milk," ventured Gabriel, 
 timidly. 
 
 " No doubt," said Stein, " and she should 
 continue to take it." 
 
 " I don't object," said Maria ; " for if it 
 does no good it does no harm." 
 
 "Ah I how delightful it is here," said 
 Stein, caressing the children. " If one could 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 125 
 
 only live for the present, without caring to 
 trouble about the future ! " 
 
 " Yes, yes, Don Federico," cried Manuel, 
 merrily. " One half of life is the candle ; 
 the other half is bread and wine." 
 
 "And what need have you to think of 
 the morrow?" asked Maria. "Is it right 
 for the morrow to embitter the present 
 day?" 
 
 "Man is a traveller," said Stein, "and 
 must continue his journey." 
 
 "Certainly," answered Maria. "Man is 
 a wayfarer; but when he reaches a place 
 which pleases him, he should say, 'We 
 shall do well here, pitch the tents/ " 
 
 " If you are going to waste the evening 
 in talking about travelling," said Dolores, 
 " we shall think that we have offended you, 
 or that you are tired of staying here." 
 
 " Who would talk of voyages in the 
 middle of December ? " asked Manuel. 
 
126 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " Don't you see, sefior, the large waves, 
 and don't you hear the howling of the 
 wind? Embark this weather, and the re- 
 sult would be the same as when you em- 
 barked in the war of Navarra." 
 
 " Besides," added Maria, " the invalid 
 isn't quite cured yet." 
 
 " Mother," said Dolores, who was besieged 
 by the children, " if you don't call these 
 creatures away, the yams won't be cooked 
 till the day of judgment." 
 
 The grandmother put her distaff away 
 in a safe corner, and called the little 
 ones. 
 
 " We won't come," they replied with one 
 voice, " unless you will tell us a story." 
 
 " Come, then, and I'll tell you one," said 
 the good old woman. 
 
 The children collected round her, Anis 
 returned to his place on the pipkin, and 
 she began as follows : 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 127 
 
 MEDIO POLLITO. 
 
 (HALF CHICK.) 
 
 "There was once upon a time a pretty 
 hen, who lived very comfortably in a 
 farmyard, surrounded by a numerous 
 family, one member of which was deformed 
 and lame. The mother loved this poor son 
 better than all her other children, as 
 mothers always do in like cases; he was 
 only half a fowl, and to look at him one 
 would have thought that the sword of 
 Solomon had executed on him the judg- 
 ment that wise king pronounced on a 
 certain occasion. He had but one eye, one 
 wing, and one foot, but for all that, he had 
 more vanity than his father, who was the 
 most graceful, the boldest and the most 
 gallant cock within twenty leagues. The 
 cockerel believed himself to be the phoenix 
 of his race. If the other cocks made fun of 
 him, he thought it was from envy ; m if the 
 
128 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 hens did the same, he said it was from 
 anger, because he took so little notice of 
 them. 
 
 " One day he said to his mother, 
 
 " * Listen, mother, I'm sick of the 
 country, I'm thinking of going to court; 
 I wish to see the king and queen.' 
 
 "The poor mother trembled at these 
 words. ' My son,' she exclaimed, ' who has 
 put such folly into your head ? Your father 
 has never left his birthplace, and has always 
 been an honour to his race. Where will you 
 meet with such a poultry-yard? Where 
 find a nobler dunghill. More wholesome 
 and abundant food, or a family who will 
 bve you more ? ' 
 
 '" Nego' (I deny it), said Medio Pollito 
 in Latin, for he could read and write, * my 
 brothers and cousins are ignorant and rustic.' 
 
 " ' But my son,' replied the mother, * have 
 you never looked at yourself in the glass ? 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 129 
 
 Don't you know that you have only one 
 foot, and one eye ? ' 
 
 " * And whose fault is that but yours ? ' 
 replied Medio Pollito, 'can you taunt me 
 with it ? It's certainly not my fault, and it 
 may happen,' he continued, his comb turning 
 scarlet, ' that I may meet a skilful surgeon 
 who will supply me with the wanting 
 members. However, it's no use talking, for 
 go I will.' 
 
 "When the poor mother saw he was not 
 to be diverted from his intention, she said, 
 * Listen, at least, my son, to the prudent 
 counsels of a good mother. Be careful not to 
 pass by any church where there is an image 
 of St. Peter. The saint is not very fond of 
 cocks, and still less of their crowing. Avoid 
 also certain men there are in the world, called 
 cooks, who are our mortal enemies, and twist 
 our necks as quick as amen. And now, my 
 son, go and beg your father's blessing, and 
 
 VOL. i. K 
 
130 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 may St. Raphael, the protector of travellers, 
 guide you on your way.' 
 
 "Medio Pollito went up to the respect- 
 able author of his days, bowed his head, to 
 kiss his foot, and asked his blessing. The 
 venerable cock gave it with more dignity 
 than tenderness, for he didn't love him on 
 account of his wayward disposition. His 
 mother was so overcome with grief that she 
 was forced to wipe away her tears with a 
 dry leaf. Medio Pollito took his leave, 
 flapped his wing, and crowed three times by 
 way of announcing his departure. 
 
 " Arriving at the bank of a rivulet, which, 
 as it was summer, was nearly dry, he saw that 
 the little thread of water that remained was 
 choked up by some branches. The rivulet 
 perceiving the traveller, said to him, 
 
 " ' You see, my friend, how weak I am ! I 
 can hardly move an inch, nor have I 
 strength enough to push away these trouble- 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 131 
 
 some boughs which block up my path. I 
 cannot even make a turn to avoid them, it 
 would fatigue me too much. You can easily 
 help me out of my painful position by just 
 separating them with your beak. In return, 
 you may not only quench your thirst in my 
 stream, but you may also reckon on my 
 services when the rain from heaven shall 
 have restored my strength.' 
 
 " The cockerel replied, ' I could, but I 
 won't. Pray, do I look like a servant of 
 dirty little rivulets ? ' 
 
 " ' You will remember me when you least 
 think,' murmured the rivulet in a weak voice. 
 
 " { Bravo ! puddle ! ' said Medio Pollito, 
 sneeringly ; ' why you must have drawn a 
 prize in the lottery. You think as much of 
 yourself as if you had all the waters of the 
 deluge ! ' 
 
 "A little further on, he came upon the wind, 
 which lay nearly breathless on the ground. 
 
 K2 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 "'Dear Medio Pollito,' it said, 'in this 
 world we all need each other; come and 
 look at me. Do you see what the summer- 
 heat has done for me me so strong and 
 powerful, who can lift up the waves and 
 ravage the plains, whose force nothing can 
 resist? One of the dog-days has killed 
 me I fell asleep, intoxicated with the per- 
 fumes of the flowers I was playing with, and 
 here I am powerless. If you would kindly 
 raise me just two inches from the ground 
 with your beak, and fan me with your wing, 
 I should be sufficiently revived to 'fly away 
 to my cavern, where my mother and my 
 sisters, the whirlwinds, are employed in 
 mending soine old clouds that I have torn. 
 There they would give me some soups, and 
 I should gain fresh strength.' 
 
 "'Cavalier,' replied the malicious cock, 
 ' you have many times amused yourself at 
 my expense, pushing me from behind, and 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 133 
 
 opening my tail like a fan, in order that 
 everybody who saw me might laugh at my 
 appearance. No, my friend. Every pig has 
 its Martinmas. So, farewell, Sir Joker.' 
 
 " So saying, he crowed three times very 
 clearly, and strutting with vanity, continued 
 his journey. 
 
 " In the middle of a stubble-field, to which 
 the farmers had set fire, was a column of 
 smoke. Going up to it Medio Pollito saw a 
 tiny spark, which was gradually being ex- 
 tinguished among the ashes. 
 
 " ' Beloved Medio Pollito,' said the spark, 
 on seeing him, ' a happy chance has brought 
 you here to save my life. For want of 
 nourishment I am at the last gasp. I can't 
 think what has become of my cousin, the 
 wind, who is generally at hand to help me 
 in these critical moments. Bring me a few 
 straws to keep me alive.' 
 
 " * What do I care whether you live or 
 
134 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 die ? ' said the cock. * You are of no good 
 to me in the world ! * 
 
 " ' Who knows if trouble may not come to 
 you some day,' replied the spark. 'No 
 one can say he will never drink of that cup.' 
 
 " ' Hold your tongue,' said the perverse 
 fowl ; ' I'm tired of these complaints. Here, 
 take this ! ' 
 
 "And with these words he covered the 
 spark with ashes, then began to crow ac- 
 cording to his custom, as if he had performed 
 a great exploit. 
 
 "Medio Pollito arrived at the capital, 
 passed in front of a church which they told 
 him was dedicated to St. Peter, stopped at 
 the entrance, and commenced crowing loudly, 
 as much for the purpose of enraging the 
 saint as for the pleasure of disobeying his 
 mother. On arriving at the palace he 
 wished to enter, in order to see the king 
 and the queen, but the sentinels drove him 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 135 
 
 back. He then went round, and passed 
 through a back door into a large room, 
 where he saw a number of people coming in 
 and going out. He asked who they were, 
 and learnt that they were his majesty's 
 cooks. Instead of running away, as his 
 mother had entreated him, he strutted in 
 with his crest and tail very erect, but a 
 scullion laid hold of him and wrung his 
 neck in the twinkling of an eye. 
 
 . " ' Now then,' he cried, * come here, water, 
 let's pluck this penitent.' 
 
 " * Oh ! water ! Oh ! my dear Dona Cris- 
 talina ! ' cried the cock, * be kind enough 
 not to scald me ! Have pity on me ! ' 
 
 " ' Had you any on me, when I begged 
 you to help me, you ill-natured creature ? ' 
 replied the water, boiling with anger, and 
 drenching him from his comb to his spurs, 
 while the scullions took care not to leave a 
 single feather on his body." 
 
136 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Paca, who was kneeling close to her 
 grandmother, grew very red, and very sad. 
 
 " Then," continued Maria, " the cook 
 took Medio Pollito, and put him on the spit. 
 
 " ' Fire ! brilliant fire ! ' cried the wretched 
 creature, ' you, who are so powerful and so 
 resplendent, pity my situation, repress your 
 ardour, quench your flames oh! do not 
 burn me ! ' 
 
 " ' Scoundrel ! ' replied the fire ; ' how 
 dare you ask me for pity, after having 
 suffocated me, pretending you would never 
 need my services ! Wait a bit ! One good 
 turn deserves another ! ' And, indeed, not 
 content with only roasting him, it burnt 
 him till he was like a piece of charcoal." 
 
 When she heard this, Paca's. eyes filled 
 with tears. Maria continued : 
 
 " The cook, seeing him in this state, took 
 him by the foot, and threw him out of 
 window. 
 
THE SEA-GULL . 137 
 
 " Then the wind caught him up. 
 
 " ' Oh, wind ! ' whined Medio Pollito ; 
 ' my dear, venerable wind, thou who 
 reignest over all, owing obedience to none, 
 mightiest of the mighty, have compassion 
 on me; let me drop gently on to this 
 dunghill, and there leave me/ 
 
 " ' Leave you ! ' roared the wind, whirling 
 him in the air like a whipping-top; 'not 
 while I have a breath left in me ! ' 
 
 The tears which had collected in Paca's 
 eyes now streamed down her cheeks. 
 
 " The wind," continued the grandmother, 
 "deposited Medio Pollito on the top of a 
 steeple. St. Peter stretched out his hand, 
 and fixed him there firmly. He has re- 
 mained there ever since, black, lean, and 
 featherless ; lashed by the rain, and pushed 
 about by the wind, from which he always 
 turns away his tail. He is not now called 
 Medio Pollito, but weathercock, for you 
 
138 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 must know that he is there atoning for his 
 faults and failings his disobedience, his 
 pride, and his wickedness." 
 
 " Grandmother," said Pepa, " do you see 
 that Paca is crying for Medio Pollito? 
 What you have told us is only a story, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " Of course," put in Momo, " none of it's 
 true ; but even if it had been so, wouldn't 
 it be foolish to cry because a scoundrel got 
 his deserts ? " 
 
 " When I was at Cadiz thirty years ago," 
 remarked Maria, "I was very much im- 
 pressed by something I saw. I will tell you 
 what it was, Momo ; and will pray that it 
 may be fixed in your memory as it has so 
 long been in mine. It was a sentence 
 written in letters of gold, over the door of 
 the prison, and read thus 'J3ate the crime, 
 bujupiy_the criminal.' It's like a sentence 
 from the G-ospel, isn't it, Don Federico ? " 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 139 
 
 " The spirit is the same, though the words 
 are not," replied Stein. 
 
 " But Paca has always tears in her eyes," 
 said Momo. 
 
 " Is it wrong to cry ? " asked the little 
 girl of her grandmother. 
 
 "No, my child, on the contrary; the 
 diadem of the Queen of the Angels is made 
 of tears of compassion and repentance." 
 
 " Momo," said the shepherd, " if you say 
 another word to vex my godchild, 1*11 
 wring your neck like the cook did Medio 
 Pollito's." 
 
 " See what a good thing it is to have a 
 godfather," said Momo to his little sister. 
 
 " It's not a bad thing sometimes to have 
 a godchild," replied Paca, proudly. 
 
 " Indeed ! " said the shepherd, " tell me 
 why." 
 
 Then Paca ran to her godfather, who took 
 her on his knee, kissing her affectionately. 
 
140 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Turning her little head towards him, her 
 eyes fixed on his face, she began the follow- 
 ing story : 
 
 " Once upon a time, there was a poor 
 man, so poor that he had not wherewith to 
 clothe the eighth child, which the stork was 
 about to bring him, nor to provide food for 
 the seven he already had. One day he left 
 his house, because it broke his heart to hear 
 them crying and begging for bread. He 
 walked on, not knowing where he was 
 going; on, on through the whole day, till 
 he found himself (where do you think, god- 
 father?), well, then, at the mouth of a 
 robber's cave. 
 
 "The captain came out he was very 
 fierce and shouted to him in a voice like 
 thunder, ' Who are you ? What do you 
 want ? ' 
 
 " ' Senor," said the poor man, throwing 
 himself on his knees before him, * I am an 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 141 
 
 unhappy creature, who does no one any 
 harm, and I have left my home that I may 
 not hear my poor children crying for bread 
 which I cannot give them.' 
 
 " The captain took pity on him, fed him, 
 and gave him a purse full of money and a 
 horse. 
 
 " ' Go back,' he said, * and when the stork 
 brings you the other child, let me know, and 
 I will be its godfather.' " 
 
 "Now we are coming to it," said the 
 shepherd. 
 
 " Wait, wait ! " cried Paca, " and you'll 
 see what's coming. 
 
 " Then the man set out for his home, so 
 
 _ 
 joyful that his heart was ready to jump out 
 
 of his mouth. 
 
 " ' How happy my children will be ! ' 
 said he. 
 
 " When he arrived, he found that the stork 
 had already brought the eighth child, who 
 
142 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 was in the bedroom with its mother. So he 
 galloped back to the cave, told the bandit 
 what had happened, and the latter promised 
 to keep his word, and to come to the church 
 that night. I He did so, held the child at the 
 font, and presented it with a bag full of 
 gold. But the little one soon after died, 
 and was taken to heaven. St. Peter, who 
 was standing at the gate, told him to enter ; 
 but he replied, ' I will not enter, unless my 
 godfather may come with me.' 
 
 " ' And who is thy godfather ? ' asked 
 the gaint. 
 
 " * A captain of brigands,' replied the 
 cMld. 
 
 "'Then, my son,' continued St. Peter, 
 * thou mayst enter, but thy godfather may 
 not.' 
 
 " The child seated himself by the gate, very 
 sad, leaning his head on his hand. The Virgin 
 happened to pass by, and said to him, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 143 
 
 " * My son, why dost thou not enter ? ' 
 
 " He answered that he did not wish to go 
 in without his godfather, and that St. Peter 
 said that it was impossible he could enter. 
 And the child threw himself on his knees, 
 crossed his little hands, and cried so bitterly 
 that the Virgin, who is the Mother of Pity, 
 was touched by his sorrow. Putting a gold 
 cup in his hand, she said, 
 
 " * Go, seek thy godfather, and tell him to 
 fill this cup with tears of contrition, and then 
 he may enter heaven with thee. Take these 
 silver wings and fly away.' 
 
 " The robber was lying asleep on a rock, 
 with a gun in one hand, and a dagger in the 
 other. On awaking, he saw, seated on a laven- 
 der-bush in front of him, a beautiful naked 
 child, with silver wings, shining in the sun, 
 and a golden cup in his hand. 
 
 " The bandit rubbed his eyes, thinking he 
 was still dreaming, but the child said, 
 
144 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 ' ' ' No, don't fancy you are dreaming. I 
 am your godson.' And he told him all that 
 had occurred. 
 
 " Then the brigand's heart opened like a 
 pomegranate, and the tears poured in tor- 
 rents from his eyes. His grief was so acute, 
 and his repentance so sincere, that they 
 pierced his heart like two swords, and he 
 died. 
 
 [ " Then the child took the cup full of tears, 
 and flew with the soul of his godfather to 
 heaven, where they entered, and where, 
 please God, we may all enter. 
 
 " And now, godfather," concluded Paca, 
 laying her little head on his shoulder, " you 
 see what a good thing it is to have god- 
 children." 
 
 She had hardly finished her story, when 
 a great noise was heard. The dog jumped 
 up, pricked his ears, and stood on the de- 
 fensive. The cat, with its hair bristled up, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 145 
 
 and its eyes full of terror, prepared for 
 flight, but shouts of laughter soon took the 
 place of the alarm. It was only Anis, who, 
 having dropped asleep during his sister's 
 story, had lost his balance, and fulfilled his 
 mother's prophecy, by tumbling backwards 
 into the pipkin, in which the whole of his 
 small person disappeared, with the exception 
 of his feet and legs, which, sticking out, had 
 very much the appearance of some new 
 kind of plant growing in a flowerpot. His 
 mother, with some little impatience, seized 
 him with one hand by the collar of his 
 waistcoat, dragged him from the abyss, and 
 then, in spite of his resistance, held him for 
 some time suspended in the air, where he 
 looked like one of those puppets made of 
 card-board, which move their arms and legs 
 furiously, when the string by which they are 
 held is jerked. 
 
 Now, as his mother was scolding him, 
 
 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 and everybody else laughing at him, Anis, 
 who had a temper of his own, a failing 
 which, they say, is common in children 
 (though that doesn't mean that grown-up 
 people are free from it), set up a howl of 
 rage. 
 
 1 'Don't cry, Anis," said Paca. "Don't 
 cry, and I'll give you two chestnuts that 
 I've got in my pocket." 
 
 " Will you, though ? " asked Anis. 
 
 Paca drew out the chestnuts, and gave 
 them to him, and, instead of tears, two rows 
 of white teeth were immediately seen glitter- 
 ing in the firelight. 
 
 " Brother Gabriel," said Maria, turning to 
 him, " didn't you tell me that your eyes were 
 very painful ? Why do you work so much 
 at night?" 
 
 " They did give me pain," replied Gabriel, 
 " but Don Federico has cured them with one 
 of his remedies." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 147 
 
 " Don Federico may know a great many 
 good remedies for the eyes, but he doesn't 
 know one that never fails," said the shep- 
 herd. 
 
 " If you know it, will you kindly tell it 
 me ? " asked Stein. 
 
 " I can't tell you how to get at it. I only 
 know that it exists." 
 
 " Who can procure it, then ? " inquired 
 Stein. 
 
 " The swallows, senor." 
 
 "The swallows?" 
 
 " Yes, senor. It is a herb called pito-real, 
 but no one has ever seen it except these 
 birds. When their little ones go blind, they 
 rub their eyes with it, and their sight 
 returns to them." 
 
 " The rubbish that Jose swallows, like a 
 shark, without chewing it," said Manuel, 
 laughing. " I'll tell you another thing, Don 
 Federico, which he says, and which he 
 
 L2 
 
148 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 believes like an article of faith, he says 
 that adders never die." 
 
 "No more they do," said the shepherd. 
 " When they see death coming, they slip out 
 of their skins and wriggle away. In time 
 they become serpents, and then, little by 
 little, scales and wings grow on their bodies, 
 they change into dragons, and fly off to the 
 desert. But I've no patience with you, 
 Manuel, you believe nothing. Perhaps 
 you would even like to deny the fact of the 
 lizard being the enemy of woman, and friend 
 jrf jnan ? If you don't believe that, only ask 
 old Miguel." 
 
 " Does he know it ? " 
 
 ** Certainly, from experience." 
 
 " What happened to him ? " asked Stein. 
 
 " Once when he was lying asleep in the 
 fields, "replied Jose, "a snake crawled near 
 to him ; but a large lizard who happened to 
 be in the grass, at once came forward to 
 protect Miguel, and fought with the snake. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 149 
 
 Still Miguel didn't awake, whereupon the 
 lizard crammed the end of his tail into his 
 nose ; this roused him, and seeing the snake, 
 he set off running as fast as his legs could 
 cany him. The lizard is a good little beast, 
 with excellent feelings, it never goes to 
 sleep at sunset without first coming down 
 the wall, in order to kiss the earth." 
 
 When the conversation began about the 
 swallows, Paca said to Anis, who, seated 
 crosslegged among his sisters, looked like 
 the Grand Turk in miniature, "Anis, do 
 you know what the swallows say ? " 
 
 "Not I; they've never spoken to 
 me." 
 
 " Well then, they say," and the little girl 
 imitating the chirping of the swallows, began 
 singing quickly, 
 
 ' Tis pleasant to eat and to drink, 
 To borrow as much as you may, 
 
 And then, if they foolishly think 
 To seize you because you don't pay, 
 
 To fly, fly, fly far away, 
 
 Gossip Beatrix, out of the way.' " 
 
150 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " That's why they go away, is it? " asked 
 Anis. 
 
 "Of course," boldly asserted his sister. 
 
 "And the sparrows, what do they do? " 
 asked Anis. 
 
 "The sparrows? Oh! they do nothing 
 but eat and steal." 
 
 While all this was going on, Dolores, 
 carrying her sleeping baby with one hand, 
 had laid the table, served up the yams, and 
 helped every one- equally. The little ones 
 were eating from her plate ; and, noticing 
 that she didn't touch a morsel of the good 
 things she had so carefully prepared, Stein 
 said to her, " Won't you eat anything, 
 Dolores ? " 
 
 " Don't you know the saying," she replied, 
 smiling, " ' He who has children by his side 
 will never die of indigestion.' What they 
 eat fattens me." 
 
 Momo who sat next this group drew back 
 
THE SEA GULL. 151 
 
 his plate, for fear his brothers should be 
 tempted to ask him for some of its contents. 
 His father, observing this, said to him, 
 " Never be greedy, for greediness is a dis- 
 gusting vice; and never be avaricious, for 
 avarice is a low vice. One day a miser fell 
 into a river. A countryman, who saw that 
 the stream was carrying him away, held out 
 his hand to him, saying, 'Give me your 
 hand.' Give ! a miser give ! Sooner than 
 give anything he let the stream carry him 
 down. By chance he drifted past a fisher- 
 man, who called to him, 'Here, take my 
 hand.' The question being now of taking, 
 our friend was only too willing, and he was 
 saved from being drowned." 
 
 "A joking story like this isn't the sort 
 you should tell your son, Manuel," said tia 
 Maria. " You might have told him of the 
 wicked rich man who refused a poor beggar 
 even a crust of bread or a cup of water. 
 
152 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 ' God grant,' said the latter, * that everything 
 you touch may turn into the gold and silver 
 you love so much.' His prayer was heard. 
 Everything in the miser's house turned into 
 those metals, and became as hard as his own 
 heart. Tormented by hunger and thirst, he 
 went out into the fields, and seeing a spring 
 of water as clear and pure as crystal, ran up 
 eagerly to it, but as soon as his lips touched 
 the water it was turned into silver. In the 
 same way, when he plucked an orange from 
 the tree, it turned to gold in his hand. So 
 he died raving mad, cursing that which he 
 
 had once loved so much." 
 <~^ 
 
 Manuel, the strong-minded one of the 
 
 party, shook his head. 
 
 " You see, tia Maria," said Jose, " Manuel 
 won't believe anything. He doesn't believe 
 that you would find coal under the ground 
 if you were to dig on the tenth of August, the 
 day St. Lawrence was burnt on a gridiron." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 153 
 
 " When the day comes round again," said 
 Manuel, "I'll dig a hole before you, Jose, 
 and then we'll see whether there will be 
 any." 
 
 "And what would it prove even if no 
 coal were to be found ? " asked his mother. 
 Perhaps you think that you will find it if 
 you look for it without believing? You 
 think, Manuel, that only the articles of 
 religion should be believed, and that credu- 
 lity is a sign ef a weak mind ; but instead 
 of that, my son, it's a sign of a healthy 
 one." 
 
 "Still, mother," replied Manuel, "there's 
 a medium between running and standing 
 still." 
 
 " But why wish to limit your faith ? " re- 
 turned the good old woman ; " faith is the 
 first of all the virtues. What should you 
 think, son of my heart, if I were to say to 
 you, ' I have brought you into the world ; 
 
154 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 I have reared you; I have guided your 
 first footsteps; my obligation towards you 
 is therefore fulfilled ?' that is to say, if you 
 look upon a mother's love only as a matter 
 of obligation ? What should you say, I 
 repeat?" 
 
 " I should say that you were not a good 
 mother." 
 
 " Well then, my son, apply that to what 
 we were talking about. He whose faith is 
 the faith of obligation, and who only be- 
 lieves just enough not to be a renegade, 
 is a bad Christian, as I should be a bad 
 mother if I only loved you as far as I was 
 bound in duty." 
 
 " Brother Gabriel," asked Dolores, " why 
 don't you taste my yams ? " 
 
 " It is a fast-day with our order," replied 
 the monk. 
 
 " Oh ! nonsense ! convents and fast-days 
 are done away with now," said Manuel, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 155 
 
 cavalierly, in order to persuade the poor 
 old man to join in the general feasting ; 
 " besides, you're past sixty so away with 
 scruples! You won't be lost for eating a 
 few yams ! " 
 
 "Pardon me," said the monk, "but I 
 must fast as heretofore, since the father 
 prior hasn't given me dispensation." 
 
 "Well said, Brother Gabriel," put in 
 Maria ; " Manuel, don't you be a tempting 
 demon, trying tb inspire rebellion and glut- 
 tony." So saying, the good old woman 
 rose, and locked up in a cupboard the plate 
 which Dolores had put before the monk, 
 saying, " This shall be kept for you here 
 till to-morrow morning, Brother Gabriel" 
 
 When supper was ended, the men who 
 always keep their hats on indoors took 
 them off, and Maria said grace. 
 
( 156 ). 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NATURE seemed to reward Stein's judicious 
 treatment and Maria's charitable care, for 
 Marisalada was now quite convalescent ; she 
 was dressed decently, and her hair, well 
 brushed and gathered up into a " castaua," * 
 did credit to Dolores, who had undertaken 
 to arrange her headdress. 
 
 One day, when Stein was reading in his 
 bedroom, which overlooked the great court 
 where the children were playing with 
 Marisalada, he heard the latter imitate the 
 songs of different birds to such perfection 
 
 * That, is, into the form of a chestnut, according^ to the 
 Andalusian fashion among the peasantry. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 157 
 
 that he left off reading to listen, with ad- 
 miration, to her extraordinary skill. Soon 
 after, the children began one of those games 
 so common in Spain, in which the dialogue 
 is sung as well as spoken. 
 
 Marisalada undertook the part of mother, 
 Pepa, that of a young cavalier who had 
 come to ask the hand of her daughter in 
 marriage. The mother refused it; the 
 cavalier wished to run off with his lady- 
 love, &c. : all the dialogue being sung in 
 couplets to a tune of the most beautiful 
 melody. The book fell from Stein's hands, 
 for like every true German, he was passion- 
 ately fond of music. Never had he heard 
 such a charming voice. It was pure and 
 clear as crystal, soft and flexible as silk. 
 He hardly dared to breathe, fearing to lose 
 a single note. " You are all ears, I see," said 
 tia Maria, who had entered the room unknown 
 to Stein. " Didn't I tell you that she was 
 
158 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 a canary-bird at liberty?" And going 
 down to the court, she asked Marisalada to 
 sing a song. The girl refused with her usual 
 sourness. 
 
 At this moment Mo mo made his appear- 
 ance, stained with dirt, driving before him 
 Golondrina, laden with charcoal. His face 
 and hands were smutty and black as ink. 
 
 "King Melchor!" cried Marisalada on 
 seeing him, and " King Melchor, King 
 Melchor ! " repeated the children. "If I 
 had nothing else to do," replied Momo in 
 a rage, " but to sing and amuse myself like 
 you, Madam Idler, I shouldn't be covered 
 with dirt from head to foot. Luckily Don 
 Federico has forbidden you to sing, and 
 so there's a chance of my ears being 
 spared." 
 
 Marisalada's reply was to begin singing 
 with all her might and main. 
 
 She had scarcely finished, when Stein, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 159 
 
 who had an excellent ear, took up his flute, 
 and repeated note for note the " bolero " she 
 had sung. 
 
 It was now the young girl's turn to be 
 struck with astonishment ; moving her head 
 in every direction, she tried to discover 
 whence came this perfect echo. "It isn't 
 an echo," cried all the children, " it's Don 
 Federico blowing into a reed, with holes 
 bored in it." 
 
 Marisalada went quickly to Stein's room, 
 and stood there listening to him with the 
 greatest attention, her body leaning forward, 
 a smile on her lips, and her whole soul in 
 her eyes. From that moment the wild 
 roughness of the fisherman's daughter was 
 changed, so far as Stein was concerned, into 
 something like confidence and docility, 
 which greatly astonished the whole family. 
 
 Full of joy, tia Maria begged Stein to take 
 advantage of the influence he had gained 
 
160 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 i 
 
 over the girl, by persuading her to be taught 
 to employ her time profitably, in learning 
 God's will, and in striving to become a good 
 Christian, a sensible and reasonaole woman, 
 and a good housekeeper. She added, that in 
 order to tame Marisalada's wild disposition, 
 and to improve her unpolished manners, the 
 best thing they could do would be to beg 
 Eosita the schoolmistress to take charge of 
 her, because she was a decent Godfearing 
 woman, and very handy with her needle. 
 
 Stein thoroughly approved of this idea, 
 and obtained Marisalada's consent, promising 
 her in return, that he would see her every 
 day, and play the flute to amuse her. The 
 young girl's natural taste for music awoke 
 in her a great desire to study it, and Stein's 
 skill gave her the first impulse. 
 
 When Momo heard that Marisalada was 
 to become Rosa Mistica's pupil, to learn how 
 to sew, and sweep, and cook, and, above all, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 161 
 
 as he said, how to be sensible, and that it 
 was the doctor who had brought it to pass, 
 he declared that now he believed the story 
 Don Federico had told him of there being 
 men in his country who by whistling could 
 make all the rats in the place run after 
 them. 
 
 Since the death of her mother, the 
 Senorita Rosa had set up a girls' school. It 
 is called school* in the villages, but in the 
 towns it assumes the name of academy. 
 The village-girls go to school from morning 
 till noon, and learn nothing but Christianity 
 and stitching. In the towns they are taught 
 reading, writing, embroidery, and drawing. 
 No doubt, these schools cannot make pro- 
 found scholars, nor become seed-beds of art, 
 nor produce models of an education equal to 
 that of the emancipated woman ; but on the 
 other hand, they turn out good workwomen 
 
 * Amiga. 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 and excellent mothers of families, which is 
 somewhat better. 
 
 When Marisalada had quite recovered, 
 Stein begged her father to entrust her for a 
 time to the care of the good woman, who 
 would try and replace the mother she had 
 lost, and teach her the duties of her sex. 
 
 When the Sena Rosa was asked to admit 
 into her house the untamed daughter of the 
 fisherman, her first reply was a decided 
 "No," after the manner, in such cases, of 
 people of her temper. However, she ended 
 by yielding, when they made her understand 
 the good that might result from this act of 
 charity, as in similar circumstances do all 
 really religious people, for with them duty 
 is not a conventionality, but a straight line 
 drawn by a firm hand. 
 
 No one could tell how much the unhappy 
 schoolmistress endured during the time 
 Marisalada was under her charge. On one 
 
THE SEA-GULL. J 163 
 
 side were endless mimicries and rebellious 
 outbreaks ; on the other, profitless sermons 
 and fruitless exhortations. 
 
 Two events exhausted Rosa's patience the 
 more readily, inasmuch as with her, that 
 virtue was not innate, but laboriously ac- 
 quired. 
 
 Marisalada had succeeded in organizing a 
 sort of mutiny in the little battalion com- 
 manded by Rosita. This rebellion, at first 
 timid and vacillating, but gaining strength 
 as it proceeded, broke out one morning in 
 the following manner : 
 
 "I can't bear single roses," Marisalada 
 suddenly exclaimed. 
 
 " Silence ! " cried the mistress, whose 
 severe discipline did not permit that a word 
 should be spoken during school-time. 
 
 Silence was restored. 
 
 Five minutes after a sharp, and somewhat 
 insolent voice, was heard 
 
 ic2 
 
164 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 "I can't bear full-blown roses." 
 
 " Nobody asked your opinion," said Sena 
 Rosa, thinking that this unseasonable ob- 
 servation had been provoked by Marisa- 
 lada. 
 
 Five minutes again passed, then one of 
 the conspirators, stooping to pick up her 
 thimble, said, 
 
 " I can't bear white roses." 
 
 " What does this mean ? " then cried 
 Rosa Mistica, her black eye blazing like a 
 torch. " Are you making fun of me ? " 
 
 " I can't bear 'pitimini ' roses," said one 
 of the smallest girls, immediately hiding 
 herself under the table. 
 
 " Nor I passion roses." 
 
 " Nor I yellow roses," cried the others, 
 and overpowering all was heard, in Marisa- 
 lada's clear, strong voice, 
 
 " No one can endure withered roses." 
 
 " Withered roses, withered roses, no one 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 165 
 
 can endure them," cried all the conspirators 
 in chorus. 
 
 Rosa Mistica, at first, was simply as- 
 tounded, but this last piece of insolence 
 roused her; she rushed into the kitchen, 
 and returned armed with a broom. At this, 
 all the children took flight like a flock of 
 birds. Eosa remained alone, and letting her 
 broom fall to the ground, she crossed her 
 arms, and becoming more composed, ex- 
 claimed, " Give me patience, good Lord ! I 
 have endeavoured to hear my nickname with 
 resignation, but doubtless this crown of 
 thorns was necessary for me. Thy will be 
 done." Perhaps she might have forgiven 
 Marisalada on this occasion, had she not 
 soon after committed another offence, which 
 decided Rosa on sending her away at once. 
 
 Ramon Perez, the barber's son, who was 
 much addicted to playing the guitar, came 
 every night, thrumming on his instru- 
 
166 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 ment, and singing love-songs under the se- 
 verely-closed windows of the devotee. 
 
 " Don Modesto," she said one day to her 
 lodger, " next time you hear that night- 
 bird Ramon, excruciating our ears with his 
 songs, will you do me the favour to go out 
 and tell him to take himself and his music 
 elsewhere ? " 
 
 "But Rosita," replied Don Modesto, "do 
 you wish me to fall out with this boy, when 
 his father (God reward him ! ) has shaved me 
 gratis ever since I came to Yillamar ? And 
 do you know I really like his music ; no one 
 can deny his talent for the guitar." 
 
 " Much good may it do you," said Rosa, 
 coldly. " Possibly your ears are bomb- 
 proof; but though you like it, I don't; 
 neither do I think it seemly for him to come 
 and sing under the windows of a single 
 woman." 
 
 In Don Modesto's face could be read a 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 167 
 
 mute reply, divided into three parts. First, 
 astonishment, which seemed to say, " What ! 
 Ramon make love to my hostess ! " then 
 doubt, "Is it possible?" lastly, certainty. 
 "It must be so. Ramon is an audacious 
 fellow!" 
 
 After a moment's thought, Sena Rosa con- 
 tinued, "You might catch cold going from 
 your warm bed into the cold night-air, so 
 you'd better not get up, and I'll tell this 
 eternal chatterer myself, that if he wants 
 to amuse himself he had better buy a 
 monkey." 
 
 Precisely at midnight the tinkling of a 
 guitar was heard, and a voice singing, 
 
 " Ah ! lovelier is thy cheek's warm brown, 
 My own brunette, than all the chilly, 
 Pale beauty of the blooms that crown, 
 The queen of flow'rs the fair white lily." 
 
 a What foolery ! " exclaimed Rosa Mistica, 
 rising from her bed ; "for how many idle 
 words he will have to give account ! " 
 
168 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 The voice continued, 
 
 " Maiden, as you kneel at mass, 
 
 The church reflects your radiance, 
 And where you tread, the withered grass 
 Springs fresh in green luxuriance." 
 
 " The saints help us ! " exclaimed Eosa, 
 putting on her third petticoat. "He 
 actually introduces the church into his 
 profane verses, and all who hear him, 
 knowing my devotion to religion, will sup- 
 pose that he does this to insult me. Does 
 this beardless chin-scraper fancy he can 
 laugh at me? That was all that was 
 wanting ! " 
 
 Rosa entered the sitting-room, and, to 
 her horror and dismay, saw Marisalada 
 leaning against the window, listening to the 
 singer with the greatest attention. Crossing 
 herself, she exclaimed, " And she isn't yet 
 thirteen ! Truly, there are no children now- 
 a-days ! " 
 
 She took hold of Marisalada by the arm 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 1*69 
 
 and drew her away from the window, placing 
 herself there instead, just as Ramon screamed 
 out the following verse : 
 
 " One moment at thy window show 
 
 Those eyes so beautiful and bright, 
 To lighten us, for here below, 
 The street is dark, and dark the night." 
 
 After this, the air was thrummed on the 
 guitar with more vehemence and ardour than 
 ever. 
 
 "I'll light you up with a vengeance," 
 screamed Rosa in a fury, "you libertine, 
 you profaner, you sempiternal and most un- 
 bearable screech-owl ! " 
 
 Ramon Perez, as soon as he could recover 
 from his first surprise, took to his heels with 
 the speed of a deer, never once looking 
 behind him. This was the finishing stroke, 
 Marisalada was dismissed from the school, 
 notwithstanding Don Modesto's timid plead- 
 ings in her favour. 
 
 " Senor," replied Rosa to her friend, " the 
 
170 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 proverb says, ' Burdens are burdens,' and 
 while this shameless girl is under my charge, 
 I am answerable for her actions to God and 
 to man. It's quite sufficient to answer for 
 one's own sins, without being burdened with 
 those of others. Besides, as you know, it is 
 impossible to put this creature into the 
 straight path, for the more you wish her 
 to go to the right, the more she inclines 
 to the left." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 IT was now three years since Stem's 
 arrival at this quiet village. He had 
 adopted the habits of the country, and 
 lived, as the French say, " au jour le jour ; " 
 in other words, according to old Maria's 
 advice, that we shouldn't allow too much 
 care for the future to interfere with the 
 enjoyment of the present. 
 
 During this time the young doctor had 
 corresponded with his family. His parents 
 had died while he was serving with the 
 army in Navarra ; his sister Charlotte had 
 married a rich farmer, under whose teach- 
 ing her two younger brothers had turned 
 
172 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 out skilful and hardworking, if not very 
 experienced agriculturalists. So Stein felt 
 himself at liberty to act as he pleased. He 
 had devoted himself to the education of; 
 the young invalid, who owed him her life, 
 and, although the soil that he cultivated was 
 barren and ungrateful, he had by dint of 
 great patience, succeeded so far that the first 
 seeds of education had taken root in it. 
 But that which far surpassed his hopes, was 
 the success he met with, in developing the 
 really extraordinary talent for music with 
 which nature had endowed the fisherman's 
 daughter. Her voice was matchless, and 
 Stein, who was a good musician, trained it 
 with the same care, as the branches of the 
 vine are trained, which are at once flexible 
 and vigorous, soft and strong. 
 
 But the master had a soft and tender 
 heart, and a nature so trusting as to be 
 almost blind. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 173 
 
 He fell in love with his pupil, and this 
 feeling was strengthened by the deep love 
 her father bore her, and by Maria's admira- 
 tion of her, both of which could not fail to 
 exercise a strong influence over a nature as 
 frank, loving and gentle, as that of the 
 young German. So that he believed, with 
 Pedro Sautalo, that Marisalada was an 
 angel, and with Maria, that she was a 
 prodigy. 
 
 Stein was one of those men, who can 
 attend a masked ball without realizing the 
 fact that under the painted pasteboard masks, 
 there are other and very different features. 
 And if passionate affection blinded Santalo, 
 and extreme goodness of heart blinded 
 Maria, the two combined to tie a bandage 
 over Stein's eyes. 
 
 But it was Marisalada's pure, eloquent, 
 expressive voice that most enthralled him. 
 He persuaded himself that to express such 
 
174 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 depth of feeling in her song, she must have 
 a deeply feeling heart. As the grain of 
 wheat, in a fertile soil, swells and takes root, 
 before its shoots appear above ground, so 
 did this peaceful, sincere love grow and root 
 itself in Stein's heart, a love felt before 
 defined. 
 
 Marisalada also was attached to Stein, 
 not because she was grateful for his services, 
 or that she appreciated his excellent quali- 
 ties, or could understand his great superi- 
 ority of mind, nor even because she felt the 
 vague attraction inspired by being loved; 
 the gratitude, admiration, and attraction 
 which she felt, were inspired by the 
 musician, the master who instructed her in 
 her favourite art. Besides, the isolation 
 in which she lived, prevented her from 
 having a preference for any one else. Don 
 Modesto's age was rather against his taking 
 part in the tournament of love. Momo, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 175 
 
 besides his extreme ugliness, retained all his 
 hatred for Marisalada, Gaviota, as he still 
 called her, and in her turn, she treated him 
 with the greatest contempt. True, village 
 beaux were not wanting, beginning with the 
 barber, who still perseveringly sighed for the 
 girl, but no one of them could compete with 
 Stein. 
 
 This tranquil state of affairs had lasted 
 through three summers and three winters, 
 which had passed away like three days and 
 three nights, when what we are about to 
 relate took place. 
 
 Intrigue (who would have thought it?) 
 was at work in quiet Yillamar ; the chief 
 conspirator (who would have believed it ?) 
 was tia Maria; the confidant (who would 
 not be astonished ?) was Don Modesto. 
 
 Though it may be indiscretion, or, worse 
 still, meanness, to play the eavesdropper, 
 we will nevertheless hide ourselves in the 
 
176 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 garden, behind this large orange-tree, whose 
 trunk, though its flowers are withered and 
 its leaves fallen, is still firm, like resignation 
 which remains in the depths of the soul, 
 when joys are faded and hopes are dead. 
 Here, then, we will conceal ourselves, and 
 listen to the conversation which the two 
 accomplices are holding in secret, while 
 Brother Gabriel, a thousand leagues off in 
 spirit, is close to them, tying up his lettuces, 
 that they may come to table white and 
 tender. 
 
 "It's not only my imagination, Don 
 Modesto," said Maria, " it's a reality ; and 
 one would be blind not to see it. Don 
 Federico loves Marisalada, who in return 
 doesn't look upon him as a bag of straw." 
 
 " Tia Maria, who thinks of love ? " re- 
 plied Don Modesto, who had never realized, 
 in his calm, tranquil life, the eternal, 
 classical, and invariable axiom of the in- 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 177 
 
 separable alliance of Mars and Cupid. 
 "Who thinks of love?" repeated Don 
 Modesto, in the same tone as if he had 
 asked, "Who thinks of playing at bil- 
 liards?" 
 
 "The young people, Don Modesto, the 
 young people ; and if they didn't, the world 
 would soon come to an end. But here's the 
 case : we must give a touch of the spur to 
 these two they're getting on a great deal 
 too slowly. Our good friend has been in 
 love with his nightingale, as he calls her, 
 these two years ; any one with half an eye 
 could see that. You, who are an important 
 personage, and so much esteemed by Don 
 Federico, ought to exert yourself a little in 
 this matter, and give him good advice, both 
 for their advantage and for ours." 
 
 "I must beg to be excused, tia Maria," 
 replied Don Modesto. "Kamon Perez is 
 an obstacle ; he is a friend of mine, and I 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 don't wish to do him a bad turn. He shaves 
 me for nothing, and to exert myself against 
 his interest would be an ill-natured act on 
 my part. He is much grieved because 
 Marisalada doesn't like him, and I am 
 shocked to see how thin and yellow he has 
 become. He told me the other day, that if 
 he didn't marry the girl, he should break his 
 guitar ; and that as he couldn't turn monk, 
 he would turn rebel. You see, tia Maria, 
 that I should compromise myself in every 
 Wa 7> by interfering in this affair." 
 
 " Bah ! " exclaimed the old woman, im- 
 patiently. " Do you take a lover's words 
 for gospel ? Ramon Perez, poor creature, 
 isn't man enough to kill a sparrow, and you 
 believe he's going to kill Christians ! And 
 then only consider, if Don Federico marries 
 Marisalada, he will always remain here, and 
 what happiness that will afford us all ! I 
 assure you it makes my flesh creep to hear 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 179 
 
 him talk of going away. And the child ! 
 What a happy fate for her! For I must 
 tell you that the good doctor is making 
 money very fast The Alcalde Don Per- 
 fecto gave him a hundred reals, which shone 
 like a hundred stars, for attending and 
 curing his son. Ah! what a charming 
 couple they will make, my commandant ! " 
 
 " I don't dispute your word, tia Maria," 
 replied Don Modesto, " but don't force me 
 to take part in this affair ; let me observe a 
 strict neutrality. I haven't two faces ; I 
 have the one that Ramon shaves, and no 
 other." 
 
 At this moment Marisalada entered the 
 garden. Certainly, she was not at all like 
 the dishevelled, untidy young girl we for- 
 merly knew. Every morning she came to 
 the monastery with her hair carefully 
 arranged, and her dress clean and tidy. 
 Neither affection nor gratitude for its in- 
 
 N2 
 
180 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 mates brought her there : it was solely to 
 indulge her pleasure of hearing Stein play, 
 and of receiving music lessons from him. 
 Besides, she was glad to escape from the 
 dull cabin, where she had no other companion 
 than her father, who did not amuse her. 
 
 " Where's Don Federico ? " she asked, on 
 entering. 
 
 " He hasn't yet returned from visiting his 
 patients," replied Maria. "He has to 
 vaccinate a dozen children to-day. What 
 a funny thing it is, Don Modesto ! He gets 
 something he calls 'vaccine' from the cows, 
 which is a counter-poison to the smallpox. 
 And it must be true, because Don Federico 
 says so." 
 
 "Nothing is more true," replied Don 
 Modesto. "A Swiss first discovered it. 
 When I was at Gaeta I met the Swiss of 
 the Pope's Guard, but no one of them told 
 me that he was the inventor." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 181 
 
 " If I had been his Holiness," pursued 
 Maria, "I should have granted a plenary 
 indulgence to the inventor. Sit down, my 
 Saladilla. I have been longing to see 
 you." 
 
 "No," said Marisalda; "I shall go." 
 
 " Where can you go where you are more 
 loved ? " asked tia Maria. 
 
 "What do I care about people loving 
 me ? " replied the girL " What's the use of 
 staying if Don Federico isn't here ? " 
 
 "That's it, is it? So you only come 
 to see Don Federico, you little ungrateful 
 thing!" 
 
 "Why- not? What else should I come 
 for ? To spend my time with Romo, whose 
 eyes, face, and soul are all crooked ? " 
 
 "Then you're very fond of Don Fede- 
 rico ? " ventured the old woman. 
 
 "I like him," answered Marisalada. "If 
 4 it were not for him I should never set foot 
 
182 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 here, for fear of meeting that imp Romo, 
 whose tongue is like the sting of a wasp." 
 
 " How about Ramon Perez ? " asked 
 Maria, jokingly, in order to convince Don 
 Modesto that his protege might lay aside his 
 hopes. 
 
 Marisalada burst into a peal of laughter. 
 "If this Eaton Perez" (Momo had given 
 this nickname to the young barber) "were 
 to fall into the kettle, I wouldn't be the ant 
 who would weep and sing for him ; still 
 less would I be the one to listen to his 
 singing, for his voice grates on my nervous 
 system as Don Federico calls it, and which 
 he tells me is more highly strung than the 
 strings of a guitar. I'll show you how this 
 Raton Perez sings, Maria." 
 
 Marisalada snatched up an aloe-leaf which 
 lay on the ground with several others, used 
 by Brother Gabriel to screen the first 
 growth of his tomatoes from the north wind. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 183 
 
 Holding it like a guitar, she began by 
 caricaturing Ramon Perez's gestures, with 
 her peculiar talent for mimicry, and then 
 went on to sing the following verse, inter- 
 larding it with the marvellous shakes, runs, 
 and trills in which he was in the habit of 
 indulging : 
 
 " What is the matter, my little man 
 Why do you look so pale and wa-aa-n ; 
 Is it, perhaps, that your little eye, 
 Is fixed on a castle rather too high-igh-igh ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Don Modesto, remembering 
 the serenades under Rosita's windows ; " this 
 poor fellow Ramon always did lift his eyes 
 very high." 
 
 For nothing could ever persuade Don 
 Modesto that Rosita was not the object of 
 these said serenades. When once an idea 
 got into his head, it was as if it had got into 
 a money-box, not even he himself could get 
 it out again. The pigeonholes of his under- 
 standing were so narrow, and so uniformly 
 
184 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 arranged, that when an idea entered one 
 which it fitted, there it remained, framed 
 and incrusted in scecvla sceculorum. 
 
 " I'm going," said Marisalada, throwing the 
 leaf at Brother Gabriel, who, with his back 
 to the others, was busily engaged tying up 
 his hundred and twenty-fifth lettuce. 
 
 " Holy Virgin ! " he exclaimed, astounded, 
 and then calmly resumed his task without 
 adding another word. 
 
 " What a good shot ! " laughed Marisalada. 
 " Don Modesto, take me for an artilleryman 
 when you get the cannons for your fort." 
 
 " These foolish jokes are not pretty, and 
 you know I don't like them, Marisalada," 
 said the good old woman, displeased ; " do as 
 you like with me, but leave Brother 
 Gabriel in peace it is all he has left to 
 him." 
 
 " Come, don't fuss yourself, tia Maria," 
 .replied the Gaviota. " Console yourself 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 185 
 
 with the thought that Brother Gabriel is not 
 made of glass, like his spectacles. My 
 commandant, advise the Sena Rosa Mistica 
 to remove her school to the fort when you 
 get your cannons, for then the girls will be 
 well protected from the artifices of the 
 demon, which come in the shape of squeak- 
 ing guitars. "Well, I'm going, as Don 
 Federico doesn't come ; it seems to me that 
 he is vaccinating the whole village, including 
 Sena Rosa, the schoolmaster, and the 
 alcalde." 
 
 But the old woman, who was accustomed 
 to Marisalada's odd ways, and never felt 
 hurt at them, called her back, and made her 
 sit down by her side. 
 
 Don Modesto, who suspected that she was 
 about to open her batteries, faithful to the 
 neutrality to which he had pledged himself, 
 took his leave, made a half-face to the right, 
 and beat a retreat ; but not until good Maria 
 
186 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 had given him a pair of lettuces and a 
 bundle of radishes. 
 
 " My child," said the grandmother, when 
 they were alone, " what a thing it would be 
 if Don Federico were to marry you ! You 
 would be the doctor's lady, the happiest 
 woman on earth, with this man who is a 
 second San Luis Gonzaga, who knows so 
 much, who plays the flute so well, and who 
 is gaining so much money ! You would 
 always be dressed nicely, and would live 
 like a lady mayoress : and above all, my 
 daughter, you would be able to assist your 
 poor old father; he's getting old, and it's 
 sad to see him obliged to go to sea, whether 
 it rains or blows, in order that you may want 
 nothing. Besides, Don Federico would then 
 remain with us, comforting and relieving the 
 sick, like an angel as he is." 
 
 Marisalada had listened very attentively 
 to the old woman, although she affected not 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 187 
 
 to do so. When she ceased speaking, there 
 was a short pause, and then the girl said, 
 with an air of indifference, 
 
 " I don't want to marry." 
 
 " Indeed ! " exclaimed Maria ; " perhaps 
 then, you wish to be a nun ? " 
 
 " As little," replied the Gaviota. 
 
 " What then ? " asked Maria, astonished. 
 " Will you be neither flesh nor fish ? I have 
 never heard of anything else. Woman, my 
 daughter, must belong either to God or to 
 man ; otherwise she does not fulfil her vocar 
 tion either spiritual or temporal." 
 
 " I can't help it, sefiora. My vocation is 
 neither for marriage nor ' yet for a nun- 
 nery." 
 
 "Then, my daughter," said old Maria, 
 " you will be simply a nonentity. For my 
 part, Mariquita, I dislike anything out of 
 the common, especially in women. It's so 
 unnatural for one woman not to do what 
 
188 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 all others do, that, if I were a man, I'd 
 avoid such a one as I would a wild bull. 
 But," added the old woman in her usual 
 kind manner, " you're very young, and have 
 yet to make as many turns in life as a key 
 in a lock time changes everything." 
 
 Marisalada took her departure. 
 
 " Yes ! " she said to herself, tying a hand- 
 kerchief round her head, " he loves me I 
 knew that already. But it's like Bro- 
 ther Gabriel and tia Maria it's like the 
 love of old people. It wouldn't need a 
 ducking from my window to keep it cool. 
 Still, if he married me, I should have a good 
 time of it ; that I know. He would let me 
 have my own way, would play to me on the 
 flute whenever I asked him, and would buy 
 me everything that I had a whim or fancy 
 for. If I were his wife, I should have a silk 
 cloak like Quela, Juan Lopez's daughter, and 
 a mantilla of Almagro blonde, like the alca- 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 189 
 
 desa. What a rage they would be 
 in ! But it seems to me that Don Federico, 
 though he may melt like lard in a fryingpan 
 when he hears me sing, has as much idea of 
 marrying me as Don Modesto has of marry- 
 ing his dear Rosa of all devils ! " 
 
 In all this charming soliloquy there had 
 not been a single thought for her father, 
 whose benefit and welfare had been the chief 
 motives that influenced old Maria. 
 
( 190 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 TIA MARIA, convinced that it was useless 
 to look for support or assistance from the in- 
 fluential man, whom she had hoped to make 
 her associate in her matrimonial schemes, 
 determined to carry them through by her- 
 self, being certain of overcoming Marisalada's 
 objections, and any that Stein might raise, 
 as easily as Samson overcame the Philis- 
 tines. Nothing discouraged her neither 
 the girl's hardness, nor Stein's want of ar- 
 dour, for love is as persevering as a sister of 
 charity, and as bold as a hero, and love was 
 the mainspring of all the good woman's 
 actions. So, without more ado, she said one 
 day to Stein, 
 
THE SEA GULL. 191 
 
 " Do you know, Don Federico, that when 
 Marisalada was here the other day she told 
 us very plainly, in her graceful way, that 
 she only came here to see you ? What do 
 you think of that for honesty.? " 
 
 " I think that if it were true, it would be 
 ingratitude, of which my nightingale is in- 
 capable. She must have been joking." 
 
 " Ah ! Don Federico, old eyes see clearer 
 than young ones. Does it displease you to 
 beloved?" 
 
 " Certainly not ; we are agreed as to the 
 truth of that favourite axiom of yours, 
 ' Love cannot say enough ! ' Still, good 
 Maria, I have generally given more love than 
 I have received." 
 
 "Do not say so to me," said Maria, 
 warmly. 
 
 "No, indeed, my dear, kind nurse," re- 
 plied Stein, taking the old woman's hand, 
 and pressing it in his ; " in affection we are 
 
192 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 equal, but in proofs I am greatly your 
 debtor. Oh! would that I could give 
 you some proof of my affection and grati- 
 tude!" 
 
 " You can, easily, Don Federico, and I 
 will tell you how." 
 
 " At once, my dear tia Maria, tell me 
 quickly what it is." 
 
 " That you remain with us ; and in order 
 to do so, get married, Don Federico. Then 
 we shall no longer live in continual dread of 
 your wanting to return to your own country ; 
 for, as the proverb says, ' Which is my 
 country ? My wife's ! ' ' 
 
 Stein smiled. " You wish me to marry ; 
 but whom, good Maria ? " 
 
 " Whom ? Whom should it be but your 
 nightingale? With her you would have 
 eternal spring in your heart. She is so gay, 
 so graceful, and so moulded to your hand, 
 that she can no more live without you than 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 193 
 
 you without her. Just as if you didn't love 
 each other like two turtledoves ! Any one 
 can see that." 
 
 " I am too old for her, tia Maria," replied 
 Stein, sighing and blushing in a way that 
 proved that, so far as he was concerned, the 
 old woman had judged rightly. " I am old for 
 a girl of sixteen, and my heart is an invalid, 
 that desires an easy, tranquil life, and not to 
 be exposed to fresh wounds." 
 
 " Old ! " exclaimed Maria. " What non- 
 sense; you are barely thirty! Come, this 
 is a groundless reason, Don Federico ! " 
 
 " What could I desire more," said Stein, 
 " than to enjoy, with an innocent young girl, 
 that soft and holy domestic felicity, which 
 is the purest and truest joy that man can 
 taste ? One, also, that God blesses, because 
 He designed it for us. But, tia Maria, she 
 couldn't possibly love me." 
 
 " That's another fine piece of wisdom. My 
 
 VOL. i. o 
 
194 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 faith ! She must, indeed, have a delicate 
 taste who would turn up her nose at you, 
 Don Federico. Now, don't contradict me, 
 or talk nonsense. I say that the woman 
 you love, will be the happiest in the whole 
 world." 
 
 " You really think so, tia Maria ? " 
 
 " As I hope for salvation, and if she were 
 not so, she would deserve to be crucified 
 alive ! " 
 
 The following morning, on her arrival in 
 the court, Marisalada found herself face to 
 face with Momo, who, seated on a large stone, 
 was breakfasting on bread and sardines. 
 
 " Here you are again, Gaviota," was his 
 gracious greeting. " Some day we shall find 
 you in the stock pot ! Have you nothing to 
 do at your own home ? " 
 
 " I neglect everything," she replied, " to 
 come and see your dear face, which enchants 
 me, and those ears which Grolondrina might 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 195 
 
 well envy. Listen, do you know why your 
 ears are so large ? When Father Adam met 
 the different animals in Paradise, he gave 
 them each a name ; those of your species 
 he called asses. Some days later he col- 
 lected them together, and inquired of each 
 his name. All replied correctly except 
 your ancestor, who couldn't remember what 
 he was called. This stupidity so enraged 
 Father Adam, that he seized hold of the 
 foolish creature by the ears, screaming out 
 as he pulled them violently, " You are an j 
 ass an ass." Suiting the action to the word, 
 Marisalada laid hold of Momo's ears, and 
 pulled them as if she wished to pull them off. 
 It was lucky for her, that at the first howl 
 that Momo gave with all the strength of his 
 capacious lungs, a mouthful of bread and 
 sardine went the wrong way, causing such a 
 violent fit of coughing that she, light as a 
 true sea-gull, was able to escape from the 
 
 o2 
 
196 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 clutches of the vulture. " Good day, my 
 nightingale," said Stein, entering the court 
 
 " A pretty nightingale indeed, ehe, ehe, 
 ehe," grunted and coughed Momo. " Nightin- 
 gale ! To my mind she's the veriest magpie 
 that has chattered this summer! ehe', ehe, ehe." 
 
 " Come, Maria," continued Stein, " come 
 and write, and read the verses which I trans- 
 lated yesterday. Did they not please you ? " 
 
 " I don't remember them," replied 
 Marisalada. " Were they by chance 
 those about the country where the citrons 
 flower? They don't grow here, they are 
 dried up, since Brother Gabriel's tears were 
 not sufficient to water them. Let the verses 
 alone, Don Federico, and play me that 
 Nocturno of Weber's, the words are 
 these : 
 
 ' Listen, listen, my beloved one, to the nightingale's song, 
 
 On every branch blooms a flower, 
 
 Ere she is silent, and they fade, 
 Listen, oh listen, my beloved one.' " 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 107 
 
 "What fine words this Gaviota has 
 learnt ! " murmured Momo, " they are as 
 suitable in her mouth as sugarplums rolled 
 in pounded garlic." 
 
 "After you have read, I will play 
 Weber's Serenade," said Stein, who only 
 by promising this reward, could induce 
 Maria to attend to her studies. She took 
 the paper Stein offered her with a bad grace, 
 and read fluently, though somewhat sulkily, 
 some verses by a German poet on Solitude. 
 
 " Marisalada," said Stein, when she had 
 finished, " yoa, who do not know the world, 
 cannot imagine how much profound truth 
 and how much philosophy there is in these 
 verses. Do you remember my explanation 
 of philosophy ? " 
 
 " Yes, senor," replied Marisalada, " the 
 science of being happy. But in this matter, 
 neither rules nor science are worth much, for 
 every one is happy according to his own 
 
198 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 notion. Don Modesto would be so if they 
 would mount some guns on Ms fort, which is 
 as great a ruin as he is ; Brother Gabriel, in 
 the return of the Prior and his bells to the 
 monastery ; tia Maria, if you wouldn't go 
 away ; my father, in catching a conger-eel ; 
 and Momo, in doing all the mischief he 
 can." 
 
 Stein laughed, and placed his hand affec- 
 tionately on the girl's shoulder, saying, "And 
 in what does your happiness consist ? " 
 
 Marisalada hesitated a moment before 
 answering, raised her large e^es, looked at 
 Stein, dropped them again, glanced at 
 Momo, smiled inwardly on seeing that his 
 ears were redder than a tomato, and at last 
 
 4 
 
 asked in reply, 
 
 "What would yours consist in, Don 
 Federico ? In returning to your country ? " 
 
 "No," replied Stein. 
 
 " In what then ? " persisted Maria. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 199 
 
 " I will tell you, my nightingale ; but first 
 tell me in what yours would consist." 
 
 "In always hearing you play the flute," 
 replied Marisalada, sincerely. 
 
 At this moment old Maria came out of 
 the kitchen with the excellent intention of 
 fanning the flame ; it happened to her, how- 
 ever, as it often does to others, that excess 
 of zeal prevents the very things most desired 
 to be brought about. 
 
 " Don't you see, Don Federico," she said, 
 "what a pretty girl Marisalada is? what 
 a beautiful figure, and how stout she is ? " 
 
 Momo, overhearing his grandmother, mut- 
 tered, while biting the head off a sardine, 
 
 " The very model of her father's fishing- 
 rod, with legs and arms that give her the 
 look of a great grasshopper ; and she's long 
 and thin enough to make a good bar for my 
 door ugh ! " 
 
 "Be quiet, you disgusting hunchback, 
 
200 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 like a cabbage without a stalk," retorted 
 Gaviota, in a low voice. 
 
 "Yes, yes," replied Stein to Maria ; "she 
 is beautiful ; her eyes are exactly of the far- 
 famed Arab type." 
 
 " They are more like two hedgehogs, and 
 every glance is a thorn," grunted Momo. 
 
 " And this pretty mouth, that sings like 
 a seraph," continued the old woman, stroking 
 her favourite's face. 
 
 " Did you ever ! " said Momo ; " a mouth 
 like a basket, which gives forth toads and 
 snakes ! " 
 
 "And your horrible mouth ! " cried 
 Marisalada, unable to contain her rage this 
 time. "Your horrible mouth, which only 
 doesn't reach from ear to ear, because your 
 face is so wide that it got tired halfway ! " 
 
 For sole reply Momo chaunted, in three 
 different keys, 
 
 "Gaviota! Gaviota! Gaviota!" 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 201 
 
 "Romo! Romo! Homo! Flat-nose!" 
 sang Maria, in her magnificent voice. 
 
 " Is it possible, Mariquita," said Stein, 
 " that you are really vexed at Memo's 
 nonsense ? His jokes are stupid and coarse, 
 but not malicious." 
 
 "A little of what he has to excess, 
 wouldn't be amiss in you, Don Federico," 
 replied Marisalada. " I'll tell you what it 
 is, I'm not going to put up with this block- 
 head, who's as hard as a stone, rougher than 
 
 I 
 a thorn tree, and harsher than untanned 
 
 leather. So I shall go." And with this the 
 Gaviota left the court ; Stein followed her. 
 
 " You're a good-for-nothing fellow," said 
 tia Maria to her grandson ; " you've more 
 gall in your heart than good blood in your 
 veins; you should have more respect for 
 women, blockhead ! But there's no one in 
 the whole village more wicked, or more 
 hated than you." 
 
202 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " What a fuss you make about this sea 
 rubbish!" replied Morao; "look at the 
 state she's made my ears in! The devil 
 only knows what witchcraft this stinging 
 jelly-fish has used to blind you and Don 
 Federico. Think of a sea-gull who can 
 read and write ! who ever saw the like of 
 that ? This great slut does nothing all day 
 but make noises in her throat like water 
 boiling on the fire. She doesn't cook her 
 father's dinner. He has to cook it himself. 
 She doesn't look after her own clothes you 
 have to do it. Yet her father, Don 
 Federico, and you, can't make enough of 
 her. You'd like his Holiness to make her a 
 saint. She'll repay you ! She'll repay you ! 
 sooner or later, only wait awhile ! " 
 
 Stein overtaking Marisalada, said to her, 
 " Of what use, Mariquita, have been all my 
 endeavours to cultivate your understanding, 
 if you have not even acquired the small 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 203 
 
 amount of superiority necessary to enable 
 you to rise above follies that have neither 
 value nor importance ? " 
 
 " According to what I understand, Don 
 Federico," retorted Maria ; " the only value 
 of superiority is to raise me above others, 
 not to keep me beneath them." 
 
 " Good heavens, Maria ! how can you 
 make such a mistake ? Superiority clearly 
 teaches us not to be puffed up by praise, 
 nor to rebel against wrongs. "But," he 
 added, smiling, " these mistakes are caused 
 by your youth, and warm southern blood. 
 By the time your hair is as gray as 
 mine, you will have learnt the little im- 
 portance of such things. Have you 
 noticed my gray hairs, Maria ? " 
 
 " Yes," she replied. 
 
 " And yet I am quite young ; but sorrow 
 soon whitens the head. My heart has 
 remained young, Maria, and [I could offer 
 
204 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 you spring flowers, if you would not be 
 frightened at the signs of winter upon my 
 forehead." 
 
 "In truth," replied Maria, unable to 
 resist her natural impulse ; " a gray-haired 
 lover doesn't please me." 
 
 "It is as I thought," said Stein, sadly. 
 " My heart is trusting, and tia Maria was 
 mistaken in assuring me that my happiness 
 was possible, and so causing hopes to spring 
 in my heart, born like the air-flower without 
 roots, supported by the breath of the breeze." 
 
 Marisalada, who perceived that her rough- 
 ness had repelled a man of too great 
 delicacy to persist, and of sufficient modesty 
 to persuade himself that the single objection 
 was enough to annul all his other advan- 
 tages, said suddenly, 
 
 "Although a gray-haired lover doesn't 
 please me, a gray-haired husband wouldn't 
 frighten me." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 205 
 
 Stein was perfectly taken aback by this 
 abrupt speech, and still more with the de- 
 cision and coolness with which it was 
 spoken. After a moment, he said, smiling, 
 
 "Will you marry me then, beautiful 
 daughter of nature ? " 
 
 " Why not ? " replied the Gaviota. 
 
 "Maria," said Stein, with emotion, "she 
 who accepts a man for her husband, intend- 
 ing to unite herself to him for life, or more 
 truly to become two people with one life, 
 as in a torch, two wicks form one flame, 
 favours him more than she who accepts him 
 for a lover." 
 
 By this time they had reached the sea- 
 
 
 
 shore, and Stein begged Maria to sit down 
 by him on some rocks. They were silent 
 for some time. Stein was much agitated ; 
 Maria, wearied, had taken up a piece of 
 stick, and was drawing with it on the sand. 
 " How nature speaks to the heart of 
 
206 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 man ! " said Stein at last " What sympathy 
 there is between everything that God has 
 created. A pure life is like a serene day ; 
 a life of tumultuous passions is like a day 
 of tempests. Look at those clouds which, 
 slowly and darkly, are placing themselves 
 between the sun and the earth ; they may 
 be likened to duty, which interposes itself 
 between the heart and an unworthy love, 
 letting fall upon the former its cold but clear 
 and pure emanations. Happy the earth 
 upon which they do not fall in vain. 
 
 " But our happiness will be as unclouded 
 as the sky in May, for you will always love 
 me, will you not, Maria?" 
 
 Maria, whose coarse, uncultivated mind 
 was unable to appreciate Stein's poetical and 
 ascetic feelings, had not much inclination to 
 reply ; but as she could hardly avoid doing 
 so, she wrote in the sand, with the stick she 
 was playing with, the word " Always." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 207 
 
 Stein mistook her indifference for mo- 
 desty, and continued 
 
 " Look at the sea ; hark how its wave^ 
 murmur with a voice full of enchantment 
 and terror ! They seem to be whispering 
 secrets in an unknown tongue. The waves, 
 Maria, have been personified as seductive 
 and terrible syrens, by the fantastic imagin- 
 ation of the Greeks ; beautiful creatures, 
 without any heart, who allure men with 
 their soft voices, in order to destroy them. 
 But you, Maria, do not attract with your 
 sweet voice to repay with ingratitude. 
 No ; you are a syren in attraction, but not 
 in perfidy. Is it not so ? You will never 
 be ungrateful ? " 
 
 " Never" wrote Maria in the sand ; and 
 the waves amused themselves by effacing 
 the words she wrote ; as if parodying days 
 the waves of time, which efface in the 
 heart, as did they in the sand, that which 
 
208 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 one could swear would remain graven there 
 for ever. 
 
 "Why don't you answer me with your 
 sweet voice?" asked Stein. 
 
 "What would you have me do, Don 
 Federico ? " she replied, pettishly. " It 
 sticks in my throat to tell a man that I 
 love him. I'm harsh and cold mannered, 
 as old Maria says, though she loves me 
 none the less for it. We are all as God 
 made us. I'm like my father of few 
 words." 
 
 " Then, if you are like your father, I de- 
 sire nothing better ; for tio Pedro I will call 
 him my father also, Maria has the most 
 loving heart that human breast ever con- 
 tained. Hearts like his beat only in the 
 bright breasts of angels, and in men of a 
 superior nature." 
 
 " My father a superior man ! " said Mari- 
 salada to herself, hardly able to repress a 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 209 
 
 derisive laugh. "I'm glad, at all events, that 
 he appears so." 
 
 "Mariquita," said Stein, drawing close to 
 her, " let us dedicate our pure and holy love 
 to God, promising to be faithful to each other, 
 and to all the duties He imposes, when we 
 are united at His altar. Let me embrace you 
 as my wife, as my faithful companion." 
 
 "No," said Maria, starting back, and 
 frowning. " Nobody shall touch me." 
 
 " Yery well, my pretty coy one," said 
 Stein, gently. " I respect your delicacy, and 
 submit to your will. Does not one of your 
 ancient and divine poets say, that the great- 
 est happiness ' is to obey in loving ? ' 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
( 210 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE gratitude which the fisherman felt to 
 Stein, for having saved his daughter's life, 
 changed, AY hen he saw him so much interested 
 in her, into a friendship so deep, that it could 
 only be compared with the admiration he felt 
 for his great qualities. 
 
 Since their first acquaintance, the rough 
 sailor and the learned scholar had sympa- 
 thized ; for people who resemble each other 
 in goodness of heart, feel such an attraction 
 when brought together, that, overcoming the 
 distance between them, they salute each 
 other as brothers. 
 
 So it was, that when Stein offered himself 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 211 
 
 as a son-in-law, the good father was so deeply 
 agitated by the joy he felt in his heart, that he 
 could only seize Stein's hand, and implore him, 
 for God's sake, to live with him in the cabin, 
 to which Stein cordially agreed. Then the 
 fishermen seemed to regain all the strength 
 and agility of his youth, and employed it in 
 repairing and beautifying his dwelling. He 
 cleared out and fitted up the little attic, to 
 which he retired, giving up the rooms in the 
 second story to his children. He white- 
 washed the walls, levelled the flooring, which 
 he then covered with a neat palm-leaf mat, of 
 his own making, and commissioned old Maria 
 to select some simple furniture. 
 
 The news of Stein's approaching marriage 
 caused also the greatest rejoicing to all who 
 knew and loved him. Grandmamma Maria 
 was unable to sleep, from sheer joy, for three 
 whole nights. She predicted that now that 
 Don Federico was about to reside penna- 
 
 p2 
 
212 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 nently in the country, none of the inhabitants 
 would die of anything but old age. 
 
 Brother Gabriel was so pleased with this 
 speech, and so happy in witnessing tia 
 Maria's joy, that, carried away by his feel- 
 ings, he actually went so far as to make a 
 joke, the first and last in his life. In a low 
 voice he said, that the clergyman would then 
 forget the De Profundis. 
 
 This joke so delighted old Maria, that for 
 the space of a fortnight she never spoke to a 
 living soul, without repeating it, to the 
 honour and glory of her protege, who, em- 
 barrassed beyond measure by the unexpected 
 success of his joke, made a vow never again 
 to fall into the same temptation as long as 
 he lived. 
 
 Don Modesto's opinion was, that the Ga- 
 viota had gained the great prize in the lot- 
 tery, ami the people in the place the second. 
 " For," said he, " if I had met a surgeon as 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 213 
 
 clever as Don Federico at the siege of Gaeta, 
 I shouldn't be now one-handed." The opi- 
 nion of Dolores was, that if the fishermaa 
 had twice given life to his daughter, the will 
 of God had twice given her happiness, by 
 allotting to her such a father, and such a 
 husband. Manuel observed, there was a cake 
 in heaven reserved for those husbands who 
 never repented of matrimon y, and that up to 
 the present time, nobody had ever tasted it. 
 His wife retorted that this was because hus- 
 bands never went to heaven. 
 
 As for Homo, he said that since Gaviota 
 had got a husband, even the plague need 
 not despair. 
 
 Eosa Mistica took it in another way, 
 Marisalada had increased the list of her 
 offences by one of recent date. 
 
 The month of Mary, as it is called, had 
 arrived, and, among other acts of worship, 
 several devout females met together to sing 
 
214 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 hymns in honour of the Virgin, to the 
 accompaniment of a wretched harpsichord 
 played by the old blind organist. Eosa 
 presided over this religious Philharmonic 
 Society. Some pure and agreeable voices 
 joined in this concert with hers, which had 
 by no means ceased to be rough and shrill. 
 
 Rosa, who could not deny Marisalada's 
 great talent, smothered her resentment for 
 the sake of the month of Mar}', and, em- 
 ploying Don Modesto as mediator, begged 
 him to induce the fisherman's daughter to 
 take part in this chorus of virgins. 
 
 Don Modesto took his stick, and marched 
 off. 
 
 Marisalada, w r ho was not inclined to devo- 
 tion, and who didn't much care to exercise 
 her skill in such company, gave the veteran 
 in reply a simple " No," without prologue 
 or epilogue. 
 
 This monosyllable terrified Don Modesto 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 215 
 
 more than a discharge of artillery, and he 
 was utterly at a loss what to do. He was 
 one of those men who, though good-hearted 
 enough to sincerely desire their friends' 
 welfare, have not sufficient courage to con- 
 tribute to its increase, nor a sufficiently 
 fertile imagination to suggest means for pro- 
 moting it. 
 
 "Tio Pedro," he said to the fisherman, 
 after this peremptory refusal, " do you know 
 I am frightened to death. What will Bosita 
 say ? What will the padre cura say ? What 
 will the whole village say ? Couldn't you 
 find some means of persuading her ? " 
 
 " If she won't sing, who can make her ? " 
 replied the fisherman. 
 
 So poor Don Modesto found that he must 
 resign himself to be the bearer of the un- 
 pleasant message, which he knew would not 
 only offend, but would also shock his saintly 
 hostess. 
 
216 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " I would a thousand times rather face all 
 the batteries of Gaeta than Rosita with this 
 no in my mouth," he said to himself on his 
 way back. " Holy Virgin, how shall I tell 
 her ! " 
 
 And Don Modesto was right, for in vain 
 did he adorn his message with a modifying 
 preface; in vain did he comment upon it 
 with explanatory notes ; in vain did he em- 
 bellish it with high-sounding expressions: 
 do all he could, Rosita was, as he feared, 
 exceedingly offended, and she exclaimed, in 
 a sententious tone, " Those who receive gifts 
 from God, and refuse to employ them in 
 His service, deserve to lose them." So 
 when she heard of the intended marriage, 
 she gave a deep sigh, and lifting her eyes to 
 heaven, said, " Poor Don Federico ! So 
 good ! so pious ! May God make them 
 happy. He can do so, for nothing is im- 
 possible to His Omnipotence." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 217 
 
 Momo, with his usual bad-heartedness, 
 was well pleased to carry the news of the 
 wedding to Ramon Perez. 
 
 " I say, Raton," he said, " you may eat 
 onions till you're stuffed, for the devil has 
 tempted Don Federico to marry Gaviota." 
 
 " Really ? " asked the barber, in conster- 
 nation. 
 
 " Are you astonished ? It astonishes me 
 beyond measure that there should be people 
 who deserve to be beaten for their bad taste. 
 Fancy falling in love with this baggage, who 
 is for all the world like a snake standing 
 upright, shooting lightning from her eyes 
 and venom from her mouth. But Don 
 Federico verifies the truth of the old proverb, 
 ' He who marries late, marries badly.' " 
 
 " It doesn't surprise me," replied Ramon 
 Perez, "that Don Federico should love 
 Marisalada, but it does that she should like 
 this foreigner, with hair like tow, apple 
 
218 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 face, and eyes like a fish. Why doesn't 
 the ungrateful girl remember the saying, 
 
 * He who goes to a distance to marry, either 
 goes to be deceived or to deceive.' ' 
 
 " In his case it can't be the latter, for Don 
 Federico is a worthy man and no mistake. 
 But this creature has bewitched him with 
 her singing, which lasts from sunrise to 
 sunset. It's all she can do. I have already 
 told Don Federico to remember the proverb, 
 
 * Take a house that has a fireplace, and a 
 wife that can spin,' but he pays no attention 
 to it. He's a very Juan Lanas. As for you, 
 Eaton Perez, your nose is nicely put out 
 of joint," 
 
 " It's the old story," said the barber, 
 giving such a sudden twist to the screw of 
 his guitar that he broke the string. "A 
 stranger drives us from our home ; but you 
 know well enough, Momo, that I shan't break 
 mv heart about it. The world will come to 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 219 
 
 an end one day. For a dead king, there's 
 a successor." 
 
 And scraping his guitar furiously, he sang 
 in a contemptuous tone, 
 
 " They say she does not care for me, 
 I think I shall survive the j<ain ; 
 The juice of a green mulberry - 
 Eemoves the darkest mulberry stain. 
 
 " And so, if this one loves me not, 
 
 Twill cost three capers and a sigh ; 
 With all the money I have got, 
 Another love I soon can buv." 
 
( 220 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 STEIN" and Graviota's wedding was celebrated 
 in the church of Villamar. 
 
 Instead of his coloured flannel shirt, the 
 fisherman wore a highly-starched white one, 
 and a new jacket of coarse blue cloth, in 
 which finery he was so much embarrassed 
 that he could hardly move. Don Modesto, 
 who was one of the witnesses, appeared in 
 all the pomp of an old uniform, worn out by 
 dint of brushing, and fitting him like a sack, 
 he having become very much thinner. His 
 nankin trousers, which Rosa had washed at 
 least a thousand times, were so much 
 shrunken that they barely reached halfway 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 221 
 
 down his leg. His epaulets had become 
 the colour of copper. His three-cornered 
 hat, whose proud appearance the wear of 
 forty years had not been able to affect, 
 worthily occupied its lofty position. But at 
 the same time, the cross of honour, bravely 
 won on the battle-field, shone on the noble 
 breast of the poor old soldier like a 'pure 
 diamond in a tarnished setting. 
 
 /^According to custom, the women wore 
 black during the ceremony, but changed 
 their dresses for the fete. Marisalada was 
 all in white ; tia Maria and Dolores in 
 dresses that Stein had given them for the 
 occasion. They were made of cotton-stuff, 
 
 /smuggled from Gibraltar, and the pattern, 
 / very fashionable in those days, was called 
 
 / 
 
 / "rainbow rays," from being a mixture of 
 the most opposite and unharmonious colours, 
 so glaring that it almost seemed as if the 
 manufacturer had wished to make fun of his 
 
222 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Andalusian customers. In short, every one 
 made themselves as smart as possible, except 
 Momo, who didn't choose to put himself out 
 of the way on the occasion, which made 
 Gaviota say to him, "You're right, jack- 
 anapes, for 
 
 * An ape is an ape, a varlet's a varlet, 
 Though they be clad iu velvet cr scarlet.' " 
 
 " I suppose you think that because you're 
 to be the doctoress, you will no longer be a 
 sea-gull," replied Momo; "and that your 
 new clothes make you pretty. Oh, yes ! 
 you're very lovely in your white dress ! If 
 you'd only put on a red hat, you'd look just 
 like a lucifer-match." , 
 
 And he began to sing, in a voice horribly 
 out of tune, 
 
 *' Ho ! ho ! your'e as fair as a crow, 
 
 And lovely as famine, my beauty, you know ! 
 
 Like nice yellow wax, when it's near to the fir?, 
 
 Is the bloom in your cheek ; and you're plump as a wire." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 223 
 
 Marisalada replied, 
 
 " Your mouth, when it's opened, appears just as wide 
 
 As a dirty clotljes-b.isket or wider. Ins Me, 
 
 Just like earrings of gold, each with three goldon drops, 
 Hang the teeth which adoru your most elegaut chops." 
 
 And then she turned her back on him. 
 Moino, who was never behindhand in any 
 question of insolence or abuse, replied 
 boldly- 
 
 " Go along and get the blessing ; it'll be 
 the first you ever had in your lift, and I'll 
 be sworn that it'll be the last." 
 
 The wedding feast Avas held in the village, 
 at tia Maria's old house, as the fisherman's 
 cabin was much too small for such an 
 assembly. Stein, who had saved some 
 money in his profession, though he generally 
 gave his medical services gratis, wished 
 everything to be done in good style, and 
 that there should be amusement for every 
 one. Accordingly three guitars had been 
 procured, and there was abundance of wine, 
 
224 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 negus, cakes, and biscuits. The guests 
 sang, danced, drank, and were merry ; nor 
 were wanting the jokes and smart sayings 
 peculiar to the country. 
 
 Old Maria, who acted as godmother to 
 the bride, went about serving the refresh- 
 
 
 
 ments, repeating ever and anon, 
 
 "I am as happy as though I were the 
 bride." 
 
 To which Brother Gabriel invariably 
 added, 
 
 "I am as happy as though I were the 
 bridegroom." 
 
 " Mother," said Manuel, as she passed by 
 him, '" the colour of that dress is somewhat 
 gay for a widow." 
 
 "Be quiet, evil-tongue!" replied his mo- 
 ther 5 everything should be gay on such a 
 day as this ; besides, one mustn't look at the 
 teeth of a gift horse. Brother Gabriel, 
 take this cup of negus and this cake drink 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 225 
 
 the health of the newly-married couple, 
 before you return to the monastery," 
 
 " I drink the health of the newly-married 
 couple." said Gabriel ; and having emptied 
 his glass, he slipped away from the feast, 
 without any one but Maria having been 
 aware of his presence, or noticing his absence. 
 
 Gradually the party became more and 
 more animated. 
 
 " Bomba ! " cried the sacristan, who was a 
 little humpbacked cripple. 
 
 Every one was silent at this word, which 
 announced that a toast was about to be 
 proposed. 
 
 " I drink," he continued, " to the health of 
 the newly-married pair, to that of all this 
 honourable company, and to the repose of 
 the souls of the blessed." 
 
 "Bravo! drink all, and long live La 
 Mancha, which gives us wine instead of 
 
 water ! " 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " Now it's your turn, Earnon Perez ; give 
 us a song ; don't keep your voice for a better 
 occasion." 
 
 Rainon sang, 
 
 " The bride I wish all happiness, 
 
 And from my heart congratulate ; 
 As for the bridegroom, I confess, 
 I can't help envying his fate." 
 
 " Well sung ! " cried all. " Now for the 
 
 fandango and dancing." 
 ^ 
 
 At the first sound of the prelude to this 
 
 truly national dance, a man and a woman 
 rose together, and placed themselves oppo- 
 site each other. Its graceful movements are 
 performed almost without change of place, 
 by balancing the body with elegance, and 
 \ marking the time with the merry clink of 
 Ube castanets. 
 
 After a little, the two dancers gave up 
 their places to two others, who came forward 
 as they retired. This was repeated several 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 227 
 
 times, according to the custom of the coun- 
 try. Meanwhile, the guitarist sang, 
 
 " In church, the bride to him is tied, 
 With bonds she ne'er can sever ; 
 Alas ! and she who entered free, 
 Comes out, a slave for ever ! " 
 
 " Boinba ! " suddenly cried one of the 
 party, who fancied himself a wit. " I drink 
 to the Heal all, God has sent to this country, 
 in order that we may all live as long as 
 Methuselah ; with the condition, that when 
 he has the chance, he shall not prolong the 
 life of my wife and my purgatory." 
 
 This sentiment called forth a burst of 
 cheers and clapping of hands 
 
 " And what do you say to all this, 
 Manuel ? " cried the others. 
 
 " What do I say ? " replied Manuel ; 
 " why, I say nothing." 
 
 " That won't do, if you mean to be 
 silent, go to church. Come, give us a toast ; 
 look alive, man." 
 
 Q2 
 
228 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Manuel took a glass of negus, and 
 said, 
 
 " I drink to the bride and bridegroom, to 
 all our friends, to our commandant, and to 
 the resurrection of San Cristobal." 
 
 " Viva, the commandant ! Yiva, the com- 
 mandant ! " cried the whole party. " And 
 you, Manuel, who can do it so well, give us 
 a song." 
 
 " Take care, my man, what you're doing, 
 
 You love a sweet girl, then you wed. 
 Ah ! sweet indeed is the wooing ; 
 The rest you'll regret, till you're dead ! " 
 
 After he had sung some other verses, the 
 wit of the party said to him, 
 
 " Manuel ! stupid fellows who have neither 
 idea nor rhyme sing like that ; you, who 
 can make good verses, especially when you're 
 a little elevated, give us a regular sonnet in 
 honour of the happy pair. Drink this glass 
 of wine to set your tongue free." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 229 
 
 Manuel took the glass of wine and 
 sang,- 
 
 " Come, kiss my lips, my red red wine, 
 
 Thou blest consoler of my woes ! 
 Bright spirit of that fruit divine, 
 
 That in a bower of green leaves grows, 
 And ripens in the warm sunshine ; 
 
 Till, crushed beneath the wine-press, flows 
 Its blood to brighten mine : 
 Come lend me voice, and lend me power, 
 
 My task is hard ; for man and wife, 
 Are always happy for an hour, 
 
 And I would wish these so for life. 
 
 " Now it's your turn, Ramon. Has the 
 liquor stuck in your throat ? You're more 
 insipid than a tomato salad." 
 
 Ramon took his guitar and sang, 
 
 " I watched her as she went to mass, 
 
 And marked each footprint on the grass ; 
 She could not say I might not kiss 
 
 The hard dry ground, and that was bliss ! " 
 
 This verse being followed by one rather 
 too florid, tia Maria went up to Stein and 
 said to him, 
 
 " Don Federico, the wine's beginning to 
 
230 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 talk. It's midnight, and the children are 
 alone in the house with Momo and Brother 
 Gabriel, and I'm afraid that Manuel is 
 raising his elbow more than is good for him. 
 Pedro is already asleep in a corner, and I 
 think it would be well to beat a retreat. 
 The donkeys are harnessed. Shall we take 
 French leave ? " 
 
 A few moments later the three women 
 mounted their asses and set out for the 
 convent. The men accompanied them on 
 foot, while Ramon, in a sudden fit of jealousy 
 and rage at seeing the young couple depart, 
 striking his guitar with unusual vigour, 
 bellowed rather than sang the following 
 couplet. 
 
 " You've given me the pumpkin, that is, refused my suit ; 
 I eat it with tomatoes, which are love's special fruit ; 
 Ah ! I would live on pumpkins, if I could hope to find, 
 That -when I'd eaten plenty, you'd be a little kind." 
 
 "What a lovely night ! " said Stein to his 
 wife, raising his eyes to heaven. " Look at 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 231 
 
 that starry sky ! look at that moon in its 
 full beauty, as I ain full of joy, with 
 nothing to wish for and nothing to regret." 
 
 " And I was enjoying myself so much ! " 
 said Marisalada. " I don't see why we need 
 have left so early." 
 
 " Tia Maria," said Pedro Santalo to the 
 good old woman, "now we may die in 
 peace." 
 
 "That is true," she replied; "but we 
 may also live happily, which is better." 
 
 " Is it possible that you don't know when 
 to stop when you've a glass in your hand ? " 
 said Dolores to her husband. " When you 
 once set sail there is no cable that will 
 
 stop you." 
 
 / 
 
 " Caramba ! " replied Manuel, " I came 
 away with you, what more do you wish ? 
 If you say another word, I'll go back to the 
 feast." 
 
 The cry of the drinkers could still be dis- 
 
232 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 tinguished, " Long live La Mancha which 
 gives us wine instead of water." 
 
 Dolores was silent, fearful lest Manuel 
 should put his threat into execution. 
 
 " Jose'," said Manuel to his brother-in-law, 
 who also was of the party, "is it full 
 moon ? " 
 
 " I should say it was," replied the 
 shepherd, " don't you see what's coming out 
 of its eye ? Don't you know what it is ? " 
 
 " Probably a tear," said Manuel, laughing. 
 
 " No. It's a man." 
 
 " A man ! " exclaimed Dolores, fully 
 believing what her brother said. " And 
 who is the man ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; but I know his name." 
 
 " And what is that ? " she asked. 
 
 " He's called Venus," replied Jose. 
 
 Manuel burst out laughing ; he had drunk 
 more than usual, and, as they say, he had 
 merry wine in him. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 233 
 
 " Don Federico," he said, " shall I, as the 
 oldest benedict present, give you a piece of 
 advice ? " 
 
 " For heaven's sake, hold your tongue, 
 Manuel," said Dolores. 
 
 " Will you let me alone ? If not, I'll 
 turn tail. Listen, Don Federico : in the first 
 place, ' for a wife or a dog, bread in one 
 hand, and a stick in the other.' ' 
 
 " Manuel ! " repeated Dolores. 
 
 " Will you leave ma in peace, or shall I 
 go back ? " he retorted. 
 
 Dolores was silent. 
 
 " Don Federico," began Manuel. 
 
 " Do me the favour to be silent, Manuel," 
 interrupted his mother. 
 
 " Well, this is rather hard," growled her 
 son ; " one would think we were following 
 a funeral." 
 
 " Don't you know," observed the shepherd, 
 " that Don Federico doesn't like these jests." 
 
234 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " Don Federico," said Manuel, taking leave 
 of the couple as they ,turned off towards the 
 cabin, ** when you repent of what you have 
 just done, we'll go partners, and sing the 
 same song as a duet." 
 
 As he went on his way to the monastery, 
 .his clear, strong voice was heard through the 
 silence of the night, singing, 
 
 " Death robbed me of my wife and horse 
 In one sad hour, I wept of course. 
 Was it my wife I mourned ? ah, no ! 
 'Twas the loss of my horse that grieved me so." 
 
 " Get to bed as quick as you can, 
 Manuel," said his mother, on their arrival. 
 
 " My wife will look after that," he replied. 
 " Won't you, brunette ? " 
 
 " I wish you were sound asleep already," 
 said Dolores. 
 
 " Hark ye, Jose," said Manuel ; " did you 
 ever find among the thickets and caves of 
 the wilderness anything that would stop 
 a woman's tongue ? If you have found 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 235 
 
 such a thing, there are plenty of people who 
 will gladly buy it of you, at its weight in 
 gold. I've never met with it in this world, 
 and I can't find in the Bible that it exists in 
 the next." 
 
 Upon which he began to sing, 
 
 " You'll find it an easier matter, 
 
 To put out the light of the sun, 
 Than to stop a fair woman's clatter, 
 
 When in anger it once has begun. 
 'Tis useless to coax, or to flatter, 
 
 Try the stick ! it's no use, they don't mind 
 Whatever you do, they will chatter 
 
 Be you ever so cross, or so kind." 
 
( 236 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THREE years had passed away. Stein, who 
 was one of the few men who require little 
 of life, believed himself to be happy. He 
 loved his wife tenderly, and every day be- 
 came more and more attached to his father- 
 in-law, and to the excellent family who had 
 received him in a dying condition, and whose 
 affection for him had never diminished. His 
 uniform rural life was in harmony with his 
 simple tastes, and grave, placid disposition. 
 Indeed, the monotony was not without 
 charms for him. An equable existence is 
 like a dreamless sleep, and resembles melodies 
 composed of few notes, but which soothe by 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 237 
 
 their softness. Perhaps nothing is produc- 
 tive of such pleasing recollections as mono- 
 tony; that chain of days, no one of which 
 can be distinguished from that which follows 
 or that which precedes it. 
 
 Great, therefore, was the surprise of the 
 inhabitants of the cabin, when one morning 
 Morno came running in at full speed, shout- 
 ing to Stein to huny, without losing an 
 instant, to the monastery. 
 
 u Has one of the family fallen ill ?" asked 
 Stein, alarmed. 
 
 " No," replied Momo, as they walked 
 along ; " it is a sefior they call, his Essence,* 
 who has been hunting wild-boars and stags 
 in the woods with his friends. Jumping a 
 deep ravine, his horse slipped, and both man 
 and beast fell into it. The horse was killed, 
 and his Essence broke every bone in his 
 body. They carried him to our place on a 
 
 * Momo meant Excellency. 
 
238 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 stretcher, and the monastery is turned into 
 a regular Tower of Babel. Every one is 
 running about in confusion, like a flock of 
 sheep with a wolf among them. The only 
 one who takes it coolly is he who has had 
 the tumble. He's something like a man ! 
 My grandmother told them we had a rare 
 clever surgeon here ; but they wouldn't 
 believe her. However, as it would take 
 two days to get one from Cadiz, and longer 
 still from Seville, his Essence said he would 
 see the doctor my grandmother recom- 
 mended. So, of course, I had to come for 
 you ; for it seems as if there was no one in 
 the world, or out of it, who can do anything 
 without me. Now I'll tell you what I'd do 
 in your place : if I were you, after being so 
 despised, I'd see them further before I went 
 near them." 
 
 " Even if I could forget my duties as a 
 Christian and a doctor," replied Stein, " I 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 239 
 
 should need a heart of bronze to see a fellow- 
 creature suffer, without doing my best to 
 relieve him. Besides, these gentlemen 
 couldn't feel confidence in me without 
 knowing me; so there is no need to be 
 offended, neither would there be, even if 
 they did know me." 
 
 With this they arrived at the convent. 
 Tia Maria, who was waiting for Stein with 
 great impatience, took him at once to the 
 patient's bedside. He had been placed in 
 what was formerly the prior's cell, where 
 they had hastily prepared as good a bed as 
 they could for him. Stein and Maria made 
 their way through the crowd of servants and 
 sportsmen who surrounded the invalid a 
 tall young man, with black curly hair, and a 
 handsome, pale, but calm face. As soon as 
 Stein saw him he uttered a cry, drew near, 
 then suddenly stopped, crossed his trembling 
 hands, and exclaimed, 
 
240 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " My God ! Sefior Duque ! " 
 
 " Do you know me ? " asked the duke, 
 who was no other than the Duke of 
 Almanza. "Do you know me?" he re- 
 peated, raising his head, and fixing his large 
 black eyes on Stein, without being able to 
 discover who it was that spoke to him. 
 
 " He doesn't remember me," murmured 
 Stein, while two large tears rolled down his 
 cheeks. " That is not strange, for generous 
 souls forget the good they do, while grateful 
 ones eternally preserve the remembrance of 
 that they receive." 
 
 " A bad beginning," said one of those 
 standing by. " A surgeon who weeps ! " 
 " What an unlucky choice ! " added another. 
 " Senor," said the duke to Stein, " I 
 place myself in your hands. I have con- 
 fidence in God, in you, and in my good star. 
 Begin your work, and let us lose no time." 
 At these words Stein raised his head. His 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 241 
 
 face was perfectly calm ; and with a quiet 
 but firm gesture, he motioned the spectators 
 to move back. Then he examined the 
 patient with a clever, practised hand, and 
 with such confidence and dexterity, that 
 every one was silent, no sound was heard 
 in the room but the quick breathing of the 
 invalid. 
 
 " My Lord Duke," said Stein, when the 
 examination was over, "your ankle is dis- 
 located and your leg broken, no doubt be- 
 cause the whole weight of the horse fell on 
 it. Nevertheless, I believe that I can pro- 
 mise a complete cure." 
 
 " Shall I be lame ? " inquired the duke. 
 
 "I think Lean safely say not." 
 
 "In that case," continued the duke, "I 
 shall say that you are the first surgeon in 
 the world." 
 
 Stein, without change of manner, sent for 
 Manuel, whose strength and self-possession 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 he well knew, and could place confidence in. 
 With his help he commenced operations. 
 
 The treatment was necessarily very pain- 
 ful, but Stein appeared to take no notice 
 of the pain his patient was suffering, and 
 which almost made him lose consciousness. 
 At the end of half-an-hour the duke was able 
 to repose, still suffering, but much quieted. 
 Instead of marks of distrust and want of 
 confidence, Stein received congratulations 
 and the highest compliments from the great 
 man's friends, to which he, returning to his 
 natural modesty and bashfulness, replied 
 with all courtesy. 
 
 Happy old Maria was in a perfect bath of 
 rose-water. 
 
 " Didn't I tell you so ? " she repeated 
 over and over again to every one present. 
 "Isn't it just as I said?" 
 
 At his request, now that their minds were 
 at ease, the duke's friends prepared to return 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 243 
 
 home. The patient begged to be left alone 
 under the care of his clever doctor his old 
 friend,^ as he called him, and even sent 
 away nearly all his servants. In this way 
 he and his doctor could renew their ac- 
 quaintance at their ease. The former was 
 one of those men of philosophical character 
 who do not allow habit or affection to inter- 
 fere with their physical well-being ; one of 
 those privileged beings who raise themselves 
 above the level of circumstances, not by 
 fits and starts, but steadily, by virtue of a 
 firm will and energetic nature. His was 
 one of those hearts which beat beneath the 
 armour of the fifteenth century, and which 
 now remain only in Spain. 
 
 Stein related to the duke his campaigns, 
 his misadventures, his arrival at the mon- 
 astery, his love, and his marriage. His 
 friend listened with much interest, and the 
 narrative made him wish to see Marisalada, 
 
 R2 
 
244 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 the fisherman, and the cabin which Stein 
 esteemed more than a splendid palace. Ac- 
 cordingly, the first day that he was able to 
 go out, Stein took him down to the sea- 
 shore. It was the beginning of spring, and 
 a delicious fresh breeze came from the ocean. 
 Fort St. Cristobal was adorned with its 
 green crown, as if in honour of the high 
 personage who saw it for the first time ; the 
 roof of the cabin, in imitation of the gardens 
 of Semiramis, was one mass of blooming 
 flowers, which were crowded together, gently 
 moved by the zephyr, like so many timid 
 maidens confiding their loves to each other. 
 The sea rolled its soft, peaceful waves to the 
 duke's feet, as though to bid him welcome. 
 Far up in the sky, too high for the eye to 
 see the singer, could be heard the song of 
 the lark. The duke, somewhat fatigued, 
 seated himself on a rock. He was a poet, 
 and enjoyed the beauty of the scene in 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 245 
 
 silence. Suddenly a voice was heard, 
 singing a simple, melancholy air. The 
 duke, surprised, looked at Stein, who smiled. 
 The song was continued. 
 
 " Stein, are there syrens in these waves, 
 or angels in this atmosphere ? " 
 
 Instead of replying to this question, Stein 
 took out his flute, and repeated the same 
 melody. 
 
 Then the duke saw a young brunette 
 coming, half running and half leaping, to- 
 wards them, who stopped suddenly on 
 seeing him. 
 
 " This is my wife," said Stein, " my 
 Maria." 
 
 " Who possesses the most wonderful voice 
 in the world," said the duke, enthusiastically. 
 " Senora, I have been to every theatre and 
 opera in Europe, but never have I heard 
 such enchanting notes as yours ! " 
 
 If Maria's dark smooth skin could have 
 
246 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 changed colour, the blush of pride and plea- 
 sure would have been perceptible in her 
 cheeks, on hearing such high praise from the 
 lips of so eminent a personage, and so com- 
 petent a judge. The duke continued : 
 
 "Between you, you have all that is 
 necessary for making your way in the world. 
 And can you wish to remain here, buried in 
 obscurity and oblivion ? It cannot be ; it 
 would be wrong to deprive society of your 
 talents. I repeat that it must not and shall 
 not be ! " 
 
 " We are so happy here, my Lord Duke," 
 replied Stein, " that to make any change in 
 our situation, would seem like ingratitude to 
 fate." 
 
 "Stein," exclaimed the duke, "where is 
 that firm, quiet courage, which I admired so 
 much in you when we sailed together on 
 board the 'Boyal Sovereign?' What has 
 become of that love of your profession, and 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 247 
 
 that desire to devote your knowledge to 
 the benefit of an afflicted humanity ? Has 
 happiness enervated you ? It's true then 
 that happiness makes men egoists ? " Stein 
 hung his head. 
 
 " Sefiora," continued the duke, " at your 
 age, and with your gifts, can you decide to 
 remain always fixed to your rock, like those 
 ruins ? " 
 
 Maria, whose heart was palpitating with 
 intense joy and eager hope, replied never- 
 theless, with apparent coolness, "What else 
 can I do?" 
 
 " And your father ? " said her husband, 
 almost reproachfully. 
 
 "He is fishing," she replied, affecting to 
 misunderstand the true sense of his 
 question. The duke, then entered into a 
 full explanation of all the advantages she 
 might gain from her wonderful talent, which 
 would build for her a throne and a fortune. 
 
248 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Maria listened eagerly, while the duke 
 admired the play of her countenance, which 
 was by turns cold and enthusiastic, passive 
 and energetic. 
 
 When the duke rose to go home, Maria 
 whispered hastily to Stein, " We will go, we 
 will go. What ! Fate calls me, offering me 
 crowns, and shall I be deaf ? No, no ! " 
 
 Silently and sadly Stein followed the 
 duke. 
 
 When they entered the monastery, tia 
 
 i 
 
 Maria asked the duke, who was very kind 
 to his sick-nurse, his opinion of her dear 
 Marisalada. " Isn't she a pretty creature ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " Certainly," he replied. " Her eyes arc 
 so bright that, as the poet says, only an eagle 
 could look at them without flinching." 
 
 " And isn't she graceful, and hasn't she a 
 beautiful voice ? " continued the old woman. 
 
 " As for her voice," answered the duke, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 249 
 
 " it is much too beautiful to be thrown away 
 in these deserts ; your nightingales and 
 
 linnets are good enough for you. Both 
 husband and wife must return with me." 
 
 Had a thunderbolt fallen at Maria's feet, 
 it would not have terrified her so much as 
 these words did. " And they ? Do they 
 wish to go ? " she exclaimed, frightened. 
 
 " They must wish it," replied the duke, 
 entering his own room. 
 
 Maria remained bewildered, and confused 
 for some time. Then she went to seek 
 Brother Gabriel. " They are going away ! " 
 she said, bathed in tears. 
 
 " Thank God ! " returned the monk. 
 " They have already done their best to spoil 
 the marble flags of the prior's cell. What 
 will his Reverence say when he returns ? " 
 
 " You don't understand me," said Maria, 
 impatiently. "It's Don Fedorico and his 
 wife who are going." 
 
250 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " They going ? " ejaculated Gabriel ; " it 
 can't be possible." 
 
 "Is it true?" asked Maria of Stein, who 
 had come to find her. 
 
 " She wishes it," he replied sadly. 
 
 "That is what her father always said," 
 continued Maria ; " and with that answer he 
 would have allowed her to die, had it not 
 been for us. Ah ! Don Federico, you are 
 so comfortable here ! Are you going, to 
 imitate the Spaniard, who, being well off, 
 yet wished for something better ? " 
 
 " I neither hope, nor believe, that I could 
 be better off in any part of the world, my 
 dear tia Maria." 
 
 " Some day you will repent," she con- 
 tinued. "And poor tio Pedro! My God ! 
 Why did the turmoil of the world come to 
 disturb us here ! " 
 
 At this moment Don Modesto entered. 
 For some time he had discontinued his 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 251 
 
 visits, not because the duke did not receive 
 him most kindly, nor because he failed 
 to inspire the veteran with the same irre- 
 sistible attraction that all those felt who 
 came in contact with him ; but because 
 Don Modesto was a slave to forms, and 
 did not consider that it would be proper 
 to present himself before the Duke, General, 
 and ex-Minister of War, without due cere- 
 mony. 
 
 Now, Rosa Mistica had told him that his 
 uniform was not fit for active service, and 
 this was the cause of his visits being discon- 
 tinued. When tia Maria told him that the 
 duke would leave the monastery in two 
 days' time, Don Modesto immediately re- 
 tired. He had formed a project, and required 
 time to realize it. When Marisalada in- 
 formed her father that she was resolved to 
 follow the duke's advice, the poor old man's 
 grief would have melted a heart of stone. 
 
252 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Nevertheless, his grief was silent. He 
 listened to his daughter's magnificent pro- 
 jects without censuring or applauding them ; 
 and to her promises of returning to the 
 cabin without either demanding or rejecting 
 them. He felt for his child, as an old bird 
 feels for its young one, when it determines to 
 leave the nest, to which it will never return. 
 The good father wept inwardly, if such an 
 expression may be used. 
 
 On the following day the horses, servants, 
 and mules that the duke had ordered for his 
 journey, arrived. Shouts, farewells, and 
 preparations for departure, resounded in 
 every corner of the monastery. Brother 
 G-abriel was obliged to work at his baskets 
 under the cedar-tree, beneath whose shade 
 had once stood the pump. Morrongo climbed 
 up to the highest roof, and basked in the 
 sun, looking down disdainfully on the tumult 
 in the court ; Palomo barked, growled, and 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 253 
 
 protested so energetically against the foreign 
 invasion, that Manuel told Momo to shut 
 him up. 
 
 "There's no doubt," muttered Momo, 
 "that my grandmother, who is the most 
 obstinate quack on earth, has some magnet 
 by which she attracts sick folk to the 
 place. This makes the third." 
 
 The day of departure arrived. The duke 
 was ready in his apartment, Stein and Maria 
 were at the monastery, as well as the poor 
 fisherman, who could hardly lift his eyes 
 from the ground, and who was bent double 
 with sorrow. This sorrow had aged him 
 more than the weight of years, and all the 
 storms of the sea. On his arrival he seated 
 himself on the steps of the marble cross. 
 Don Modesto was also there, but with con- 
 sternation painted on his face. His eye- 
 brows formed two arches of prodigious 
 height, and his scanty locks of hair were 
 
254 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 hanging all on one side. Deep sighs heaved 
 from his breast. 
 
 " What's the matter with you, my com- 
 mandant ? " asked old Maria. 
 
 "Maria," he replied, "to-day is the 15th 
 of June, my saint's day a day sadly me- 
 morable in the anniversaries of my life. Oh, 
 San Modesto ! Is it possible that you can 
 treat me so, on the very day that the Church 
 celebrates you?" 
 
 "But what has happened?" asked tia 
 Maria, anxiously. 
 
 " Look here," said the veteran, lifting his 
 arm and disclosing a great rent in his 
 uniform, through which appeared the white 
 lining, like a set of teeth displayed by a 
 broad grin. 
 
 Don Modesto was identified with his 
 uniform, with it he would have lost the last 
 trace of his profession. 
 
 " What a misfortune ! " said Maria, sadly. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 255 
 
 " It lias already caused Rosita a nervous 
 attack," continued Don Modesto. 
 
 "His Excellency begs the Seilor Com- 
 mandant to step into his room," said a 
 servant, entering the court at that moment. 
 
 Don Modesto drew himself up very 
 proudly; he held in his hand a sheet of 
 paper carefully folded and sealed, and kept 
 the arm under which was the unfortunate 
 rent, pressed as tightly as possible against 
 his body. 
 
 Following the servant, he presented him- 
 self before the duke, saluted him respect- 
 fully, and said, 
 
 " I wish your Excellency a prosperous 
 journey, and trust you will find the duchess 
 and all the family in perfect health. I also 
 take the liberty of imploring your Excel- 
 lency to place this representation relating to 
 the fort I have the honour to command, in 
 the hands of the Minister of War. Your 
 
256 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Excellency has been able to judge for 
 yourself how necessary it is that the Castle 
 of San Cristobal should be repaired, 
 especially now that they talk of a war with 
 the Emperor of Morocco." 
 
 "My dear Don Modesto," replied the 
 duke, "I cannot answer for the result of 
 this application, I should rather advise you 
 to place a cross on the turrets of the fort, as 
 they do on a tomb ; but to make up, I promise 
 you that I will urge them to send you your 
 long arrears of pay." 
 
 This agreeable promise scarcely effaced 
 the sad impression left on the commandant's 
 mind by the sentence of death, which the 
 duke had pronounced on 'his fort. 
 
 " Meanwhile," continued the duke, point- 
 ing to a chair near him, " I beg that you 
 will accept this as a remembrance of a 
 friend." 
 
 What was the surprise of the good man 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 257 
 
 to see spread out on the chair a complete 
 uniform, new and brilliant, with epaulets 
 worthy to adorn the shoulders of the first 
 captain of the age ! 
 
 Don Modesto, as was only natural, stood 
 rooted to the spot, amazed, confused, and 
 dazzled at the sight of so much splendour 
 and magnificence. 
 
 " I hope, senor," said the duke, " that 
 you may live long enough, for this uniform 
 to serve you as long as the other." 
 
 " Ah ! Senor Excelentisimo," replied Don 
 Modesto, recovering little by little the use 
 of his tongue ; " this is too much for me ! " 
 
 " Not so, not so," replied the other ; " how 
 many there are who wear richer uniforms 
 than this, without deserving them as much. 
 I know," he continued ; " that you have an 
 excellent friend and landlady, to whom you 
 would not be sorry to make a present. Do 
 me the favour to present her with this small 
 
 VOL. i. s 
 
258 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 
 
 trifle." It was a rosary of gold filigree 
 and coral. 
 
 Before Don Modesto could recover from 
 his astonishment, the duke had turned away 
 to the family whom he had sent for, in order 
 to express his gratitude for their kindness, 
 and to give each member something to 
 remember him by, Unlike many rich 
 people, he did not do good in a contemptuous 
 and therefore offensive manner, which can- 
 not fail to wound, but acted as those do 
 who are not favoured by fortune, in study- 
 ing each person's particular taste and neces- 
 sity. So that all the inmates of the 
 monastery received what they most needed, 
 or what would give them most pleasure: 
 Manuel, a large cloak and a good watch ; 
 Momo, a complete suit of clothes, a waist- 
 band of yellow silk, and a gun ; the women 
 and children, dresses and toys; Anis, a 
 paper kite of such vast dimensions, that, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 259 
 
 when he carried it off, on his shoulder, he 
 looked like a mouse behind the shield of 
 Achilles. 
 
 To tia Maria, the illustrious guest's inde- 
 fatigable nurse and skilful maker of strength- 
 ening broth, the duke assigned a pension for 
 life. 
 
 Poor Brother Gabriel received nothing. 
 He made so little noise in the world, and 
 had hidden himself so completely from the 
 duke's sight, that the latter was not even 
 aware of his existence. 
 
 Old Maria, withput any one observing her, 
 cut off some yards from one of the pieces of 
 linen which the duke had given her, and 
 adding two cotton handkerchiefs to it, went 
 in search of her protege. 
 
 " Here, Brother Gabriel," she said, " this 
 is a present from the duke. I'll undertake 
 to make the shirt." 
 
 Gabriel was even more amazed than the 
 
 s 2 
 
260 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 commandant; he was more than modest 
 he was humble. 
 
 All being ready for the journey, the duke 
 came into the court. 
 
 " Adios ! Momo, pride of Villamar ! " said 
 Marisalada, "if I have seen you, I don't 
 remember you." 
 
 " Adios! Gaviota!" was his reply, "if 
 everybody felt your going as does the son of 
 my mother, the bells would ring as if they 
 had wings." 
 
 Tio Pedro remained seated on the marble 
 steps. Old Maria was by his side, crying 
 as if her heart would break. 
 
 " One would think," said Marisalada, 
 '* that I was going to China, and that you 
 never expected to see me again in this life. 
 I tell you we shall return. Why, this is like 
 a gipsy's funeral! At all events, you're 
 determined to damp the pleasure of my visit 
 to the capital !" 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 261 
 
 " Mother," remonstrated Manuel, grieved 
 at the sight of her sorrow, " if you weep 
 such jars full of tears on this occasion, what 
 will you do when I die ? " 
 
 " I shan't have time to weep, then, son of 
 my heart ! " replied his mother, smiling 
 through her tears. 
 
 The horses arrived. 
 
 Stein threw himself into tia Maria's 
 arms. 
 
 " Don't forget us, Don Federico," said 
 the old woman, sobbing. " You must 
 return ! " 
 
 " If I do not," he said, " it will be because 
 I am dead." 
 
 The duke had arranged that Marisalada 
 should mount her mule at once, in order 
 that she might be spared the pain of taking 
 leave. 
 
 The animal set off at a trot, followed 
 by the others, and the whole cavalcade 
 
262 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 soon disappeared behind an angle of the 
 monastery. 
 
 The poor father stretched out his arms 
 towards his daughter. " I shall never see 
 her again," he cried, half-suffocated with 
 grief, letting his face fall on the steps of the 
 cross. 
 
 The travellers went on their way, at full 
 trot. Stein, on arriving at the Calvario, 
 comforted his heart by a fervent prayer to 
 the Lord of Good Help, whose benign in- 
 fluence extends over that district, as light 
 surrounds the luminary that gives it. 
 
 Eosa Mistica was at her window as the 
 travellers crossed the village-square. " Holy 
 Virgin ! " she exclaimed, on seeing Marisa- 
 lada riding side by side with the duke. 
 " She will neither look at me nor salute me. 
 Vayal The demon of pride has already 
 taken possession of her heart. I'll wager," 
 she added, putting her head out of the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 263 
 
 window, " that she'll not even salute the 
 padre cura, who is standing in the church- 
 porch. She does, though; but it's only 
 because the duke set her the example. 
 Hola ! he is stopping to speak to him, and 
 he's giving him a purse, that's for the 
 poor ! He's a good-hearted gentleman, and 
 very liberal. He has done a great deal of 
 good. God reward him ! " 
 
 Rosa Mistica was yet in ignorance of the 
 double surprise which awaited her. 
 
 As Stein passed he waved his hand sadly. 
 
 " God bless you ! " said Rosa, waving a 
 handkerchief in return. "That's a good 
 man. He wept like a child yesterday, when 
 he wished me good-by. What a pity it is 
 that he doesn't remain here ; and he would 
 if it were not for that fool of a Gaviota, as 
 Momo justly calls her ! " 
 
 The travellers had arrived at the top of a 
 hill, and began to descend. 
 
264 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 The houses of Villamar soon disappeared 
 from Stein's sight, who kept his eyes fixed 
 as long as possible on a spot where he had 
 lived so quietly and happily. 
 
 Meanwhile, the duke was devoting him- 
 self to the unnecessary task of consoling 
 Marisalada, drawing for her flattering pic- 
 tures of the future. 
 
 Stein hac( no thought but for the scenes 
 he was leaving. The cross of the Calvario, 
 and the chapel of our Lord of Good Help, 
 disappeared from his view. Then the great 
 mass of the monastery seemed to sink little 
 by little into the earth. At length, of all 
 this quiet corner of the world, the ruins of the 
 fort were alone visible, their dark masses 
 appearing on the blue horizon the tower 
 pointing, as the poet has expressed it, like 
 a finger, with mute eloquence, to heaveti. 
 
 Then all vanished, and Stein hid his tears, 
 covering his face with his hands. 
 
 I 
 
( 265 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE month of July had been extremely hot 
 in Seville. The evening parties were held 
 in those delicious courts where beautiful 
 marble fountains with their playful jets, are 
 almost hidden by masses of bright-coloured 
 flowers. From the ceilings of the corridors 
 which surrounded the courts, hung large 
 lanterns or globes of glass, spreading a flood 
 of light around them. 
 
 The flowers perfumed the air, the beauty 
 and splendour of the scene were enhanced 
 by rich furniture and ornaments, but most of 
 all by the fair Sevillians, whose lively and 
 
266 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 animated conversation vied with the soft 
 murmur of the fountains. 
 
 One evening, towards the end of the 
 month, there was a large party at the house 
 of the young and beautiful Countess of 
 Algar. It was considered a great honour to 
 be introduced at this house, and yet nothing 
 was more easy, for the hostess was so ami- 
 able and accessible, that she received every 
 one with the same smile and the same 
 cordiality. The readiness with which she 
 admitted all who were presented to her, was 
 not quite to the taste of her uncle, General 
 Santa Maria, a soldier of the time of Napo- 
 leon, warlike in the extreme, and, as soldiers 
 of that period usually are, somewhat brusque, 
 a little exclusive, and just a trifle absolute , 
 and haughty ; in fine, a classic son of Mars, 
 fully convinced that all relations between 
 men consist in commanding or obeying, 
 and that the object and principal use of 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 267 
 
 society is thus to classify each of its mem- 
 bers. 
 
 For the rest, he was as Spanish as Pelago, 
 and as brave as the Cid. 
 
 The general, his sister, the Marchioness 
 of Guadalcanal, the countess's mother, and 
 some others were playing at ombre. 
 
 Some of the company, walking in the cor- 
 ridors, were talking politics ; the young 
 people of both sexes, were seated near the 
 flowers, chatting and laughing, as though 
 the earth produced only flowers, and the air 
 resounded only with merry laughter. 
 
 The countess was half-reclining on a sofa, 
 complaining of a severe headache, which 
 however did not prevent her being gay and 
 agreeable. She was small, delicate, and fair 
 as alabaster. Her thick auburn hair waved 
 in ringlets, English fashion ; her large grey 
 eyes, her nose, her teeth, her mouth, her 
 face, were models of perfection; her 
 
268 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 beauty, incomparable. Dearly loved by her 
 mother, adored by her husband, who, dis- 
 liking society, yet allowed her full liberty, 
 having perfect confidence in her prudence, 
 the countess was in truth a spoilt child. 
 But thanks to her excellent disposition, she 
 did not abuse her privileges as such. Al- 
 though without great intellectual powers, 
 she had that greatest talent, a heart; she 
 felt well and delicately. Her ambition was 
 limited to enjoying herself and amusing 
 others, like the bird which flies without 
 knowing it, and sings without effort. 
 
 That evening she had returned tired, and 
 somewhat indisposed, from a walk. She had 
 taken off her dress and put on a simple white 
 muslin wrapper, and her white rounded 
 arms were visible through the lace of her 
 falling sleeves. Near her was sitting a 
 young colonel, recently come from Madrid, 
 after having distinguished himself in the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 269 
 
 war of Navarra. The countess, who was 
 no dissembler, kept all her attention fixed 
 on him. General Santa Maria looked at 
 them from time to time, biting his lips with 
 impatience. 
 
 " New fruit !" he said. "She would no 
 longer be a daughter of Eve if novelty 
 didn't please her. What a coxcomb ! 
 Twenty-four years old and already a colonel ! 
 When was such prodigality of promotion ever 
 seen ? Only five or six years ago he was at 
 school, and now he commands a regiment! 
 No doubt they'll come and tell us that he 
 gained his steps by brilliant actions ; but I 
 say that courage doesn't give experience, 
 and that without experience no man is fit to 
 command. A colonel in the army at four- 
 and-twenty ! I was so at forty, after having 
 been at Roussillon, in America, and Portu- 
 gal ; and didn't get my General's sash till 
 my return from the north, with La Eomana, 
 
270 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 and after I had fought in the war of Inde- 
 pendence. The truth is, Senores, we've all 
 turned fools in Spain, some for what they 
 have done, others for what they have not 
 done." 
 
 At this moment loud exclamations were 
 heard. The countess roused from her 
 languor, sprung up quickly. 
 
 "At last! Here comes the lost one!" 
 she exclaimed. "A thousand welcomes, 
 unfortunate hunter and ill-used knight! 
 What a fright you've given us ! But how's 
 this? You're just as if nothing had 
 happened. Is it true what they say about 
 a wonderful German doctor who appeared 
 between the ruins of a fort and a monastery, 
 as if evoked by magic ? Tell us, duke, all 
 these extraordinary things." 
 
 The duke, after having received the 
 congratulations of all present on his return 
 and recovery, took a seat opposite the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 271 
 
 / 
 
 countess and entered into a narration of all 
 that the reader knows. At last, after talking 
 a great deal about Stein and Maria, he con- 
 cluded by saying that he had persuaded 
 them to establish themselves in Seville, to 
 utilize and make known he, his knowledge ; 
 and she, the extraordinary gifts with which 
 nature had favoured her. 
 
 "A great mistake," pronounced the ge- 
 neral, in a resolute tone. 
 
 The countess turned round quickly to her 
 uncle. "And why is it a great mistake, 
 senor ? " she asked. 
 
 "Because those people," replied the ge- 
 neral, "were living contented, and without 
 ambition, and from this time forward they 
 won't be able to say as much. There is a 
 Spanish comedy, with a title, which is also a 
 proverb, ' No one should leave certainty for 
 uncertainty.' ' 
 
 "Do you believe, uncle," answered the 
 
272 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 countess, "that this woman, with her re- 
 markable voice, will regret the rock to which 
 she was fixed like an oyster, without advan- 
 tage or glory, for herself, for society, or for 
 the arts ? " 
 
 " Come, now, niece, do you seriously want 
 to make us believe that human society will 
 advance much, because a woman appears on 
 the stage, and sings Di tantipalpiti ? " 
 
 " Vaya" said the countess, " one knows 
 well that you are not a lover of music." 
 
 " And I thank God that I am not," re- 
 torted the general. " Do you wish me to 
 lose my judgment, as many have lost theirs, 
 with this mania for melody, with this inun- 
 dation of notes, that throughout Europe has 
 spread like an avalanche ? Would you have 
 me go and swell, with my foolish enthusiasm, 
 the portentous pride of these kings and 
 queens of quavers? Would you wish my 
 money to be swallowed up among their enor- 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 273 
 
 mous gains, while so many good officers, 
 covered with scars, are dying of hunger? 
 While so many really deserving Christian 
 women pass their lives in tears, without a 
 morsel of bread to put into their mouths ? 
 It is this that cries out to heaven, and it is 
 a shameful sarcasm, as they call it now, in 
 a period when one hears nothing from the 
 mouths of chattering hypocrites, but the word 
 * humanity ! ' Fancy my throwing bouquets 
 to a prima donna, whose only recommenda- 
 tion is her do, re, mi, fa, sol ! " 
 
 "My uncle," said the countess, "is the 
 very personification of the statu quo. Every- 
 thing new disgusts him. I mean to get old 
 as soon as possible, in order to please him." 
 " Don't do that, niece," replied the general, 
 " but, at the same time, don't insist that I 
 should make myself young again, to flatter 
 the present generation." 
 
 " What is my brother arguing about ? " 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 asked the marchioness, who, occupied with 
 the game, had not taken part in the con- 
 versation. 
 
 " My uncle," said a young officer, who had 
 entered unnoticed, and was sitting by the 
 duke ; " my uncle is preaching a crusade 
 against music. He has declared war against 
 Andantes, proscribes Moderates, and gives 
 no quarter even to Allegros." 
 
 "My dear Eafael," exclaimed the duke, 
 embracing the officer, who was a relative of 
 his, and to whom he was much attached. 
 
 He was small, but of gentlemanly appear- 
 ance, well-made, and graceful. His face was, 
 perhaps, too pretty for a man. 
 
 " And I," replied the officer, pressing the 
 duke's hands, " I, who would willingly have 
 had both legs cut off, sooner than you should 
 have suffered! But we are talking of the 
 opera, and I mustn't sing in melodramatic 
 tone." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 275 
 
 "Well said," answered the duke. "It 
 would be much better that you should tell 
 me what has been going on here in my ab- 
 sence. What is the latest news ? " 
 
 " That my cousin, the Countess of Algar, 
 is the pearl of Seville." 
 
 " I asked you for news," said the duke, 
 " not for what every one knows." 
 
 "Duke," continued Rafael, "Solomon 
 said, and many wise men, myself among 
 others, have repeated, * that there is nothing 
 new under the blue canopy of heaven.' ' : 
 
 " Would that it were so ! " said the 
 general, sighing ; " but my nephew Rafael 
 Arias is a living contradiction of his own 
 axiom. He's always bringing new faces to 
 our tertulias, which is insufferable." 
 
 "There goes my uncle, waging war 
 against all foreigners," said Rafael ; " a 
 foreigner is General Santa Maria's bug- 
 bear. If you hadn't named me your aide- 
 
 T2 
 
276 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 de-camp, my Lord Duke, when you were 
 Minister of War, I shouldn't have made 
 so many acquaintances among the foreign 
 diplomatists at Madrid, and they wouldn't 
 have pestered my life out with letters of 
 recommendation. Do you suppose, uncle, 
 that it's very amusing to me to act as 
 cicemne, as I have done, since coming to 
 Seville, for every tourist ? " 
 
 "And who obliges us," replied the 
 general, " to throw our doors wide open to 
 every one who comes, and to put ourselves 
 under their orders ? They don't do so in 
 Paris, and much less in London." 
 
 " Each nation has its peculiar character," 
 said the countess ; " and every society its 
 own customs. Foreigners are more reserved 
 than we are, even among themselves. Let 
 us be just." 
 
 ** Have any arrived lately ? " asked the 
 duke. " I inquire, because I am expecting 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 277 
 
 Lord G., who is one of the most distin- 
 guished men I know. Has he arrived in 
 Seville ? " 
 
 " He has not vet come," answered Rafael. 
 "At present, we have here, in the first 
 place, Major Fly, whom we call La Mosca, 
 which is the meaning of his name. He's in 
 the Queen's Guards, and is a nephew of the 
 Duke of W., one of the greatest men in 
 England." 
 
 " Yes ! as much nephew to the Duke of 
 W. as I am to the Grand Turk ! " said the 
 general. 
 
 " He is young, nice-looking, and a good 
 fellow," continued Rafael, " but such a 
 colossus in size, that one's obliged to stand 
 at some distance from him in order to take 
 him all in at once. When too near he ap- 
 pears so big, so stout, so angular, and so 
 coarse, that he loses cent, per cent. When 
 he's not at table, he's always at my side, 
 
278 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 whether indoors or out ; when my servant 
 tells him I am not at home, he answers that 
 he'll wait for me, and then as he comes in by 
 the door, I go out by the window. He has 
 a trick of fencing with his cane, and although 
 his lunges are perfectly harmless, as he only 
 thrusts at the air, yet his arm is so long and 
 so strong, and my room so small, that he 
 has made holes in my walls, and broken 
 several panes in the window. When he sits 
 down, he rocks himself backwards and for- 
 wards, fidgets, and leans back so heavily 
 with his legs stretched out, that he has 
 already broken four chairs. My landlady 
 flies into a rage whenever she sees him. 
 Sometimes he takes up a book the best 
 thing that can happen, because then he goes 
 to sleep. But his hobby, his one idea, and 
 his hope, is his conquests. He has the same 
 notion with regard to the fair sex that the 
 countryman had about dollars, when he set 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 279 
 
 off to Mexico, thinking they were to be had 
 there for the trouble of picking them up. 
 I've tried to undeceive him, but it's like 
 preaching in the desert ; when I reason with 
 him he smiles incredulously, and strokes his 
 enormous moustaches. He's engaged to au 
 immensely rich heiress, and the fun is that 
 this thirty-years-old Ajax, who devours three 
 pounds of beefsteak, and drinks three bottles 
 of sherry at a sitting, has persuaded his 
 fiancee that he's obliged to travel for his 
 
 health. The other impostor, as my uncle 
 
 would call him, is a Frenchman the Baron 
 
 de Maude." 
 
 " Baron ! " said the general, with a sneer, 
 
 " as much a baron as I'm the Pope." 
 "For goodness sake, uncle," said the 
 
 countess, " why shouldn't he be a baron ? " 
 "Because, niece/' he replied, "real barons 
 
 (I don't mean those of the time of Napoleon, 
 
 or of the Constitution, but those of the good 
 
280 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 old times) didn't travel and write books for 
 money, nor were they so ill-bred, curious, 
 and tiresomely inquisitive." 
 
 " But surely, uncle, one may be a baron 
 and yet inquisitive. Asking questions 
 doesn't deprive one of nobility. On his 
 return home he is going to marry the 
 daughter of a peer of France." 
 
 " He'll marry her," said the general, 
 " as much as I shall marry the Grand 
 Turk." 
 
 "My uncle," said Arias, "is like Saint 
 Thomas, he must see before he'll believe. 
 But to return to our baron. It must be 
 owned that he's a very presentable sort of 
 person, although, like myself, he was born a 
 little before his time. He is amiable, and, 
 by way of being literary, he talks equally 
 well on politics or art, history or music, 
 statistics, philosophy, farming, or fashion. 
 He's now writing a work of importance, as 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 281 
 
 he calls it, which is to serve as his stepping- 
 stone to the Chamber of Deputies. It is 
 called ' Travels Scientific, Philosophical, 
 Physiological, Artistic, and Geological 
 through Spain (anciently Iberia) ; with Cri- 
 tical Observations on its Government, Cook- 
 ery, Literature, Roads and Canals, Agricul- 
 culture, Dances, and Tributary System.' 
 Studiously negligent in his dress ; grave, 
 circumspect, economical in the extreme, he 
 is an imperfect fruit from that hothouse of 
 public men, which gives forth premature 
 productions, without spring-time, without 
 animating breezes, without fresh air, without 
 flavour or perfume. These men dash into 
 the future at full steam, in pursuit of what 
 they call a position, and to it they sacrifice 
 everything else; sad, painful existences, 
 where the day of life has no morning ! " 
 
 "Rafael, this is philosophy," said the 
 duke, smiling; "do you know that if 
 
282 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 Socrates were living, you would be much 
 more his disciple than my aide-de-camp ? " 
 
 " I would rather be an aide-de-camp, than 
 an apostle, my general," replied Arias; 
 " but the truth is, that if there were not so 
 many ignorant disciples, there wouldn't be 
 so many bad masters." 
 
 "Well said, nephew," exclaimed the old 
 general, " so many new masters ! and each 
 teaches and preaches, some doctrine newer 
 and wilder than the last. Progress ! mag- 
 nificent and never well considered pro- 
 gress ! " 
 
 " General," retorted the duke, " in order 
 to maintain the equilibrium of this our 
 globe, there must be fluids and solids, 
 both forces should regard one another 
 reciprocally as necessary, instead of seeking 
 to destroy one another with such animo- 
 sity." 
 
 " These," said the general, " are the doc- 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 283 
 
 trines of the detestable levellers, who do 
 more harm than even the moderationists ; 
 because they wrap up their abominable 
 opinions in fine words, and plausible senti- 
 ments, like hypocrites as they are, shows 
 peel full of rotten pulp." 
 
 "My uncle," said Rafael, "hates the 
 Moderates so much, that he loses all 
 moderation in order to fight them." 
 
 " Hold your tongue, Kafael,*' replied the 
 countess ; " you argue, and make fun of 
 every opinion, and have none of your own, 
 that you would care to take the trouble of 
 defending." 
 
 "Cousin," exclaimed Eafael, "I am 
 liberal, my empty purse proves that." 
 
 "What have you to do with being a 
 liberal? " shouted the general in a stentorian 
 voice. 
 
 "Why shouldn't I be so, senor? The 
 duke is." 
 
284 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 "What have you to do with being a 
 liberal ? " repeated the general in a voice as 
 loud and angry as the roll of a drum. 
 
 " Vamos I " muttered Rafael ; " appa- 
 rently, my uncle won't allow anything 
 to -be liberal, but the arts that are so 
 called." 
 
 " Senor," he added, turning to his uncle, 
 whom he had a malicious pleasure in putting 
 into a rage, "why may not the duke be 
 liberal ? Who can prevent him if it's his 
 whim to be liberal ? Will he be any uglier 
 for being liberal? Why mayn't we be 
 liberal, sefio.r, why ? " 
 
 "Because a soldier," replied the ge^ral, 
 " has no business to be anything but the 
 supporter of the throne, the preserver of 
 order and the defender of his country, 
 do you understand, nephew ? " 
 
 " But, uncle" 
 
 "Rafael," interrupted the countess, 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 285 
 
 " don't get out of your depth, go on with 
 your story." 
 
 "I obey ah! cousin, in the army under 
 your command insubordination will never 
 be known. 
 
 "We have another foreigner in Seville, 
 one Sir John Burnwood. A young man of 
 about fifty, handsome and smiling, with a 
 mane like a genuine lion of Mount Atlas ; 
 eye-glass a fixture, smile ditto, a great 
 chatterer and busybody, very fond of 
 betting, a first-rate sportsman, and owner of 
 vast coal-mines which produce him 20,000 
 a-year." 
 
 " Xou mean," said the general, " 20,000 
 pounds of coal." 
 
 "My uncle," said Rafael, "is like the 
 stockjobbers who can raise or lower the 
 value of property at their pleasure. Sir 
 John laid a wager that he would ride to the 
 top of the Giralda on horseback, and that 
 
286 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 was his great object in coming to Seville. 
 jit's true that one of our ancient kings did 
 /it ; but the poor horse couldn't get down 
 ) again, and remained there hanging between 
 Vheaven and earth, like Mahomet's coffin, so 
 they had to kill him in his elevated position. 
 Sir John is in despair, at not being allowed 
 to enjoy this royal pastime. Now, he 
 wants, after the manner of Lord Elgin and 
 Baron Taylor, to buy the Alcazar, and carry 
 it away to his baronial estate, stone by stone, 
 not omitting those which, as they say, 
 are indelibly stained with the blood of Don 
 Fadrique, whom his brother, Don Pedro, the 
 king, caused to be murdered five hundred 
 years ago." 
 
 " There is nothing," said the general, 
 
 "that these 'Sirs' are not capable of, nor 
 
 any idea, however wild, that they don't 
 
 entertain." 
 
 " More than that," continued Rafael, " the 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 287 
 
 other day lie asked me if I could get the 
 chapter of the cathedral to sell him the gilt 
 keys that the Moorish king presented in a 
 silver dish to San Fernando, when he con- 
 quered Seville ; also the agate cup out of 
 which the great king used to drink." 
 
 The general struck such a blow on the 
 table that one of the candlesticks fell to the 
 ground. 
 
 " Don't you see, general," said the duke, 
 " that Rafael colours his pictures too highly, 
 and that all he is telling us is extravagant 
 nonsense ? " 
 
 "There is no extravagance," said the 
 general, " which would be improbable in an 
 Englishman." 
 
 " But the best has yet to come," continued 
 Rafael, fixing his eyes on a pretty girl who 
 was sitting by the marchioness, watching her 
 play at cards. " Sir John is desperately in 
 love with my cousin Rita, and has made her 
 
288 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 an offer. Rita, who absolutely doesn't know 
 how to pronounce the monosyllable 'Yes,' 
 gave him a 'No,' as short and sharp as a 
 cannon-shot." 
 
 " Is it possible, Eitita," asked the duke, 
 " that you have refused twenty thousand 
 a-year ? " 
 
 " I didn't refuse the income," replied the 
 young girl, coolly, without lifting her eyes 
 from the game. " What I refused was its 
 owner." 
 
 " You did well," said the general ; " every 
 one should marry in his own country, then 
 cats are not mistaken for hares." 
 
 " You did well, indeed," added the mar- 
 chioness. "A Protestant ! God forbid ! " 
 
 " And what do you say, countess ? " asked 
 the duke. 
 
 " I agree with my mother," she replied. 
 " It is no joking matter, when the husband 
 is of a different religion from his wife. I 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 289 
 
 think, with my uncle, that every one should 
 marry in his own country, and I agree with 
 Rita, that I would never marry a man only 
 because he had twenty thousand a-year." 
 
 Rita was niece to the marchioness, and to 
 the general. She was left an orphan at a 
 very early age, and was brought up by her 
 brother, who loved her tenderly, and by 
 her nurse, who adored her, and did her 
 best to spoil her, but without success, for 
 she was a thoroughly good, although a pecu- 
 liar girl . The isolation and independence 
 in which the first years of her life were 
 passed, had impressed the double seal of 
 timidity and decision on her character. She 
 was one of those persons who are often con- 
 sidered dull and heavy, because they are 
 averse to noise and display. She was at 
 once haughty and kind, capricious and 
 simple-minded, playful and reserved. She 
 was as beautiful in person as she was piquante 
 
 VOL. i. u 
 
290 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 in character. She was of medium height, 
 and her figure, which owed nothing to art, 
 had all that freedom and flexibility which 
 French novelists falsely attribute to their 
 whalebone-cased heroines. It is to this 
 graceful suppleness of body, united with 
 frank and natural manners, so enchanting 
 when combined with beauty and goodness, 
 that the Spanish women owe their farfamed 
 attractions. Eita's complexion was remark- 
 ably fair, as clear and uniform as a marble 
 statue ; her beautiful hair was black, her 
 large, dark-gray eyes were fringed with long 
 lashes, and crowned with eyebrows that 
 seemed as if drawn by the hand of Murillo. 
 Her rosy lips, now and then half-opened, dis- 
 playing teeth of pearly whiteness, as a 
 sudden and joyous peal of laughter burst 
 from her, checked, however, almost instantly 
 by her habitual reserve ; for nothing was so 
 painful to her as to attract attention. When 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 291 
 
 this happened she was sure to lose her 
 temper. In accordance with a vow made to 
 the Virgen de los Dolores, she always dressed 
 in black, wearing a waistband of varnished 
 leather, and a small gold heart, pierced by a 
 sword, on her sleeve. 
 
 Eita was the only woman her cousin 
 Rafael Arias had ever loved ; not with a 
 lachrymose romantic passion, which was 
 not in his nature (than which, one more 
 unsentimental, could scarcely have been 
 found), but with a strong, sincere, and 
 constant affection. Rafael, who was an 
 excellent fellow, noble in mind, as well as 
 in birth, and owner of a large estate was 
 the very husband of all others that her 
 friends desired for her. But she, notwith- 
 standing her brother's vigilance, had given 
 her heart to a young man of good family and 
 handsome appearance, but a gambler, on 
 which account her brother opposed the 
 
 u 2 
 
292 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 match, and strictly forbade her seeing or 
 speaking to him. Eita, with a firmness of 
 character and Spanish perseverance, worthy 
 of a better cause, waited patiently without 
 complaints, sighs, or tears, till her twenty- 
 first birthday should arrive, when she could 
 marry as she pleased, in spite of her brother's 
 opposition. Meanwhile, her lover rode up 
 and down the street, splendidly mounted, 
 and dressed a lo majo, and they corresponded 
 daily. That evening Eita had entered, as 
 usual, in perfect silence, and had seated 
 herself in her accustomed place, by her aunt, 
 that she might see her play. The mar- 
 chioness did not know her niece had come in 
 until she heard the duke ask her whether 
 she had really refused. Sir John Burn wood's 
 offer. Then she exclaimed, 
 
 " Why, Eita, what a fright you have 
 given me ! How did you get here without 
 any one knowing it ? " 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 293 
 
 " Would you wish me to march in 
 with drums and trumpets, like a regi- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " At least," said the marchioness, " you 
 might have saluted the company." 
 
 "The card-players would have been 
 disturbed," said Rita. " Look at your cards, 
 and you'll see I'm right. Diamonds are 
 played, and you're going to revoke through 
 scolding me." 
 
 During this dialogue, Rafael seated 
 himself behind his cousin, and whispered in 
 her ear, " Rita, when am .1 to ask for the 
 dispensation ? " 
 
 " When I tell you," she replied, without 
 turning her head. 
 
 " And what can I do to merit the arrival 
 of that happy moment ? " 
 
 " Pray to my saint, who is patroness of 
 all impossibilities ! " 
 
 " Cruel one ! Some day you'll repent 
 
294 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 having refused my hand. You will lose the 
 best and most grateful of husbands." 
 
 " And you the worst and most ungrateful 
 of wives." 
 
 " I say, Eita ! has our uncle opposite any 
 attraction in his head that prevents you 
 turning your face to the person you are 
 talking to ? " 
 
 " I have a stiff neck." 
 
 " Which stiff neck is called Luis de Haro. 
 Are you still infatuated with that consumer 
 of cards ? " 
 
 " More than ever." 
 
 " And what does your brother say ? " 
 
 " If you wish to know, you can ask 
 him." 
 
 " And you will let me die ? " 
 
 "Without moving an eyelash." 
 
 " I've made a vow to the devil at the feet 
 of SL- Michael, to gild his horn, if some day 
 he will carry off Luis de Haro." 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 295 
 
 " Pray wish him ill ! The ill-will of the 
 envious fattens ? " 
 
 " It seems that I bore you," said Rafael, 
 after some moments of silence, on seeing his 
 cousin yawn. 
 
 "Have you only just discovered that?" 
 replied Rita. 
 
 " That means, you wish me away. Well, 
 I'll go, then, as Luis Pack-o'cards is so 
 jealous." 
 
 " Jealous of you ! " replied his cousin, 
 with one of her sudden laughs ; " he's about 
 as jealous of you as he is of the fat 
 Englishman ! " 
 
 " Thank you for the comparison, amiable 
 cousin, and farewell for ever." 
 
 "As you please," replied Rita, without 
 turning her head. 
 
 Rafael got up in a rage. 
 
 " What's the matter, Rafael ? " asked a 
 young girl, languidly, as he passed in front 
 
296 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 of her. The new speaker had just arrived 
 from Madrid, where an important lawsuit 
 had required her father's presence. She had 
 returned from her expedition completely 
 modernized, and so thoroughly inoculated 
 with what she was pleased to call foreign 
 bon ton, that she made herself insufferably 
 j ridiculous. Her incessant occupation was 
 reading novels, nearly always French ones. 
 She professed a sort of worship for fashion, 
 adored music, and depreciated everything 
 Spanish. On hearing her question, Rafael 
 tried to compose himself, and answered, 
 
 " Eloisita, I have lived a day more than I 
 had yesterday, and I have one less to live." 
 
 "I know all about it, Eafael, and how 
 much you suffer." 
 
 " Well, then, tell me, for goodness' sake, 
 Eloisita, what is the matter with me. It's a 
 work of charity to teach the ignorant." 
 
 " You know well enough ! " 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 297 
 
 " What is it, then ?" 
 
 " A deception" murmured Eloisa. 
 
 " A what ? " asked Rafael, who had not 
 heard her. 
 
 "An illusion." 
 
 "Oh! I see. I understood you to say a 
 desertion, and my military honour was horri- 
 fied ; as for illusions, I've a hundred, my 
 friend, like every other man. They are 
 pleasant for the time being." 
 
 "But there is one in particular which 
 darkens your life, and induces you to look 
 upon the tomb as a rest from sorrow, and 
 upon death as a smiling friend." 
 
 " Ah, Eloisita ! " replied Rafael, " I would 
 have given one of my fingers to have had 
 such thoughts in the battle of Mendigorria, 
 when they carried me to the hospital with a 
 bullet in my side. Confound it! neither 
 death nor the tomb appeared to me in a par- 
 ticularly cheerful light." 
 
298 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " How prosaic you are ! " exclaimed Eloisa, 
 indignantly. 
 
 " Is that an anathema, Eloisa ? " 
 
 " No, senor," she replied, ironically ; " it is 
 a magnificent compliment." 
 
 " I will tell you what is plain truth, and 
 no compliment," said Rafael ; " and that is, 
 that you look very pretty in that headdress, 
 and that your dress is in the best possible 
 taste." 
 
 " Does it please you," exclaimed the young 
 girl, suddenly dropping her sentimental tone. 
 " The material is the latest ' nouveaute.' " 
 
 " It isn't extraordinary," said Rafael, " that 
 that Englishman in front of you, whose head 
 towers above all the plants in the flower- 
 stand, should be in love with Spain, and the 
 Spanish ladies." 
 
 " What bad taste ! " said Eloisa, contempt- 
 uously. 
 
 " He says," continued Rafael, " that there 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 299 
 
 is nothing so pretty on earth, as a Spanish 
 lady with her mantilla, and that it is that 
 dress that makes them so attractive." 
 
 " What an injustice ! " exclaimed the 
 young girl. " Perhaps he thinks that bonnets 
 are too elegant for us ? " 
 
 " He says," continued Eafael, " that you 
 handle your fans with inimitable grace." 
 
 " What a calumny ! " said Eloisa, " the 
 elegantas never use them now." 
 
 " He says, that those tiny feet of yours, so 
 small and so pretty, are crying out for silk 
 stockings and slippers, instead of those fright- 
 ful boots and brodequines, or whatever you 
 call them." 
 
 ** That's quite insulting," cried Eloisa, " it's 
 as much as asking us to go back half-a-cen- 
 tury, as the illustrated Madrid paper very 
 justly remarks." 
 
 "That the black eyes of the Spanish 
 women are the loveliest in the world." 
 
300 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " What vulgarity ! They are the eyes of 
 the lower orders, of cook-maids, and cigar- 
 women." 
 
 "That their light, graceful manner of 
 walking is the most enchanting thing he 
 could imagine." 
 
 " But doesn't this gentleman know that 
 he looks upon us as parias ? " said Eloisa, 
 "and that we are doing all we can to im- 
 prove ourselves, and to behave as we 
 ought?" 
 
 "You had better try and convert him," 
 replied Arias. " I'll introduce him to you." 
 
 Rafael hastened away, thinking, " Eloisa 
 is very tender-hearted and romantic, and 
 will just suit the major, who is great at 
 hunting such small game." 
 
 Meanwhile, the countess had asked the 
 duke whether the nightingale of Villaniar 
 was pretty. 
 
 " She is neither pretty nor ugly," he re- 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 301 
 
 plied. " She is a brunette, and her features 
 are not regular. She has good eyes ; in 
 short, she has the sort of face that you may 
 see anywhere in our country." 
 
 " As her voice is so extraordinary, for 
 the honour of Seville we must make an 
 eminent prima-donna of her. Can't we hear 
 her?" 
 
 " Whenever you please," replied the 
 duke. " I will bring her here some evening 
 with her husband, who is an excellent 
 musician, and has been her master." 
 
 It was now time for the reunion to break 
 up. 
 
 When the duke approached the countess 
 to take leave of her, she raised her finger 
 with a threatening air. 
 
 " What does that mean ? " asked the 
 duke. 
 
 " Nothing, nothing," she replied ; " it 
 only means ' take care.' " 
 
302 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 " Take care ? Of what ? " 
 
 " Do you pretend not to understand 
 me ? No one is so deaf as he who won't 
 hear." 
 
 " You put me on thorns, countess." 
 
 " So much the better." 
 
 "Will you, for goodness' sake, explain 
 yourself ? " 
 
 " I will, as you force me. When I say 
 take care, I mean take care that you don't 
 get entangled." 
 
 " Ah, countess ! " replied the duke, 
 warmly. " For God's sake, do not allow 
 an unjust and false suspicion to sully the 
 reputation of this woman, even before any 
 one knows her. I assure you, countess, she . 
 is an angel." 
 
 " Of course," said the countess, " nobody 
 falls in love with demons." 
 
 " Nevertheless, you have a thousand 
 adorers," replied the duke, smiling. 
 
THE SEA-GULL. 303 
 
 " But then I am not a demon. I am a 
 fortune-teller." 
 
 " The best archer may make a bad shot 
 sometimes." 
 
 " Well, 111 give you six months from 
 now, most invulnerable Achilles," replied 
 the countess. 
 
 " Pray, pray be silent, countess," en- 
 treated the duke. " What in your pretty 
 mouth is but a light jest, would be mortal 
 poison in the mouths of the vipers who 
 pollute society." 
 
 " Never mind. I shall not throw the first 
 stone. I'm as indulgent as a saint, or as a 
 great sinner, without being either the one 
 or the other." 
 
 Little pleased with this conversation, the 
 duke was making his way to the door, when 
 he was stopped by the general, who ex- 
 claimed, " Duke, did you ever hear of such a 
 thing before ? " 
 
304 THE SEA-GULL. 
 
 "Did I ever hear of what?" inquired 
 the duke, with some irritation. 
 
 "Do you ask of what !!!" 
 
 " Yes, I ask ; and I desire a reply." 
 
 " A colonel at twenty-three." 
 
 " It certainly is rather young," said the 
 duke, smiling. 
 
 " It's a blow to the army." 
 
 " No doubt of it." 
 
 " It's giving the lie direct to common- 
 sense." 
 
 " Most certainly." 
 
 " Poor Spain ! " exclaimed the general, 
 giving his hand to the duke, and raising his 
 eyes to heaven. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 London : Printed by W. CLOWES & SDKS, Stamford Street and Charing Cross.