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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 MAY 2 1 7 
 OCT 3119)1 
 
 OCT
 
 r.
 
 THE 
 
 rHREE-CORNERED 
 HAT
 
 THE BORZOI 
 SPANISH TRANSLATIONS 
 
 i THE CABIN [LA BARRACA] 
 By V. Blasco Ibdnez 
 
 II THE CITY OF THE DISCREET 
 By Pio Baroja 
 
 III MARTIN RIVAS 
 
 By Alberto Blest-Gana 
 
 IV THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 By Pedro A. de Alar con
 
 THE < i 
 THREE-CORNERED 
 
 HAT 
 
 <& 
 
 PEDRO A: DE ALARCON 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH 
 By JACOB S. FASSETT, Jr. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 ALFRED ' A ' KNOPF 
 
 1919
 
 COPYRIGHT. 1918 BY 
 ALFRED A. KNOP1, INC 
 
 Published, June, 1918 
 Second Printing ', January, 1.019 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES 0*
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I Concerning the Date of the Occurrence. 23 
 
 II How People Lived in Those Days. 27 
 
 III Give and Take. 30 
 _ 
 
 IV A Woman Viewed from Without. 34 
 
 - 1 
 
 V A Mian Viewed from Without and from 
 Within. 40 
 
 VI The Couple's Accomplishments. 43 
 
 VII The Foundation of Felicity. 47 
 
 s^ VIII The Man in the Three-Cornered Hat. 50 
 
 IX Arre, Burra ! 56 
 
 X From the Arbour. 59 
 
 XI The Bombardment of Pamplona. 65 
 
 XII Tithes and First-Fruits. 76 
 
 Said the Pot to the Kettle. 82 
 . 
 
 XIV Garduna's Advice. 87 
 
 XV A Prosaic Farewell. 95 
 
 XVI A Bird of Evil Portent. 103 
 
 \ XVII A Country Alcalde. 106 
 
 XVTII In Which it is Seen that Tio Lucas Slept Very 
 Lightly. Ill 
 
 XIX Voices Crying in the Wilderness. 113 
 
 XX Doubt and Reality. 117
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXI On Guard, Caballero! 128 
 
 XXII Garduiia Outdoes Himself. 137 
 
 XXIII Once More the Wilderness and the Aforesaic 
 
 Voices. 142 
 
 XXIV A King in Those Days. 144 
 XXV Garduna's Star. 149 
 
 XXVI Reaction. 153 
 
 XXVII In the King's Name. 155 
 
 XXVIII Ave Maria Purisima! Half -past Twelve anc 
 All's Well. 160 
 
 XXIX Post Nubila . . . Diana. 164 
 
 XXX A Lady of Distinction. 166 
 
 XXXI The Law of Reprisals. 169 
 
 XXXII Faith Moveth Mountains. 178 
 
 XXXIII Well, What About You? 182 
 
 XXXIV The Corregidor>s Wife is Pretty Too ! 189 
 XXXV An Imperial Decree. 194 
 
 XXXVI Conclusion, Moral, and Epilogue. 198
 
 INTRODUCTION
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 PEDRO ANTONIO DE ALARCON was 
 the fourth of ten children. Born on the 
 tenth day of March, 1833, /in the pictur- 
 esque little city of Guadix, in the province of 
 Granada, Spain, he caine of a noble and ancient 
 family whose considerable fortune had disap- 
 peared in the Napoleonic wars and the subsequent 
 political disorders. 
 
 He studied philosophy at the Guadix Seminary 
 under a secularized Franciscan monk, and took 
 his degree as a Bachelor in that subject when he 
 was but fourteen years of age. In Granada he 
 took up the study of law, but the inability of his 
 parents to furnish him with the necessary funds 
 soon forced him to return to his native city, where 
 at his father's request, he embarked upon the 
 study of theology. 
 
 Poor as he was, he managed somehow to collect 
 a considerable library which embraced books in 
 
 9
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 French and Italian as well as in Latin and Span- 
 ish. French and Italian being absolutely un- 
 known tongues to him, he forthwith set about 
 their acquisition by a rather unusual method. 
 Among his possessions were two copies of Jeru- 
 salem Delivered, one of which was in French, the 
 other in his own tongue. By dint of infinite pa- 
 tience and a good deal of hard work, he succeeded 
 in acquiring at least a reading knowledge of 
 French in an incredibly short time. He taught 
 himself Italian by the same method. 
 
 As his reading progressed, his>love for litera- 
 ture grew, and his taste for theological studies 
 decreased. He determined to become a writer; 
 and therefore, as the first and most necessary 
 step in that direction, he decided to go to Madrid. 
 His parents did not look with favour upon his 
 literary ambitions, as they felt that he should 
 continue in the more lucrative career that the 
 church offered. However he had made up his 
 mind, and he cast about him for means to accom- 
 plish his purpose. 
 
 Finally, through a young novelist of his ac- 
 quaintance, Torcuato Tarrago, who lived in 
 10
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Guadix, he became acquainted with a " cultivated 
 personage " of Cadiz. The trio founded a weekly 
 paper called El Eco de Occidente, devoted to lit- 
 erature, science, and art, and published in Cadiz. 
 Fortunately the enterprise proved successful, and 
 in three years young Alarcon had saved what he 
 considered sufficient to warrant his departure 
 for Madrid. 
 
 He left his home on January 18, 1853, and 
 reached the Court without friends or letters of 
 introduction, but with an ample supply of money, 
 and an abundance of verses with which he pur- 
 posed to astonish the world. One of his poems 
 was a long and pretentious conclusion to Es- 
 pronceda's unfinished El diabla mundo. After 
 weary weeks of waiting upon the publishers, dur- 
 ing which his supply of money became nearly 
 exhausted, he lost faith in his verses and burned 
 them all. In the depths of despair, he returned 
 to his home where he was welcomed with the 
 usual tears of joy and forgiveness. The prodigal 
 had meanwhile been drafted for the army, but his 
 parents managed to purchase his release. 
 
 He soon went to Granada, where he continued 
 ^ 11
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to interest himself in the publication of El Eco de 
 Occidente. He became a member of a literary 
 society which was called La Cuerda, and began 
 to take a lively interest in the tumultuous poli- 
 tics of the day. After taking a personal part in 
 the successful rebellion headed by Cicalvaro, he 
 founded La Rendencion, a paper in which he 
 hurled vigorous polemics against the clergy, the 
 army, and the national militia. 
 
 That same year he returned to Madrid, where 
 his fearlessness and hot-headedness as a writer 
 earned him a considerable, if somewhat question- 
 able reputation. He was offered the directorship 
 of a scurrilous sheet called El Ldtigo whose sole 
 policy was to attack the Queen. His connection 
 therewith soon culminated in a duel from which 
 he came out alive thanks only to the kindness and 
 generosity of his adversary, the poet Jose HerL 
 berto Garcia Quevedo. 
 
 This adventure seemed to sober the boy he 
 was only twenty-one at the time and he retired 
 to Segovia to recover his health and spirits. 
 While there he decided to try his hand at some- 
 thing a little more dignified than political po- 
 12
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 'emics, and wrote El final de Norma, his first 
 
 
 
 lovel. From that time until 1857 his writings 
 appeared frequently in nearly every periodical 
 of note in Spain. It was not long before he had 
 created a considerable reputation for himself in 
 the domain of letters. 
 
 In 1857, El hijo prodigo, his first and only 
 play, was produced at Madrid in the Teatro del 
 Circo, attaining riotous success on its first night 
 in spite of a rather hostile audience. The news- 
 papers, however, which were nearly all inimical 
 upon account of his former activities, attacked 
 it so bitterly that he removed it from the boards 
 in disgust ; nor would he ever afterward consent 
 to its performance. 
 
 That same year, true to the warlike traditions 
 of Spain's greatest literary figures, he put down 
 his pen, enlisted in the army, and went to Africa 
 under General O'Donnell. He brought back 
 from the war " a wound, two crosses, and a book," 
 as one biographer puts it. The book was his 
 Diario de un testigo de la guerra de Africa, of 
 which fifty thousand copies were sold in a fort- 
 night. With the proceeds he made a Journey 
 
 13
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to Naples, upon Ms return, completing a book 
 of travel De Madrid a Ndpoles. 
 
 After 1863, his father having died, he turned 
 again to politics. He wrote for La Epoca, and 
 was one of the founders of La Politica, a period- 
 ical devoted to the interests of the Liberal party. 
 During this period, he was diputado from Guadix 
 several times. His marriage in Granada to 
 Doiia Paulina Contrera y Reyes in 1866 seemed 
 to modify his political views considerably, for in 
 that year he signed the celebrated protest of the 
 Unionists and was sent into exile at Paris. 
 From Paris he went to Granada where he wrote 
 an epic poem entitled Suspiro del moro, for which 
 he received the Liceo Gold Medal in 1867. The 
 following year he supported the candidacy to the 
 throne of the Duke of Montpensier. He re- 
 mained neutral during the short-lived Republic, 
 but when the Monarchy was restored in 1874, the 
 ardent Republican of El Ldtigo finally became a 
 dignified Conservative ! 
 
 In 1873 began a period of literary activity 
 which lasted, with a few interruptions of a politi- 
 cal nature, until the years immediately preceding 
 14
 
 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 his death. Among the products of his pen at this 
 time were La Alpujarra, El sombrero df tres 
 picos, El escdndalo, El niiio de la bola, La prod- 
 igaj and El Capitdn Veneno. He was appointed 
 Councillor of State in 1875. and in the same year 
 
 / > 
 
 received the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catho- 
 lic in recognition of his book on the African war 
 and his services in that campaign. On Decem- 
 ber 15, 1875, he was elected to the Spanish Acad- 
 emy. He died in Madrid on the 19th of July, 
 1891, after an illness of prolonged duration. 
 
 Of his personality, Mariano Catalina, one of 
 his biographers, speaks as follows: 
 
 " Alarcon is of a bright and jovial disposition, 
 simple in manner, and yet most delightful in his 
 conversation : he is loval and affectionate to his 
 
 w 
 
 friends, considering the real ones as members 
 of his own family; and his house, where he is 
 accustomed to bring them together frequently, 
 is one of the few in which the time passes with- 
 out sense of its flight. His vigorous intelligence, 
 and his keen and ready wit, are now in their 
 apogee; he has besides experience and the tran- 
 quillity of spirit that heretofore he has on oc- 
 
 15
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 casion lacked, and we are not hazarding a great 
 deal by asserting boldly that great and deserving 
 as Alarcon's literary reputation has been in the 
 past, his future holds for him one still greater 
 and more solid." 
 
 The last years of his life were largely devoted 
 to collecting and revising his works, which were 
 later published in nineteen volumes. Three vol- 
 umes contain short stories, called Novelas Cor- 
 
 
 
 tas; there are four long novels, El escdndalo, La 
 prodiga, El final de Norma, and El nino de la 
 bola; two short novels, El Capitdn Veneno 
 (which contains his Historia de mis libros), and 
 El sombrero de tres picos; one volume of genre 
 sketches, Cosas que fueron; three of travels, 
 Viajes por Espana (1 vol.) and De Madrid a 
 Ndpoles (2 vols.) ; a historic-geographical study, 
 La Alpujarra; a book of essays, Juicios litera- 
 rios; one of verse; and the Diario de un testigo 
 de la guerra de Africa in three volumes. 
 
 Of this list, only two are at all well known 
 in this country: El Capitdn Veneno, and El 
 sombrero de tres picos, both of which have been 
 edited for schoolroom use. These, with the 
 16
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Diario de un testiyo de la guerra de Africa are 
 considered his best productions. 
 
 But it is El sombrero de tres picos (The Three- 
 Corncrcd Hat) that is here of chief concern. 
 This story is considered to be his master- 
 piece, and will doubtless live long after his other 
 works are forgotten. It has been translated into 
 several languages, but is now for the first time 
 introduced to the English-reading public. It has 
 been dramatized and used as the basis of four 
 comic operas in as many different tongues. One 
 cannot read the story without remarking upon its 
 perfect adaptability to the stage. It was writ- 
 ten in 1874 and appeared first serially in the 
 Revista Europea. It was printed and published 
 in book form very soon after its appearance as a 
 serial, and was received with immediate popu- 
 larity. 
 
 I cannot do better here than quote from the 
 excellent introduction by Professor Benjamin P. 
 Bourland, which he has prefixed to his edition of 
 the Spanish text. 1 
 
 " The success of the story was immediate and 
 
 i Henry Holt & Co., N. Y. 1907. 
 
 17
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 deserved. The pseudo-modest praise, ' the least 
 bad of my books,' applied by Alarcon to El Es- 
 cdndalo, might be transferred and made positive 
 here. The skill of construction, the exact sense 
 of propriety that preserves every decency while 
 yielding no shred of the interest, the really admi- 
 rable dialogue, and the beautifully Spanish at- 
 mosphere of it all, make us wish that the author's 
 judgment had led him oftener into these ways, 
 where alone his desire fails to outrun his per- 
 formance. ... It is worthy of the rank it holds 
 among the longer short stories of literature, a 
 strong, objective piece of work, without shade of 
 self-consciousness; a fine story, in short, admi- 
 rably told. Aside from its purely aesthetic value, 
 the book is a precious document to the student 
 of the history of manners and customs in Spain, 
 both in its lines and in the much that is to be read 
 between them." 
 
 There has been much discussion about the 
 origin of the tale. I think we may accept Alar- 
 c6n's own statement as to where he got it. 1 Un- 
 doubtedly the plot in one form or another is con- 
 
 i See the Author's Preface. 
 18
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 siderably older than its appearance in Spain in 
 the ballad form. It has been traced to the Deca- 
 meron as its source ; others assert that Boccaccio 
 was by no means its inventor. But it is useless 
 to pursue the subject further. We are chiefly 
 concerned with the form which the genius of 
 Alarcon gave to his material. 
 
 " For a long time we have been accustomed to 
 recognize in the novels of Alarcon his faculty of 
 invention, his wit, and a subtle and enchanting 
 spirit, French in origin and tradition, which he 
 expressed with rare dexterity and ease. Now he 
 has seen fit to reveal himself to us as a skilful 
 painter of splendid quality, a most faithful and 
 capable exponent of the best traditions of the 
 Spanish school, as one accustomed to dip the pen 
 of Quevedo into the palette of Goya. 
 
 "And it is the canvases of Goya, more than 
 anything else, that this little picture of manners, 
 this genre picture, as it is called nowadays, 
 entitled El sombrero de ires picos, most resem- 
 bles. One sees in it the freshness and vigour of 
 colouring of the creator of Los caprichos, his 
 mischievous and easy-going types, his strong ac- 
 
 19
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 centuations of light and shade, and his admirable 
 lightness of touch . . ." 
 
 This from the able pen of Luis Alfonso in his 
 foreword to El sombrero de tres picos. Alfonso 
 adds that with this work, Alarcon restored 
 to Spain " the numerous riches of the old and 
 glorious literature of the country," and concludes 
 by urging the public to read the story, for then 
 " you will feel yourselves only a little less grate- 
 ful to me than to the novelist who has so capti* 
 vated and delighted your spirits." 
 
 J. S. F., 
 Cambridge, Mass., 
 
 January, 191& 
 
 20
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 21
 
 r. f . 
 
 - ~'-?? '
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 CONCERNING THE DATE OF THE OCCURRENCE 
 
 IT was toward the beginning of the long cen- 
 tury which is now drawing to a close. We 
 do not know the exact year : we can only be 
 certain that it was after 1804, and before 1808. 
 Don Carlos IV still reigned in Spain by the 
 grace of God, according to the coins, and by the 
 forgetfulness or especial grace of Bonaparte, ac- 
 cording to the French bulletins. The other Eu- 
 ropean sovereigns who were descendants of Luis 
 XIV had already lost their crowns (and the chief 
 of them his head) in the violent storm that had 
 been raging in this ancient part of the world since 
 1789. 
 
 Nor did the peculiarity that characterized our 
 fatherland in those times stop here. The Soldier 
 
 23
 
 
 THE, THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 of the Revolution, the son of an obscure Corsican 
 lawyer, the conqueror of Rivoli, of the Pyramids, 
 of Marengo and of a hundred other battles, had 
 just donned the crown of Charlemagne and com- 
 pletely transfigured Europe; creating and abol- 
 ishing nations, wiping out frontiers, inventing 
 dynasties and changing the shape, the name, the 
 situation, the customs and even the dress of the 
 villages through which he rode on his charger 
 like an animated earthquake, or like the " Anti- 
 christ," as the powers of the North called him. 
 . . . Nevertheless, our fathers (God rest their 
 souls), far from hating or fearing him, amused 
 themselves by extolling his extraordinary deeds, 
 as if they had reference to a hero in a book of 
 chivalry, or to things that take place on another 
 planet never in their wildest dreams fearing 
 that he might some day take it into his head to 
 come here and attempt the atrocities he had per- 
 petrated in Prance, Italy, Germany and other 
 countries. Once a week (or twice at the most) 
 the Madrid post arrived at most of the impor- 
 tant settlements of the Peninsula, bringing some 
 number of the Gaceta ( which was no more regu- 
 24
 
 THE DATE OF THE OCCURRENCE 
 
 lar than the post in its habits) ; and through it 
 the principal personages learned (if, by chance, 
 the Gaceta gave details) whether there existed a 
 state more or less beyond the Pyrenees ; whether 
 there had been another battle in which six or 
 eight kings and emperors had taken part; and 
 whether Napoleon was in Milan, Brussels, or 
 Warsaw. . . . For the rest, our forefathers went 
 on living the old-fashioned Spanish life, very 
 leisurely, clinging to their antiquated customs; 
 in the peace and grace of God; with their In- 
 quisition and their friars ; with their picturesque 
 legal inequality; with their privileges, rights, 
 and personal exemptions; with their lack of mu- 
 nicipal or political freedom; governed simul- 
 taneously by distinguished bishops and powerful 
 corregidors (whose respective powers were not 
 easily disentangled, since each was concerned 
 with things temporal and eternal) ; and paying 
 tithes, first-fruits, excises, war taxes, legacies 
 and forced alms, rents big and little poll 
 taxes, royal thirds, duties, income taxes, and 
 about fifty other tributes whose nomenclature 
 does not come to mind at present. 
 
 25
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT . 
 
 And here endeth all that the present story has 
 to do with the military and political affairs of 
 that epoch ; since our only object in referring to 
 what was happening then in the world was to get 
 at the fact that in the year which concerns us 
 (let us say 1805) the old regime still held sway 
 in Spain in all circles of public and private life 
 as if, in the midst of so many innovations and 
 upsets, the Pyrenees had been converted into an- 
 other Wall of China. 
 
 26
 
 II 
 
 HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THOSE DAYS 
 
 N Andalusia, for example (and it was in an 
 
 "* ^ ^M^Mn^B^ . ^ 
 
 Andalusian city that what you are about to 
 hear took place), persons of distinction were 
 still in the habit of rising very early in the 
 morning; going to the Cathedral for early mass, 
 even if it were not a day of holy obligation; 
 breakfasting at nine o'clock upon a fried egg, a 
 cup of chocolate, and fried bread ; dining at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon upon a stew and an en- 
 tr6e if there was any game, and, if there was 
 none, upon stew alone ; taking a siesta after eat- 
 ing; strolling in the country after that; count- 
 ing their rosaries at twilight in their respective 
 parish-churches ; taking another cup of chocolate 
 after early candle-light prayer (this time with 
 biscuits) ; attending (if they were very presump- 
 tuous) the coterie of the corregidor, or of the 
 
 27
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 dean, or of the titled personage who resided in the 
 village; withdrawing to their own homes at the 
 tolling of the bell for seven o'clock prayers ; clos- 
 ing the outer door before curfew ; supping upon 
 salad and fricassee if there were no fresh ancho- 
 vies; and retiring forthwith with their wives 
 (those who had them), not without first having 
 heated the bed at least during nine months of 
 the year. . . . 
 
 Happiest of days, those in which our country 
 continued in quiet and peaceful possession of all 
 the cobwebs, all the dust, all the mustiness, all 
 the respects, all the beliefs, all the traditions, all 
 the uses and all the abuses that had been sancti- 
 fied by centuries! Happiest of days, those in 
 which there was a variety of classes, of affec- 
 tions, and of customs in human society! Hap- 
 piest of days, I say especially for the poets, 
 who found a curtain-raiser, a postlude, a com- 
 edy, a drama, a religious play, or an epic around 
 every corner, instead of the prosaic uniformity 
 and tasteless realism that came to us at the end 
 of the French Revolution! Happiest of days 
 indeed! . . . 
 28
 
 HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THOSE DAYS 
 
 But this is retracing our steps. Enough of 
 generalities ( and circumlocutions; let us enter 
 resolutely upon the story of the Three-Cornered, 
 Hat. 
 
 29
 
 Ill 
 
 GIVE AND TAKE 
 
 ELL, at that time, near the city of 
 
 , there was a famous grist mill 
 
 (which no longer exists), situated 
 about a quarter of a league from the city, be- 
 tween the foot of a gentle slope covered with 
 mazard and cherry trees, and a very fertile 
 meadow which served as a margin (and some- 
 times as a bed) for the intermittent and treach- 
 erous excuse for a river. 
 
 For many and diverse reasons that mill had 
 been for some time the favourite point of arrival 
 and repose for the most distinguished prome- 
 naders of the aforesaid city Firstly, it was 
 approached by a wagon road which was less im- 
 passable than the others in the vicinity. In the 
 second place, in front of the mill there was a 
 small, paved courtyard covered by an enormous 
 30
 
 GIVE AND TAKE 
 
 grape arbour beneath which it was pleasant to 
 enjoy the shade in the summer, and the sun in 
 the winter thanks to the alternate coming and 
 going of the grape leaves. In the third place, 
 the miller was very respectful, very discreet, and 
 very courteous; a man who possessed what is 
 called the gift of getting on with people, and who 
 used to entertain the distinguished gentlemen 
 who honoured him with their vespertine assem- 
 blage, by offering them whatever happened to 
 be in season : string beans, cherries and mazard 
 berries, lettuce, on the stalk and unseasoned 
 ( which is very good when accompanied by maca- 
 roons macaroons which their worships took it 
 upon themselves to send on ahead), melons, 
 grapes from the very* arbour that served them as 
 a canopy, popcorn, if it were winter, and roasted 
 chestnuts, and almonds, and walnuts, and now 
 and then on very cold afternoons, a draught of 
 home-made wine ( inside uie house by the heat of 
 the fire), to which on feast days it was the cus- 
 tom to add fritters, cream-cakes, doughnuts, or 
 a slice of Alpuj arras ham. 
 " Was the miller so rich, or were the members 
 
 31
 
 THE THHEE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 of the coterie so inconsiderate? " jou will inter- 
 rupt me by exclaiming. 
 
 Neither the one thing nor the other. The 
 miller only made one living, and those gentlemen 
 were delicacy and pride personified. But at a 
 time when one paid fifty -odd different contribu- 
 tions to the Church and to the State, a country- 
 man of his clearness of perception risked very 
 little in gaining the good will of town council- 
 lors, canons, friars, clerks, and other personages. 
 Thus it is that there were many who declared 
 that Tio Lucas (for such was the millers name) 
 saved a large amount of money annually by en- 
 tertaining everybody so lavishly. 
 fc " Your Honour will give me an old door from 
 the house you tore down/ ? he would say to one. 
 " Your Worship/ 7 he would say to another, " will 
 order them to reduce my war-tax, or my excise- 
 tax, or my income-tax." "Your Reverence 
 will let me pick a few leaves in the convent gar- 
 den for my silk- worms." "Your Lordship 
 will give me permission to haul a little firewood 
 from Mount X." u Your Reverence will write 
 a couple of lines so they will let me cut some 
 32
 
 GIVE AND TAKE 
 
 wood from H *s pine grove." ** Your Wor- 
 
 flhip most write me a little BM ""fW" that won't 
 cost me anything." u I cannot pay the pott- 
 tax this year." " I hope the lawsuit will be 
 decided in my f avour.** u I struck a man to- 
 day, and I think he ought to go to jafl for having 
 provoked me,*" "Has Your Worship enough 
 of such and such a thing to spare? "* " Is that 
 other thing of anj nse to you? ** * C5an you 
 lend me jour mule? " "Will jour cart be busy 
 tomorrow? 77 " Do you think I might send for 
 your donkey? *" 
 
 And these songs were repeated continually 
 always obtaining the generous and disinterested 
 answer of K As you irish. 9 * 
 
 So now you see that Tio Lucas was not exactly 
 on the road to ruin.
 
 IV 
 
 A WOMAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT 
 
 THE final and perhaps most powerful rea- 
 son the aristocracy of the city had for 
 frequenting Tio Lucas' mill in the after- 
 noons, was that both the clergy and the laymen, 
 beginning with the Senor Bishop and the Senor 
 Corregidor, were able there to contemplate at 
 their leisure one of the most lovely, most gra- 
 cious, and most admirable creations to ever come 
 from the hands of God, who in those days was 
 called the Supreme Being by Jovellanos and all 
 the gallicized school of our country. . . . 
 
 This creation was called " Sena Frasquita." 
 I shall begin by informing you that Sena Fras- 
 quita, the legitimate spouse of Tio Lucas, was a 
 woman of supreme virtue, and that all the illus- 
 trious visitors at the mill were aw r are of this. I 
 
 i SeM is a little less formal than Senora, of which it is 
 a corruption. 
 
 34
 
 A WOMAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT 
 
 venture further : not one of them gave evidence of 
 looking upon her with lustful eyes, or with any 
 sinful mental reservations. They admired her, 
 yes ; and paid court to her (before her husband, of 
 course)- - friars as well as laymen, canons as well 
 as magistrates - - as a prodigy of beauty who did 
 honour to her Creator ; and asja roguish and co- 
 quettish minx who innocently gave pleasure to the 
 most melancholy of souls. " She is a beautiful 
 animal,'' the most virtuous Prelate was wont to 
 say. " She is a statue of Greek antiquity," ob- 
 served a very erudite lawyer who was a corre- 
 sponding member of the Academy of History. 
 " She is the very archetype of Eve," pronounced 
 the Prior of the Franciscans. " She is a splendid 
 woman," exclaimed a Colonel of the militia. 
 " She is a serpent, a siren, a she-devil ! ' added 
 the Corregidor. " But, she is a good woman, an 
 angel, a dear, a four-year-old child," they all 
 ended by remarking on their return from the mill, 
 stuffed with grapes and nuts, in search of their 
 own gloomy and commonplace firesides. 
 
 The four-year-old girl - - that is, Seiia Fras- 
 quita, was probably nearing her thirties. She
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 was more than two ells tall, and stout in propor- 
 tion or perhaps a little heavier than was 
 proper for her proud height. Although she had 
 never had any children, she was like a colossal 
 Niobe: she resembled a (female) Hercules: she 
 looked like a Roman matron of the type that is 
 found in Trastevere. . . . But the most notable 
 thing about her was the mobility, the nimbleness, 
 the animation, the grace of her imposing stature. 
 She lacked the monumental repose essential in a 
 statue such as the academician insisted she was. 
 She could bend like a reed, whirl like a weather- 
 vane, and dance like a top. Her face was still 
 more mobile than her body, and therefore less 
 sculptural. As many as five dimples enlivened it 
 charmingly: two were in one cheek, one in the 
 other, another, a very small one, near the left 
 commisure of her smiling lips, and the last, a very 
 large one, in the middle of her round chin. Add 
 to this the roguish gestures, the gracious winks, 
 and the different postures of her head that 
 adorned her conversation, and you will form an 
 idea of that face, so full of wit and beauty, and 
 ever-radiant with health and good spirits. 
 36
 
 A WOMAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT 
 
 Neither Send Frasquita nor Tio Lucas was an 
 Andalusian : she was a Navarrese, and he a Mur- 
 
 cian. He had come to the city of when he 
 
 was fifteen years old as a half page, half servant 
 to the bishop who was the immediate predecessor 
 of the one in the present narrative. His patron 
 had him educated for the clergy, and perhaps 
 with this end in view, and in order to assure him 
 the proper income, left him the mill as a legacy. 
 But Tio Lucas, who at the time of His Lordship's 
 death had only taken minor orders, hung up his 
 vestments then and there, and enlisted as a sol- 
 dier, more desirous of seeing the world and having 
 adventures than of saying mass and grinding 
 wheat. In 1793 he took part in the campaign of 
 the Western Pyrenees as orderly to the valiant 
 General Don Ventura Caro; was present at the 
 assault on Chateau Pignon; and remained for a 
 long time in the northern provinces where he 
 obtained his discharge. He met Sena Frasquita 
 in Estella when she was called simply Frasquita; 
 fell in love with her; married her, and brought 
 her to Andalusia in search of the mill where they 
 were to live peacefully and happily throughout 
 
 37
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 the rest of their peregrination through this vale 
 oft tears and laughter. 
 
 Translated from Navarre to that solitude, Send 
 Frasquita, not having acquired a single Andalu- 
 sian custom, was very different from the country- 
 women in her vicinity. She dressed with more 
 simplicity, more freedom, and more dignity than 
 they ; bathed more frequently ; and permitted the 
 sun and air to caress her bare arms and uncov- 
 ered throat. 
 
 Up to a certain point, she dressed as the ladies 
 of that period dressed ; as Goya's women did ; or 
 Queen Maria Luisa. Her skirt was rather nar- 
 row though not enough so to hamper her 
 movements- -and extremely short; disclosing 
 her tiny feet and the curve of her superb leg. 
 Her neck was cut round and low - - after the 
 style in Madrid, where she stayed with her Lucas 
 for two months on her way from Navarre to An- 
 dalusia. Her hair was caught up at the top of 
 her crown, bringing the grace of her head and 
 neck into pleasing prominence. An ear-ring hung 
 from each diminutive ear, and there were many 
 rings upon the shapely fingers of her rough but 
 38
 
 A WOMAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT 
 
 clean hands. Lastly: Send Frasquita's voice 
 embraced all the tones of the largest and most 
 melodious of instruments ; and her laugh was so 
 gay and silvery that it was like a peal of bells on 
 Holy Saturday. 
 
 Now let us picture Tio Lucas. 
 
 39
 
 A MAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT AND FROM WITHIN 
 
 TIO LUCAS was uglier than sin. He had 
 been so all his life, and he was very 
 nearly forty. Nevertheless, God has put 
 on earth few men as attractive and agreeable as 
 he. Captivated by his liveliness and talent and 
 wit, the defunct bishop had begged his parents - 
 who were shepherds, not of souls, but of real 
 sheep to let him take the lad. When His Rev- 
 erence died, and the lad had forsaken the semi- 
 nary for the barracks, General Caro singled him 
 out from the whole army and made him his 
 special orderly, his veritable campaign servant, 
 i When at last his military duty was completed, it 
 ! was as easy for Tio Lucas to subdue the heart of 
 .Send Frasquita as it had been for him to capti- 
 vate the esteem of the general and of the prelate. 
 The Navarrese, who at that time had seen some 
 40
 
 A MAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT 
 
 twenty Aprils, and was the " right eye " of all the 
 lads in Estella some of whom were fairly rich 
 was unable to resist the continual jests, the 
 witty ideas, the glances of a love-sick monkey, 
 and the clownish and constant smile, full of mis- 
 chief and sweetness too, of that Murcian who was 
 so bold, so loquacious, so capable, so valiant, and 
 so gracious, that he ended by upsetting the judg- 
 ment not only of the envied beauty but of her 
 father and mother as well. 
 
 Lucas was at that time, and continued to be up 
 to the date of our story, very small of stature (at 
 least as compared to his wife), somewhat hunch- 
 backed, very dark, thinly bearded, large-nosed, 
 long-eared, and pock-marked. On the other 
 hand, his mouth was not bad, and his teeth were 
 unsurpassed. One might say that only the man's 
 bark was rough and ugly, and that his perfec- 
 tions appeared as soon as one began to get be- 
 neath the surface. These perfections commenced 
 with his teeth. Then came his voice vibrant, 
 elastic, attractive; virile and solemn at times, 
 sweet and honeyed when he asked for anything, 
 and always difficult to resist. Next came the 
 
 41 

 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 things that his voice said: most opportune, dis- 
 creet, witty, persuasive. . . . And lastly, in Tio 
 Lucas' soul were courage, loyalty, honesty, com- 
 mon sense, a desire to learn, and an instinctive 
 or empirical knowledge of many things, a pro- 
 found contempt for fools, whatever their social 
 category, and a certain spirit of irony, of mock- 
 ery, and of sarcasm that made him seem at 
 least in the Academician's eyes like a Don 
 Francisco de Quevedo in the ro^gh. 
 
 Such, both within and without, was Tio Lucas. 
 
 42
 
 VI 
 
 THE COUPLE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
 
 SENA FRASQUITA loved Tio Lucas madly, 
 and considered herself the happiest 
 woman in the world because he returned 
 her affection. As we have already said, they had 
 no children, and each set about taking care of and 
 spoiling the other with an indescribable eager- 
 ness ; but without their tender solicitude acquir- 
 ing the disgusting and fawningly sentimental 
 character so common in most couples who are 
 without issue. On the contrary: they treated 
 each other with a simplicity, a joyousness, a 
 good-natured fellowship, and a confidence like 
 that of two children, who as comrades in games 
 and sports, love each other with all their hearts 
 and never say so - - nor do they themselves realize 
 the extent of their feelings. "- 
 
 It does not seem possible that there could ever 
 
 43
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 have existed on this earth a miller who was better 
 groomed, better dressed, more pampered at table, 
 or surrounded with more comforts than Tio 
 Lucas! It seems impossible that any miller's 
 wife, or any queen, for that matter, could ever 
 have been the object of as many attentions, of as 
 many caresses, of as many favours, as was Sena 
 Frasquita! It also seems impossible that any 
 mill could have contained so many necessary, 
 useful, agreeable, diverting, and even superfluous 
 things as that which is to serve as a theatre for 
 nearly the entire action of the present story! 
 
 One of the things that contributed to this was 
 the fact that Sena Frasquita, the beautiful, in- 
 
 t 
 
 dustrious, strong, and healthy Navarrese, knew 
 how to, liked to, and was able to cook, sew, em- 
 broider, sw T eep, make candy, wash, iron, white- 
 wash the house, polish the brass, bake, weave, 
 knit, sing, dance, play the guitar and the casta- 
 nets, play cards, and do many many other things 
 whose enumeration would be interminable. And 
 a thing that contributed no less to the same end, 
 was the fact that Tio Lucas knew how to, liked to, 
 and was able to run the mill, cultivate the field, 
 44
 
 THE COUPLE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
 
 hunt, fish, act as a carpenter, as a blacksmith and 
 as a mason, assist his wife in all the little tasks 
 about the house, read, write, sing, etc., etc. . . . 
 
 All this without mentioning his specialties, or, 
 if you will, his accomplishments extraordi- 
 nary . . . 
 
 For example: Tio Lucas adored flowers (as 
 did his wife), and was such a consummate horti- 
 culturalist that, by means of laborious combina- 
 tions, he had even succeeded in producing en- 
 tirely new specimens. He was something of a 
 natural engineer, which he had demonstrated by 
 constructing a press, a siphon conduit, and an 
 aqueduct which tripled the water-power for the 
 mill. He had taught a dog how to dance, domes- 
 ticated a snake, and trained a parrot to tell the 
 time by screeching as it watched a sun-dial which 
 the miller had drawn upon a wall ; the result of 
 which w r as that the bird could soon tell the hour 
 with great precision, even on cloudy days and in 
 the night time. 
 
 Lastly : close to the mill was a garden that pro- 
 duced all kinds of fruits and vegetables; a pool 
 enclosed in a sort of kiosk made of jasmines where 
 
 45
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Tio Lucas and Sena Frasquita bathed in the sum- 
 mer time; a flower garden; a hot-house or con- 
 servatory for exotic plants ; a fountain of drink- 
 ing water; two burras l upon which the couple 
 rode to the City or to the neighbouring villages; 
 a hen-house ; a dove-cote ; an aviary ; a fishery ; a 
 silk-worm nursery ; bee-hives whose bees fed upon 
 the jasmines ; a wine-press or pit with its appur- 
 tenant cellar both in miniature ; an oven ; a 
 loom ; a forge; a carpenter shop ; etc., etc. : all en- 
 compassed in a house with eight rooms, and in 
 two-thirds of an acre of land, valued at ten thou- 
 sand reales. 1 
 
 i Burra : a female donkey, 
 i Real : about five cents. 
 
 46
 
 VII 
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF FELICITY 
 
 YES, the miller and his wife were quite 
 mad about each other, and, in spite of 
 his being so ugly and she so pretty, one 
 might even have fancied that she loved him more 
 than he loved her. I say this because SeM Fras- 
 quita used to get jealous and ask Tio Lucas for an 
 account of himself when he was very late in re- 
 turning from the City, or from the villages where 
 he had gone for grain; while Tio Lucas beheld 
 even with pleasure the attentions of which SeiiA 
 Frasquita was the object on the part of the gen- 
 tlemen who frequented the mill; he was very 
 proud and happy that she charmed others as 
 much as she did him : and, although in the bottom 
 of his heart he realized that some of them envied/ 
 him ; that they coveted her as mere mortals, and 
 
 47
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 would have given anything had she been a less 
 virtuous woman; he would leave her alone for 
 days at a time without the slightest worry, never 
 asking her what she had done or who had been 
 there during his absence. . . . 
 
 However, this did not arise from the fact that 
 Tio Lucas' love was less intense than Sena Fras- 
 quita's. It arose from the fact that he had more 
 confidence in her virtue than she had in his; it 
 meant that he had the advantage of her in pene- 
 tration, and knew to what extent he was loved, 
 and how much his wife respected herself; it 
 meant chiefly that Tio Lucas was a man through 
 and through : a man like him of Shakespearean 
 fame, of few and indivisable feelings, incapable of 
 doubt, who believed or died, who loved or killed, 
 who would admit of no gradations or transitions 
 between supreme felicity and the extermination 
 of his happiness. 
 
 He was, in short, a Murcian Othello, in alpar- 
 gatas 1 and a peasant's cap - - in the first act of a 
 potential tragedy. . . . 
 
 But why these gloomy notes in such a gay in- 
 
 i Alpargatas ; low canvas shoes with rope soles. 
 48
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF FELICITY 
 
 terlude? Why these portentous lightning flashes 
 in such a serene atmosphere? Why these melo- 
 dramatic attitudes in a genre picture? 
 You shall find out immediately. 
 
 49
 
 VIII 
 
 THE MAN IN THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 IT was two o'clock on an October afternoon. 
 The Cathedral bell was ringing for ves- 
 pers which is equivalent to saying that 
 all the principal personages of the City had al- 
 ready dined. 
 
 The canons were making their way to the choir, 
 and the laymen to their rooms for their siestas; 
 especially those who for official reasons - - that is, 
 those in authority had spent the entire morn- 
 ing at work. 
 
 It was, then, very strange that at that hour, 
 which was so unsuitable for taking a walk, as it 
 was still too hot, there should depart from the 
 City, on foot, and followed by a single alguacil, 1 
 the illustrious Senor Corregidor of the same 
 whom no one either by day or by night, could con- 
 
 i Alguacil : a bailiff. 
 50
 
 THE MAN IN THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 f use with any one else, not only on account of 
 the immensity of his three-cornered hat and the 
 gorgeousness of his scarlet cloak, but also on ac- 
 count of the very singular character of his gro- 
 tesque bearing. . . . 
 
 There are still many persons who can speak 
 with full authority on the matter of the scarlet 
 cloak and the three-cornered hat. We ourselves, 
 as well as many others who were born in a certain 
 city in the last years of the reign of Senor Don 
 Fernando VII, remember having seen that cloak 
 and hat (the black hat on top and the scarlet 
 cloak beneath) hanging on a nail in the ruined 
 tow r er of the house where His Worship lived 
 the sole adornment of its dismantled walls. (At 
 that time, the tower was devoted to the childish 
 games of his grandson.) Those two antiquated 
 garments formed a sort of spectre of Absolutism, 
 a sort of Corregidors shroud, a sort of retrospec- 
 tive caricature of his power, painted, like so many 
 others, in charcoal and ochre by us youngsters 
 of the Constitution of 1837 who had gathered 
 there. They w r ere, in short, a sort of scare-crow 
 which in other times had been a scare-man, and 
 
 51
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 upon which I am afraid of having heaped ridicule 
 today by parading it through that historic city in 
 carnival time on the end of a chimney-sweeper, 
 or by using it as a ludicrous disguise for the idiot 
 that made the common herd laugh most heartily. 
 . . . Poor principles of authority! Thus hast 
 thou been treated by us who today invoke thee so 
 oft! ... 
 
 As to the grotesque bearing of the Senor Cor- 
 regidor,, it was caused (so they say) by the fact 
 that he was round-shouldered still more so 
 than Tio Lucas in fact, he was hunchbacked, if 
 you will have it ; of less than medium height ; 
 weakly; in ill health; bow-legged, and with a 
 manner of walking sui generis (swaying from 
 
 
 
 one side to the other and from front to rear), 
 which can only be described by the absurd state- 
 ment that he seemed to be lame in both legs. On 
 the other hand (tradition adds) , his face was not 
 bad, although rather wrinkled from the utter lack 
 of teeth. His complexion w T as greenish and dark, 
 like that of nearly all of the sons of the two Cas- 
 tiles. His eyes were large and black, and 
 gleamed with anger, despotism, and sensuality* 
 52
 
 THE MAN IN THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 He had delicate and dissolute features which ex- 
 pressed no personal valour, but rather a sly mal- 
 ice capable of anything; and a certain air of self- 
 complacency, half aristocratic, half libertine, 
 which revealed the fact that in spite of his legs 
 and his hump, the man must have been in his re- 
 mote youth, very agreeable and acceptable to 
 women. 
 
 Don Eugenio de Zuniga y Ponce de Leon (for 
 that was His Lordship- s name) was born in Ma- 
 drid of an illustrious family; at the time of our 
 story he was going on forty-five, and had for four 
 years been corregidor of the city with which we 
 are concerned, where, soon after his arrival, he 
 
 married the very distinguished lady of whom we 
 
 
 
 shall speak later on. 
 
 Don Eugenio's stockings (the only part of his 
 clothes except his shoes which the extreme length 
 of his scarlet cloak permitted one to see) were 
 white; and his shoes were black, with gold 
 buckles. Later, when the heat of the country- 
 side obliged him to remove his cloak, one could 
 see that he wore a huge muslin cravat; a dove- 
 coloured serge jacket, very much festooned with 
 
 53
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 elegantly embroidered green twigs; short black 
 silk breeches ; an enormous tunic of the same stuff 
 as his jacket; a rapier with a steel hilt; a staff 
 with tassels; and an imposing pair of gloves (or 
 hand-coverings) of straw-coloured chamois-skin, 
 which he never put on, but held, as it were, like a 
 sceptre. 
 
 The alguacil, who followed the Seiior Correg- 
 idor at a distance of twenty paces, was called 
 Garduna, 1 and looked exactly like his name. 
 Thin, extremely agile, glancing ahead and behind, 
 to the right and to the left as he marched along, 
 with a long neck, a diminutive and repugnant 
 face, and a pair of hands like two bundles of 
 whips, he resembled at once a sleuth in search of 
 criminals, the rope which was to bind them, and 
 the instrument destined for their punishment. 
 
 The first corregidor to set his eye upon him 
 said without further recommendations : " You 
 shall be my personal alguacil ' - and he had been 
 that to four corregidors. 
 
 He was forty-eight years old, and wore a three- 
 cornered hat much smaller than his master's ( for 
 
 iThe Weasel. - 
 
 54
 
 THE MAN IN THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 we repeat that his was extraordinarily large), a 
 black cloak, stockings and suit of the same 
 colour, a staff without tassels, and a sort of spit 
 for a sword. 
 
 This black scare-crow seemed the shadow of his 
 elegant master. 
 
 55
 
 IX 
 
 s 
 
 ARRE, BURRA! 
 
 WHEREVER that personage and his 
 appendix went, the laborers left 
 their tasks, uncovered their heads, 
 and bowed to the very ground, more from fear 
 than from respect; after which they remarked 
 to one another in a low voice : 
 
 " The Senor Corregidor is calling on Sena 
 Frasquita early this afternoon ! ' 
 
 " Early and alone ! ' ' added some, who were 
 accustomed to see him take that walk in the 
 company of several other persons. 
 
 " Listen, Manuel : Why do you suppose the 
 Senor Corregidor is going to see the Navarrese 
 alone this afternoon? " asked a village woman of 
 her husband who was carrying her on the croup 
 of his beast. 
 56
 
 ARRE, BURRA! 
 
 And as she put the question, she tickled him 
 by way of added emphasis. 
 
 "Don't be evil-mindejdy-JoaefaJ 
 
 the good man. " Sena Frasquita is inca- 
 pable " 
 
 " I don't say she isn't. . . . But that's not say- 
 ing that the Corregidor is incapable of falling in 
 love with her. I have heard it said that of all 
 those who go to stuff themselves at the mill, the 
 old Madrelene is the only one who has evil in- 
 tentions. He's so crazy about women " 
 
 " How do you know whether he is crazy about 
 women or not? ' demanded the husband in his 
 turn. 
 
 " I don't say it for me. . . . Corregidor or no 
 Corregidor, he'd have to be mighty careful how 
 he told me my eyes were black ! " 
 
 She who said this was homely to a superlative 
 degree. 
 
 "Well, see here, my child; that's their busi- 
 ness ! " replied he whom they called, JIanuel. " I 
 don't think Tio Lucas is a man who would con- 
 sent Tio Lucas has a lovely temper when he 
 gets angry ! ' 
 
 57
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " But he really seems to like it ! ' continued 
 Tia Josefa, wrinkling her snout. 
 
 " Tio Lucas is a virtuous man," replied the vil- 
 lager. " And there are certain things a virtuous 
 man can never like." 
 
 "Well, perhaps you are right. . . . That's their 
 business ! Now, if I were Sefia Frasquita ! ' 
 " Arre, burra 1 !' shouted the husband to 
 change the subject. 
 
 And the donkey went off at a trot which 
 made it impossible to hear the rest of the dia- 
 logue. 
 
 i Get up, donkey ! 
 
 58
 
 FROM THE ARBOUR 
 
 WHILE the farmers who saluted the 
 Corregidor were chatting in this 
 fashion, Send Frasquita was care- 
 fully sprinkling and sweeping the little pavement 
 that served as an atrium or courtyard for the 
 mill, and was arranging a half dozen chairs be- 
 neath the widest part of the arbour upon which 
 Tio Lucas had climbed in order to cut the best 
 bunches of grapes. These he was arranging ar- 
 tistically in a basket. 
 
 " Why, yes, Frasquita," Tio Lucas was saying 
 
 4 
 
 from the top of the arbour : " The Senor Cor- 
 regidor is in love with you, and in a very indecent 
 
 manner " 
 
 " That's what I have been telling you for some 
 time," answered the woman of the North. " But 
 let him suffer ! Be careful, Lucas ; don't fall ! " 
 
 59
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Don't worry : I've got a good hold. . . . Also, 
 you are liked by Senor " 
 
 " See here ; don't give me any more of your 
 news ! " she interrupted. " I know too well who 
 likes me and who doesn't! I only wish I knew 
 why you don't like me as well ! " 
 
 " Why, because you are so very homely ! ' re- 
 plied Tio Lucas. 
 
 "Well, see here homely or no homely, I'm 
 perfectly able to climb that arbour and throw you 
 head first to the ground ! " 
 
 " Then all I would have to do would be to re- 
 fuse to let you go until I had eaten you alive ! " 
 
 " Yes ! And when my lovers come and see us 
 up there, they'll say we are a couple of mon- 
 keys ! " 
 
 " And they will be right : because you are a 
 little monkey and a very pretty one and I 
 look like a monkey with this hump " 
 
 " Which I am very fond of." 
 
 " Then you will like the Corregidor's much bet- 
 ter it's bigger than mine ! " 
 
 " Come, come, Senor Don Lucas don't be so 
 jealous ! " 
 60
 
 FROM THE ARBOUR 
 
 " Me, jealous of that old swindler? On the 
 contrary ; I am very glad he likes you ! ' 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because the penance lies in the sin. You'll 
 never really love him; and meanwhile I shall be 
 the real Corregidor of the City ! ' 
 
 " Listen to the conceited one ! But I might 
 succeed in loving him Stranger things than 
 that have happened ! ' 
 
 " That wouldn't worry me very much, 
 either ! ' 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because then you would no longer be your- 
 self ; and not being the person you were, or the 
 person I thought you were cursed if I would 
 care if the devil himself got you ! ' 
 
 " All right ; what would you do in a case like 
 that? " " 
 
 " I ? Why, I don't know ! Because then I 
 would be some one else and not the man I am 
 now; and I cannot imagine what I would 
 think " 
 
 " And why would you be some one else? " in- 
 sisted Sena Frasquita bravely, as she stopped 
 
 61
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 sweeping and placed her hands on her hips, the 
 better to look up at him. 
 
 Tio Lucas scratched his head, as if endeavour- 
 ing to rake up some very deep-rooted idea, until 
 he finally said with more than his accustomed 
 seriousness and elegance : 
 
 " I would be some one else, because now I am a 
 man who believes in you as in his very self, and 
 who has no other faith in life but that. Conse- 
 quently, the minute I stopped believing in you, I 
 would either die, or become a different man; I 
 would live differently ; it would seem as if I had 
 just been born ; I would have another heart ! So 
 I don't know what I would do to you. . . . Per- 
 haps I would laugh at you and turn my back on 
 you. Perhaps I wouldn't even recognize you. 
 . . . Perhaps but this is a nice kind of fun to 
 be having getting all wrought up over noth- 
 ing! What difference would it make if all the 
 corregidors in the world loved you? Aren't you 
 my Frasquita? ' 
 
 " Yes, you wild man ! ' replied the Navarrese, 
 laughing till she could laugh no more. " I am 
 62
 
 FROM THE ARBOUR 
 
 your Frasquita, and you are my own dear Lucas, 
 homlier than a bogey-man, cleverer than any 
 other man I know, nicer than bread, and I love 
 you more than Ah ! As for loving you : just 
 you wait until you get down from that arbour 
 and you'll see! Get ready to take more blows 
 and pinches than there are hairs in your head! 
 But hush ! What do I see? The Sefior Corregi- 
 dor is coming this way entirely alone. . . . And 
 so early ! He's got something up his sleeve. You 
 were right, it seems ! " 
 
 " Well, don't get excited, and don't tell him. I 
 am up here. He is coming to make love to you 
 alone, and thinks he is going to rob me while I 
 take my siesta! I want to amuse myself by 
 listening to his explanation." 
 
 As Tio Lucas said this, he handed the basket 
 to his wife. 
 
 " That's not a bad idea ! " she exclaimed, laugh- 
 ing anew. " The devilish old Madrilene! What 
 do you suppose he thinks a corregidor is to me? 
 But here he comes. And of course Garduna, who 
 was some distance behind him, has sat down in 
 
 63
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 the shade in the ravine. What nonsense! Be 
 careful to hide well among the leaves, for we are 
 going to laugh harder than you think. . . ." 
 
 And this said, the beautiful Navarrese began 
 to sing a fandango which was as familiar to her 
 now as the songs of her own country. 
 
 64
 
 XI 
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF PAMPLONA 
 
 OD keep you, Frasquita," said the Cor- 
 regidor in a low voice, as he entered 
 the grape-arbour on tip-toe. 
 " You are too good, Senor Corregidor ! ' she 
 replied in her natural voice, courtesying again 
 and again. " Your Worship here at this hour ! 
 And in this heat! Come, sit down, Your Lord- 
 ship ! It's nice and cool in here. How is it that 
 Your Lordship did not wait for the other gentle- 
 men? Here are their seats, all ready for them. 
 . . . This afternoon we are expecting the Senor 
 Bishop himself, who promised my Lucas to come 
 and sample our first grapes. And how goes it 
 with Your Lordship? How is the Senora? ' 
 
 The Corregidor was confused. The desired 
 solitude in which he found Sefia Frasquita 
 
 65
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 . seemed like a dream to him, or like a snare which 
 an unkind fate had set in order to hurl him into 
 the abyss of a disappointment. 
 
 He limited himself, then, to replying: 
 
 " It isn't as early as you say. ... It must be 
 about half past three. . . ." 
 
 At that very moment the parrot screeched. 
 
 " It is a quarter past two," said the Navarrese, 
 looking fixedly at the Madrilene. 
 
 The latter fell silent, like a convicted criminal 
 who abandons his defense. 
 
 "Where is Lucas? Is he asleep?" he asked 
 after a pause. 
 
 (We ought to note here that the Corregidor, 
 like all persons who have no teeth, spoke with a 
 
 soft hissing enunciation, as if he w r ere chewing 
 
 t 
 
 his lips.) 
 
 " Of course ! " answered Seii& Frasquita. "At 
 this hour of the day he falls asleep wherever he 
 happens to be, even if it is on the edge of a 
 precipice . . ." 
 
 " See here, then let him sleep ! ' exclaimed 
 the old Corregidor, turning paler than ever. 
 " And you, my dear Frasquita, listen to me ... 
 66
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF PAMPLONA 
 
 listen . . . come here ... sit here by my side! 
 I have much to say to you . . ." 
 
 " Here I am seated," replied the miller's wife, 
 seizing a low chair and placing it close to and 
 in front of the Corregidor's. 
 
 When she had seated herself, Frasquita threw 
 one leg over the other, leaned forward a bit, 
 rested an elbow upon the balanced knee, and her 
 fresh and pretty face in one of her hands; and 
 thus, with her head tipped slightly to one side, 
 her five dimples in action, and her serene eyes 
 fastened upon the Corregidor, she awaited His 
 Lordship's declaration. One might have com- 
 pared her to Pamplona awaiting a bombardment. 
 
 The poor man started to speak, but his mouth 
 remained open - - spell-bound by that majestic 
 beauty, by that display of charms, by that formid- 
 able woman of alabastrine colour, with her ex- 
 uberant flesh, her clean and smiling mouth, her 
 blue, unfathomable eyes, who looked as if she had 
 been created by the brush of Rubens. 
 
 " Frasquita ! ' ' the king's representative at last 
 murmured in feeble accents, while his withered 
 face, covered with perspiration and standing out 
 
 67
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 from his hump, expressed extreme anguish. 
 " Frasquita ! " 
 
 " That is my name ! ' answered the daughter 
 of the Pyrenees " What is it? " 
 
 " Anything you like," replied the old man with 
 unbounded tenderness. 
 
 " Well," said the miller's wife, " Your Worship 
 already knows what I want. I want Your Wor- 
 ship to appoint a nephew of mine who lives in 
 Estella, as secretary of the Municipal Council of 
 the City so he can come here from those moun- 
 tains where he is having such a hard time of 
 
 it " 
 11 > 
 
 " I have already told you, Frasquita, that that 
 is impossible. The present secretary 
 
 " Is a thief, a drunkard, and a beast ! ' 
 
 " I know it ... But he has great influence 
 with the permanent councilors, and I cannot ap- 
 point another without the consent of the Council. 
 Indeed, I risk " 
 
 < Risk ! ' < Risk !' Wouldn't we risk the 
 very cats in our house for Your Lordship? ' 
 
 " Would you love me at such a price? v stam- 
 mered the Corregidor. 
 68
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF PAMPLONA 
 
 "No, Seiior; I love Your Worship gratis." 
 
 " Woman, don't use a title with me ! Call me 
 just ' you/ or anything you like ... So you are 
 going to love me? Tell me." 
 
 " But am I not telling you that I already love 
 you?" 
 
 "But" 
 
 " Never mind your buts. Just you wait and 
 see how good-looking and what a fine fellow my 
 nephew is ! ' 
 
 " You are the one who is good-looking, Fras- 
 cuela ! " 
 
 " Do you like me? ' 
 
 " Indeed I do ! - - There is no woman like you ! ' 
 
 " Well, there certainly is nothing artificial 
 about this," replied Sena Frasquita, rolling up 
 her sleeve and showing the Corregidor the rest 
 of her arm, which was worthy of a caryatid, and 
 whiter than a lily. 
 
 " Indeed I do like you ! " continued the Correg- 
 idor. " Day and night, every hour, everywhere, 
 I think only of you ! " 
 
 " Well, well ! Don't you like the Seiiora Cor- 
 regidora? ' asked Sena Frasquita with such ill- 
 
 C9
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 assumed compassion that it would have made a 
 hypochondriac laugh to see her. 
 
 " What a shame ! My Lucas told me that he 
 had the pleasure of seeing her and speaking to 
 her when he went to fix your bedroom clock, and 
 that she was very pretty, very nice, and very 
 friendly." 
 
 " Scarcely as much as that ! Scarcely as much 
 as that ! ' murmured the Corregidor rather bit- 
 terly. 
 
 " On the other hand/' continued the miller's 
 wife, " others have told me that she has a very 
 bad disposition, that she is very jealous, and that 
 you are more afraid of her than you are of a green 
 stick." 
 
 " Scarcely as much as that, woman ! v repeated 
 Don Eugenio de Zuiiga y Ponce de Leon, turning 
 red. " Scarcely as much as that, and scarcely as 
 little! The Sefiora has her peculiarities, that's 
 true but there is a great deal of difference be- 
 tween that and my being afraid of her. I am the 
 Corregidor ! ' 
 
 " But, in short do you, or do you not love 
 her?" 
 70
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF PAMPLONA 
 
 " I'll tell you. I love her a great deal - - or 
 rather, I did before I met you. But since I first 
 saw you, I don't know what is the matter with 
 me - - and she herself knows that something is 
 wrong with me - - Suffice it for you to know that 
 now, for example, when I chuck my wife under 
 the chin, it has the same effect upon me as if I 
 were chucking myself under the chin. ... So 
 you see that I cannot love her more nor feel less ! 
 While just to grasp that hand, that arm, that 
 face, that waist I would give - - what I haven't 
 got ! 
 
 And as he spoke, the Corregidor attempted to 
 take possession of the bare arm that Sena Fras- 
 quita was displaying in the flesh before his eyes. 
 But without losing her composure, she extended 
 her hand, touched His Lordship's breast with the 
 pacific violence and irresistible rigidity of an ele- 
 phant's trunk, and tipped him over backwards, 
 chair and all. 
 
 " Ave Maria Purisima! } ' cried the Navarrese, 
 laughing till she could laugh no more. " I think 
 the chair must have been broken " 
 
 " What is going' on here? " exclaimed Tio 
 
 71
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Lucas at this point, sticking his homely face 
 through the leaves of the arbour. 
 
 The Corregidor was still on the ground, face 
 upward, and he gazed in unspeakable terror upon 
 the man who appeared as it were, in the air, face 
 downward. 
 
 One might have said that His Lordship was 
 the devil, conquered- -not by St. Michael, but 
 by a fellow demon of the infernal regions. 
 
 " What do you suppose has happened? ' Sena 
 Frasquita hastened to reply. " The Sefior Cor- 
 regidor placed his chair too near the edge, started 
 to rock, and fell over ! ' 
 
 " Jesiis, Maria y Jose! ' exclaimed the miller 
 in his turn. " Is Your Lordship hurt? Do you 
 wish a little water and vinegar? ' 
 
 " Not in the least! " said the Corregidor, pick- 
 ing himself up as best he could. 
 
 And then in a low voice, but loud enough for 
 Sefta Frasquita to hear, he added : 
 
 " You shall pay me for this ! ' 
 
 " On the other hand, Your Lordship has saved 
 my life/ ' rejoined Tio Lucas without moving from 
 72
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF PAMPLONA 
 
 the top of the arbour. " Just think of it, wife; 
 I was sitting here looking at the grapes, when I 
 fell asleep on a network of vine-shoots and sticks 
 that has open spaces plenty large enough to let 
 
 my body through. So, if His Lordship's fall had 
 
 / .1 
 
 not awakened me in time, this afternoon I should 
 have broken my head on those stones." 
 
 " Indeed- eh? ' replied the Corregidor. 
 " Well, see here, my man, I'm glad ! I tell you, 
 I'm glad I fell ! " 
 
 " You shall pay me for it ! ' ' he added shortly, 
 addressing himself to the miller's wife. 
 
 And he pronounced these words with such an 
 expression of concentrated fury, that Sena Fras- 
 quita looked downcast. 
 
 She saw clearly that the Corregidor was afraid 
 at first, believing that the miller had overheard 
 everything ; but that, convinced that he had really 
 heard nothing (since the calmness and dissimula- 
 tion of Tio Lucas would have deceived the most 
 acute), he was beginning to give himself up en- 
 tirely to his malice and to conceive plans of ven- 
 geance. 
 
 73
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Come ! Get down and help me brush off His 
 Lordship ; he's just covered with dust ! " the mil- 
 ler's wife exclaimed at this point. 
 
 And as Tio Lucas was descending, she said to 
 the Corregidor as she dealt several blows to his 
 jacket and a few to his ears with her apron : 
 
 " The poor fellow never heard a thing. He 
 was sleeping like a log." 
 
 Aside from these phrases in themselves, the 
 fact that they were spoken in a low^ voice, produc- 
 ing an effect of complicity and secrecy, caused a 
 marvelous change in him. 
 
 " You rogue ! Insolent one ! ' sputtered Don 
 Eugenio de Zimiga with his mouth watering, but 
 still groaning. 
 
 " Will Your Lordship hold it against me? ' 
 asked the Navarrese coaxingly. 
 
 Seeing that severity brought him good results, 
 the "Corregidor attempted to look at Sena Fras- 
 quita as though in a great rage; but he encoun- 
 tered her tempting smile and her divine eyes, 
 shining with the caress of an entreaty; and, his 
 anger subsiding suddenly, he said to her in 
 7'4
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF PAMPLONA 
 
 drivelling and hissing accents in which his entire 
 lack of teeth was more in evidence than ever : 
 " That depends upon you, my love ! ' 
 At that moment Tio Lucas swung himself dowp 
 from the arbour. 
 
 75
 
 XII 
 
 TITHES AND FIRST-FRUITS 
 
 WHEN the Corregidor had been re- 
 established in his chair, the miller's 
 wife cast a hasty glance at her 
 spouse and saw that he was as calm as ever, but 
 bursting with a desire to laugh. She tossed him 
 a kiss from a distance, taking advantage of the 
 first moment of inattention on Don Eugenio's 
 part, and finally said to the latter in a siren-like 
 voice that Cleopatra herself might have envied : 
 
 " Now Your Worship is going to try my 
 grapes ! " 
 
 Then you should have seen the beautiful Nav- 
 arrese (and this is how I should paint her had I 
 the brush of Titian) as she stood firmly in front 
 of the amazed Corregidor,- - fresh, magnificent, 
 seductive, with her noble form, her close-fitting 
 dress, her tall stature, her bare arms lifted over 
 76
 
 TITHES AND FIRST-FRUITS 
 
 her head, and with a transparent bunch of 
 grapes in each hand, saying between an irresist- 
 ible smile and a suppliant look in which there 
 was a trace of fear: 
 
 " Even the Senor Bishop has not tasted them 
 yet . . . They are the first we have picked this 
 year . . ." 
 
 She resembled a gigantic Pomona offering 
 fruit to a bucolic god a satyr, for example. 
 
 At this moment the venerable Bishop of the 
 Diocese appeared at the end of the paved court- 
 yard accompanied by the academic lawyer and 
 two canons of advanced age ; and followed by his 
 secretary, two familiars, and two pages. 
 
 His Lordship paused a moment to contemplate 
 that comic and beautiful picture, until at last he 
 said in the calm accents peculiar to the prelates 
 of those days : 
 
 "Fifth: to pay tithes and first-fruits to the 
 Church of God, as the Christian Doctrine teaches 
 us: but you, Senor Corregidor, are not content 
 with administering the tithes, but must needs 
 also take it upon yourself to eat the first-fruits." 
 
 " The Senor Bishop ! ' exclaimed the miller 
 
 77
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 and his wife, leaving the Corregidor and run- 
 ning to kiss the Prelate's ring. 
 
 " May God repay Your Lordship for coming 
 to honour this poor hut ! ' said Tio Lucas, who 
 was the first to kiss the ring, in accents of very 
 sincere veneration. 
 
 " How handsome the Senor Bishop looks! " ex- 
 claimed Send Frasquita, following her husband's 
 example. " God bless him and keep him for me 
 longer than He keeps me for my Lucas ! ' 
 
 " I don't see what need you can have of me, 
 when you shower blessings upon me instead of 
 asking me for them ! ' ' replied the kindly Pastor 
 with a smile. 
 
 And, extending his finger, he blessed, first 
 Send Frasquita, and then the others who stood 
 near. 
 
 " Here are the first-fruits for Your Lordship ! ' 
 said the Corregidor, taking a bunch from the mil- 
 ler's wife and presenting them courteously to the 
 Bishop. " I have not yet tasted the grapes." 
 
 As the Corregidor pronounced these words he 
 directed a rapid and malicious glance at the 
 radiant beauty of the miller's wife. 
 78
 
 TITHES AND FIRST-FRUITS 
 
 " Well, that cannot be because they are sour, 
 like those in the fable," observed the academician. 
 
 " Those in the fable," expounded the Bishop, 
 " were not sour, Senor Licentiate; but out of the 
 fox's reach." 
 
 Neither of them had meant to allude to the 
 Corregidor; but both phrases happened to be so 
 exactly a propos what had just occurred that 
 Don Eugenio de Zuniga turned livid with rage, 
 and said, as he kissed the Prelate's ring : 
 
 " That is calling me a fox, Your Lordship ! ' 
 
 " Tu divisti! y he replied, with the affable se- 
 renity of a saint, as they say he really was. 
 " Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesto,. 
 Quails mr, tolls oratio. But, satis jam dictum, 
 nullus ultra sit sermo. Or, what amounts to the 
 same thing: let us leave our Latin and examine 
 these famous grapes." 
 
 And he plucked - - just once at the bunch 
 that the Corregidor held out to him. 
 
 " They are very good ! ' he exclaimed, holding 
 the grape up to the light and immediately hand- 
 ing it to his secretary. " It is a pity they do not 
 agree with me ! ' 
 
 79
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 The secretary also looked at the grape, made a 
 gesture or courtly admiration, and handed it to 
 one of the familiars. 
 
 The familiar repeated the action of the Bishop 
 and the gesture of the secretary, forgetting him- 
 self to the extent of smelling the grape, and then 
 placed it in his basket with scruplous care, 
 not without saying to the bystanders in a low 
 voice : 
 
 " His Lordship fasts . . ." 
 
 Then Tio Lucas, who had followed the grape 
 with his eyes, slyly removed it and ate it without 
 any one noticing him. 
 
 After that, they all sat down; chatted about 
 the autumn season (which had continued to be 
 very dry in spite of the fact that the autumnal 
 equinox had passed) ; had a brief discussion of 
 the probability of another war between Napoleon 
 and Austria; were insistent in their belief that 
 the imperial troops would never invade Spanish 
 territory; the lawyer complained of the stormi- 
 ness and calamitousness of the period, envying 
 the quiet days of his fathers ( as his fathers would 
 have envied those of his grandfathers) ; the par* 
 80
 
 TITHES AND FIRST-FRUITS 
 
 rot "struck 7 five- -and, at a signal from the 
 reverend Bishop, the smaller of the pages went 
 to the episcopal carriage (which had stopped in 
 the very same ravine which sheltered the algua- 
 cil), and returned with a magnificent cake made 
 of bread and oil sprinkled with salt, which must 
 have come from the oven scarce an hour before: 
 a table was set up in the midst of the concourse ; 
 the cake was cut ; a suitable portion was given to 
 Tio Lucas and Send Frasquita in spite of their 
 remonstrances , and a truly democratic equal- 
 ity reigned for half an hour beneath the grape 
 leaves through which filtered the last rays of the 
 setting sun . . . 
 
 81
 
 XIII 
 
 SAID THE POT TO THE KETTLE 
 
 AN hour and a half later all the illus- 
 trious luncheon companions were back 
 in the City. 
 
 The Senor Bishop and his family had arrived 
 considerably before the others, thanks to the 
 carriage, and were already en palacio, where we 
 shall leave them to their devotions. 
 
 The distinguished lawyer (who was very thin) 
 and the two canons (each fatter and more re- 
 spectable than the other) accompanied the Cor- 
 regidor to the door of the City Hall (where His 
 Honour said he had some work to do), and then 
 made their way to their respective homes, guiding 
 themselves by the stars like sea-farers, or groping 
 at the corners like blind men. For night had 
 already fallen, the moon had not yet risen, and 
 82
 
 SAID THE POT TO THE KETTLE 
 
 the public light (like other lights in our century) 
 was as vet in the Divine Mind. 
 
 Still, it was no uncommon sight to see moving 
 along some of the streets some sort of a lamp or 
 lantern with which a respectful servant was light- 
 ing the steps of his magnificent masters, who 
 were on their way to the habitual coterie or to 
 pay a visit at the house of some relative. 
 
 Near almost any of the lower window -gratings 
 one could see (or rather, sense) a silent black 
 form. These were gallants who had left off talk- 
 ing to their sweethearts w r hen they heard foot- 
 steps - 
 
 " We are perfect rakes ! ' the lawyer and the 
 canons kept telling each other. " What will they 
 think at home when they see us arriving at this 
 hour? " 
 
 " Why, what will those people say whom we 
 meet in the street this way, at seven o'clock at 
 night, as if w r e were a gang of robbers seeking 
 the protection of the darkness? ' 
 
 " We must improve our conduct." 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! But that wonderful mill ! v 
 
 " My wife cannot stomach it," said the acade- 
 
 83
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 mician in a tone in which there was revealed a 
 considerable amount of fear for the approaching 
 conjugal quarrel. 
 
 "Well, what about my niece?" exclaimed one 
 of the canons who was a penitentiary. " My 
 niece says that priests ought not to call on gos- 
 siping women." 
 
 ^_^ " And yet," interrupted his companion, who 
 was a magistral ; " nothing could be more inno- 
 cent than what goes on there." 
 
 " Naturally, seeing that the Senor Bishop him- 
 self goes there ! ' 
 
 " And then, Seiiores, think of our age ! ' re- 
 sponded the penitentiary. " Yesterday I com- 
 pleted my seventy-fifth year." 
 
 " Of course ! " replied the magistral. " But let 
 us speak of something else: how pretty Send 
 Frasquita looked this afternoon ! ' 
 
 " Oh, as far as that goes she is pretty 
 enough ! " said the lawyer, affecting impartiality. 
 
 " Very pretty," repeated the penitentiary into 
 his muffler. 
 
 " And if you don't think so," added the magis- 
 tral ; " just ask the Corregidor " 
 84
 
 SAID THE POT TO THE KETTLE 
 
 " The poor man is in love with her ! ' 
 
 " I should say he is ! " exclaimed the Cathedral 
 confessor. 
 
 " Of course! " added the (corresponding) acacL 
 emician " Well, Senores, I go this way to get 
 home quicker. Good night ! " 
 
 " Good night ! ' replied the capitulars. They 
 took a few steps in silence. Then 
 
 " That chap also likes the miller's wife! " mur- 
 mured the magistral, poking the penitentiary 
 with his elbow. 
 
 " That's plain enough ! " the latter replied as he 
 stopped at the door of his house. "What an 
 ugly brute he is! Well, until tomorrow, com- 
 rade. May the grapes agree with you per- 
 fectly ! " 
 
 " Until tomorrow, God willing . . . May you 
 sleep well/' 
 
 " God grant us a good night ! ' ' prayed the pen- 
 itentiary from his doorway which contained a 
 lamp and a Virgin by way of further distinction. 
 
 Then he pounded upon the knocker. 
 
 As soon as he was alone in the street, the other 
 canon (who was broader than he was tall, and 
 
 85
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 consequently looked as if lie were rolling rather 
 than walking) proceeded to advance slowly to- 
 ward his house; but before he got there he 
 stopped and murmured doubtless thinking of 
 his colleague of the choir : 
 
 " You too like Sena Frasquita ! And to tell 
 the truth," he added after a pause; " she is rather 
 pretty ! " 
 
 86
 
 'l 
 
 XIV 
 
 f^ 
 
 GARDUNA'S ADVICE 
 
 MEANWHILE, the Corregidor had gone 
 to the City Hall accompanied by Gar- 
 duiia, with whom in the hall of sessions 
 he had for some time been carrying on a conver- 
 sation which was more familiar than was suitable 
 for a person of his station and authority. 
 
 " Your Worship must believe a hunting dog 
 who knows the chase ! ' the ignoble alguacil was 
 saying. " SeM Frasquita is head over heels in 
 love with you ; and everything that you have just 
 told me makes me see it plainer than that 
 light 
 
 And he pointed to a Lucena lamp that scarcely 
 lighted one-eighth of the hall. 
 
 " I am not so sure as you are, Garduua ! ' re- 
 plied Don Eugenio with a languid sigh. 
 
 " Well, I don't see why not ! If you don't be- 
 
 87
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 lieve me, let us speak frankly. If you will par- 
 don me, Your Worship has a bodily defect, isn't 
 that so?" 
 
 " Why, yes ! " replied the Corregidor. " But 
 Tio Lucas also has one. He is more hunchbacked 
 than I ! " 
 
 " Much more! Very much more! There isn't 
 the slightest comparison ! Rut on the other hand 
 (and this is what I was coming to), Your W T or- 
 ship has a face that is very good to look upon 
 what one might call a handsome face while Tio 
 Lucas looks like Sergeant Utrero, who was so 
 ugly he burst." 
 
 The Corregidor smiled complacently. 
 
 " Besides," proceeded the alguacil, " Send 
 Frasquita would throw herself out of the window 
 just to help along her nephew's appointment 
 even a little " 
 
 " So far, we are agreed. That appointment is 
 my only hope ! ' 
 
 "Well, to work, Senor! I have alreadv told 
 
 ' / t/ 
 
 you my plan all we have to do is to put it into 
 execution this very night ! " 
 
 " I've told you many times that I need no ad- 
 88
 
 GARDUNA'S ADVICE 
 
 vice ! ' shouted Don Eugenio, who suddenly re- 
 membered that he was talking to an inferior. 
 " I thought Your Worship asked me for it," 
 
 
 
 stammered Garduiia. 
 
 A 
 
 " Don't answer me ! ' 
 
 Gar dun a bowed. 
 
 " You were saying," proceeded de Zuuiga, 
 calming himself once more ; " that everything can 
 be arranged this very night? Well, see here, my 
 boy - - it looks all right to me ! What the devil ! 
 In this way I shall soon be rid of this cruel un- 
 certainty ! ' 
 
 Garduna was silent. 
 
 The Corregidor went to a desk and wrote a 
 few lines on a stamped paper which he stamped 
 again himself and thrust into his pocket. 
 
 " NQW the nephew's appointment is made! " he 
 said, taking a pinch of snuff. " Tomorrow I 
 shall arrange matters with the Councillors 
 and they w r ill either ratify it unanimously, or 
 there will be a tremendous row. Don't you 
 think I am doing the right thing? ' 
 
 "That's it! that's it!" exclaimed Gardufia 
 enthusiastically, thrusting his claw into the Cor- 
 
 89
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 regidor's snuff-box and snatching some snuff. 
 " That's it ! that's it ! Your predecessor never 
 stopped at obstacles. Once " 
 
 " Stop your nonsense ! " replied the Corregidor, 
 slapping the thievish hand. " My predecessor 
 was a beast - - especially when he took you as his 
 alguacil. But to return to important matters : 
 / You just told me that Tio Lucas' mill belongs 
 in the district of the next village. Are you sure 
 
 of it?" 
 
 v* 
 
 i Absolutely ! The jurisdiction of the City 
 ends at the ravine where I sat down to wait for 
 Your Lordship this afternoon. By Lucifer! If 
 I had been in your shoes ! ' 
 
 " Enough ! ' shouted Don Eugenio. " You 
 are insolent!' And, seizing a half sheet of 
 paper, he wrote a note, sealed it by folding it once 
 or twice, and handed it to Garduna. 
 
 " Here," said he as he did so ; " is the letter to 
 ^fche alcalde of the Village which you asked me 
 for. You will explain to him by word of mouth 
 everything he is to do. So you see I am follow- 
 ing your plan to the letter! Heaven help you 
 if you get me into a blind alley ! " 
 90
 
 GARDUNA'S ADVICE 
 
 " Don't you worry ! replied Garduiia 
 " Seiior Juan Lopez has much to fear from you, 
 and as soon as he sees Your Worship's signature, 
 he'll do anything you ask him to. KHe owes at 
 least a thousand fanegas 1 of grain to the Army 
 Storehouse, and a like amount to the Charity 
 Storehouse! That last is contrary to all law, 
 since he is no widow or poor farmer to get the 
 wheat without paying interest or charges ; but a 
 gambler, a drunkard, and a scoundrel who is very 
 fond of the ladies, and who scandalizes the vil- 
 lage - - And that man has authority ! That's the 
 way of the world ! ' 
 
 " I tell you to be still ! You are distracting 
 me ! ' bellowed the Corregidor. " But let us get 
 to the point," he added with a change of tone. 
 " It is now r a quarter past seven The first 
 
 you have to do is to go to my house and tell my 
 wife not to expect me to supper or to bed. Tell 
 her that tonight I shall be working here until 
 curfew, and that then I shall go out with you to 
 make a secret round, to see if we cannot .catch 
 
 i Fanega: a dry measure containing about 50 quarts. 
 
 91
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 some criminals ... In a word, deceive her well 
 so she will go to bed and not worry. On your 
 way, tell another alguacil to bring me some sup- 
 per. I don't dare appear before my wife tonight 
 because she knows me so well that she can read 
 my very thoughts ! Tell the cook to put in some 
 of those fritters that she made today, and tell 
 Juanete to bring me a pint of white wine from 
 the tavern without letting any one see him. 
 Then go immediately to the Village, which you 
 can easily reach by half past eight." 
 
 " I'll be there at exactly eight o'clock ! ' ex- 
 claimed Garduna. 
 
 " Don't contradict me ! ' roared the Corregi- 
 dor, again remembering his official position. 
 
 Garduiia bowed. 
 
 "We said/' he continued, once more unbend- 
 ing " that you will be in the Village at exactly 
 eight o'clock. From the Village to the mill it 
 will be I think it will be half a league . . . 
 
 " Less " 
 
 " Don't interrupt me ! " 
 
 The alguacil once more bowed. 
 92
 
 GARDUNA'S ADVICE 
 
 " Less," proceeded the Corregidor. " So, at 
 ten o'clock- -Do you think it will be ten 
 o'clock?" 
 
 " Before ten ! At half past nine Your Worship 
 may knock fearlessly upon the door of the mill ! " 
 
 " Man ! Don't tell me what I have to do ! Of 
 course you will be " 
 
 " I shall be everywhere. But my headquarters 
 will be the ravine. Ah! I forgot! You must 
 go afoot, and must not carry a lantern." 
 
 " Confound you ! I don't need that advice 
 either ! Do you think that this is the first time I 
 have ever taken the field? " 
 
 " Pardon me, Your Worship. Oh ! Another 
 thing : Don't knock at the large door that opens ^ 
 on the courtyard ; but at the little door over the/ 
 mill-race " 
 
 " Is there another door over the mill-race? 
 Now that is something that would never have 
 occurred to me! ' 
 
 " Si, Senor. The little door over the mill-race 
 opens right into their bedroom, and Tio Lucas 
 never comes in or out of it. So that, even if he 
 should return suddenly " 
 
 93 
 
 \
 
 \ 
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " I understand, I understand. Don't deafen 
 my ears any more ! ' 
 
 " Finally : Your Worship must try to slip 
 away before dawn. It grows light at six o'clock 
 now " 
 
 " There's another useless piece of advice ! I 
 shall be back at home at five o'clock. But we've 
 said enough now. Leave my presence ! ' 
 
 "Well then, Seilor- good luck!' exclaimed 
 the alguacil, holding out his hand sideways to the 
 Corregidor and gazing at the ceiling as he did so. 
 
 The Corregidor placed a peseta in the hand, 
 and Garduna disappeared as if by magic. 
 
 " By the life of ," murmured the old man 
 after a moment. " I forgot to tell that idiot to 
 have them bring me a pack of cards too ! I could 
 have amused myself with them until nine-thirty 
 by seeing if the solitaire would come out well ! 
 
 94
 
 xv 
 
 A PROSAIC FAREWELL 
 
 IT must have been about nine o'clock that 
 same night that Tio Lucas and Sena Fras- 
 quita, after all the duties of the household 
 had been attended to, were supping upon a dish 
 of endive salad, a pound or so of meat cooked 
 with tomatoes, and a few grapes that remained in 
 the aforementioned basket the whole mixed 
 with a bit of wine and much laughter at the Cor- 
 regidor's expense. After supper, husband and 
 wife looked at each other affably, as though very 
 content with God and with themselves, and said 
 between a couple of yawns that revealed the utter 
 peace and tranquillity of their hearts : 
 
 " Well, let's go to bed - - and tomorrow will be 
 another day." 
 
 At that moment, two strong and authoritative 
 
 95
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 blows sounded upon the large outer door of the 
 mill. 
 
 The husband and wife looked at each other in 
 surprise. 
 
 It was the first time they had ever heard such 
 a summons at that hour. 
 
 " I'm going to see who it is," said the intrepid 
 Navarrese, as she started toward the courtyard. 
 
 " Stop ! That's for me to do ! " cried Tio Lucas 
 with so much dignity that Sena Frasquita gave 
 way to him. " I told you not to go ! ' ' he added, 
 when he saw that his obstinate wife was trying 
 to follow him. 
 
 She obeyed, and remained behind in the house. 
 
 " Who is it? " asked Tio Lucas from the middle 
 of the courtyard. 
 
 " The Justice ! ' ' answered a voice on the other 
 side of the door. 
 
 " What Justice? " 
 
 " The one from the Village. Open to the 
 Senor Alcalde ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Tio Lucas, applying his eye to a cer- 
 tain carefully hidden peep-hole in the door, had 
 96
 
 A PROSAIC FAREWELL 
 
 recognized by the light of the moon the rustic 
 alguacil of the neighbouring village. 
 
 " You'd better tell me to open to the drunken 
 
 i ' 
 
 alguacil ! ' ' replied the miller, lifting the bar. 
 
 " It's all the same," answered the man outside ; 
 " since I bring an rder written by His Honour.! 
 A very good evening to you, Tio Lucas," he added 
 as he entered. This time he spoke in his less 
 official voice, which was lower and thicker than 
 at first as if he were now an entirely different 
 person. 
 
 " God keep you, Tonuelo ! " respondedJthe^Mur^ 
 dan. " Let's see what your order is. Senor 
 Juan L6pez might have chosen a better time to 
 write to a decent man ! I suppose it's your fault, 
 though. Any one can see that you've been get- 
 :ing drunk in the orchards along the way ! Will 
 7ou have a mouthful? " 
 
 " No, Senor ; there isn't time. You must fol- 
 ow me immediately ! Read the order." 
 
 " W r hat do you mean, follow you? " exclaimed 
 Clo Lucas, entering the mill after seizing the 
 >aper " Let's have a light, Frasquita ! ' 
 
 97
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Send Frasquita dropped something *>he had in 
 her hand and took down a lamp. 
 
 Tio Lucas cast a rapid glance at the object his 
 wife had dropped, and recognized his huge bell- 
 mouthed blunderbuss that carried half-pound 
 balls. 
 
 The miller then directed a glance full of grati- 
 tude and tenderness toward the Navarrese, and 
 said to her as he patted her cheek : 
 
 " What a wonder you are ! ' 
 
 Sena Frasquita, pale and serene as a statue of 
 marble, raised the lamp, which she had grasped 
 between her thumb and forefinger, and replied 
 dryly : 
 
 " Come, read it ! " 
 
 This w r as the order: 
 
 For the better service of H. M. the King our 
 Lord (Whom God preserve), I hereby summon 
 Lucas Fernandez, a miller of this vicinity, as 
 soon as he receives this order, to appear before 
 my authority without any excuses or pretexts 
 whatsoever ; and I do hereby notify him, that be- 
 ing a private matter, he must not take any one 
 into his confidence: all this under suitable pun- 
 ishment in case of disobedience. 
 
 The Alcalde : JUAN LOPEZ. 
 
 98
 
 A PROSAIC FAREWELL 
 
 Instead of a flourish there was a cross. 
 
 "Here, you! What does this mean?" Tio 
 Lucas questioned the alguacil. " What is this 
 order for? " 
 
 " I don't know " ; replied the rustic,- - a man 
 about thirty years old, whose angular and irreg- 
 ular features, like those of a thief or an assassin, 
 gave a very poor idea of his sincerity. " I think 
 it has something to do with witchcraft or coun- 
 terfeit money But it has nothing to do with 
 you They are calling you as a witness or an 
 expert. In short, I didn't learn the particulars 
 . . . Senor Juan Lopez will explain it to you in 
 more detail." 
 
 " All right ! " exclaimed the miller. " Tell him 
 that I'll come tomorrow." 
 
 " Ca! No, Senor! You must come right now 
 without losing a minute. That is the order the 
 Senor Alcalde gave me." 
 
 There w r as an instant of silence. 
 
 Sena Frasquita's eyes were aflame. 
 
 Tio Lucas never lifted his own from the floor, 
 as if he were looking for something there. 
 
 " At least you will give me time enough to go 
 
 99
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 to the stable and saddle a burra," he exclaimed 
 
 finally as he lifted his head. 
 
 "What the devil do you want with a burra!' 
 
 replied the alguacil. " Anybody can walk half a 
 
 league ! It's a beautiful night, and the moon is 
 
 out " 
 
 " I know it is but my feet are very swollen." 
 " Then we mustn't lose any time. I'll help 
 
 you saddle the beast." 
 
 r" Oho ! Oho ! So you are afraid I'll escape? ' 
 " I'm not afraid of anything, Tio Lucas," re- 
 plied Tonuelo with the coldness of a dead man. 
 " I am the Justice." 
 
 And as he spoke, he grounded arms; by which 
 manoeuvre he let them see the fowling-piece he 
 carried beneath his cloak. 
 
 "Well, look here, Tonuelo," said the miller's 
 wife. " Now that you are going to the stable 
 to exercise your true office, do me the favour of 
 saddling the other burra too." 
 
 " What for? " questioned the miller. 
 . , .v 
 
 : For me! I'm going with you." 
 
 Vy 1 * 7 -^ 
 
 That won't do, Sena Frasquita," objected the 
 alguacil. " I have my orders to take your hus- 
 100
 
 A PROSAIC FAREWELL 
 
 band, and that's all ; and to prevent your follow-/ 
 ing him. And my ' position and neck ' depend A 
 on it. That is what Senor Juan Lopez told me. 7 
 So, come on, Tio Lucas " 
 
 And he started for the door. 
 
 " It's the strangest thing ! " said the Murcian 
 in a low voice, without stirring. 
 
 " Very strange,'' answered Sefia Frasquita. 
 
 " Something is up I know that," Tio Lucas 
 continued to whisper in order to prevent Tofiuelo 
 from hearing him. 
 
 " Do you want me to go to the City," whis- 
 pered the Navarrese, " and tell the Corregidor 
 what is happening to us? ' 
 
 " No ! " replied Tio Lucas aloud. " Not that ! " 
 
 " Then what do you want me to do? " said his 
 wife vehemently. 
 
 " Look at me," replied the old soldier. 
 
 Husband and wife looked at each other in 
 silence, and were both so satisfied with the tran- 
 quility, the resolution, and the energy that their 
 souls communicated to each other, that they 
 ended by shrugging their shoulders and laughing. 
 
 After this, Tio Lucas lit another lamp and 
 
 101
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 made his way to the stable; remarking slyly to 
 Tofiuelo on the way: 
 
 " Come on and help me, man ! Since you are 
 so kind ! " 
 
 Tonuelo followed him, humming a song be- 
 tween his teeth. 
 
 A few minutes later, Tio Lucas left the mill 
 mounted on a beautiful burra and followed by 
 the alguacil. 
 
 The couple's farewell had been reduced to the 
 following : 
 
 " Lock up tight," said Tio Lucas. 
 
 "Wrap yourself up; it's pretty cold/' said 
 Sena Frasquita, as she locked the door with key, 
 bolt, and bar. 
 
 / And there was no other word of good-bye, nor 
 [ kiss, nor embrace, nor glance. 
 V Why? 
 
 102
 
 XVI 
 
 A BIRD OF. EVIL PORTENT 
 
 LET us now follow Tio Lucas. 
 They had travelled a quarter of a 
 league without saying a word the mil- 
 
 i 
 
 ler mounted on his burra, and the alguacil urging 
 it on with his staff of office when they dis- 
 cerned on top of a rise in the road ahead of them 
 the approaching shadow of a monstrous bird. _. 
 
 The shadow stood out sharply against the sky, 
 which was illumined by the moon, and was so 
 w r ell outlined against it that the miller exclaimed 
 at once : 
 
 " Toiiuelo, that is Garduna with his three-* 
 cornered hat and his spindle-shanks ! " 
 
 But before the person spoken to could answer, 
 the shadow, doubtless desirous of avoiding that 
 encounter, had left the road and begun to run 
 across country with the speed of a weasel. 
 
 103
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " I don't see anybody," replied Toiiuelo with 
 the greatest of ease. 
 
 " Neither do I," rejoined Tio Lucas, seeing that 
 
 i 
 
 something was up. 
 
 But the suspicion which had already occurred 
 to him in the mill, began to take shape and sub 
 stance in the mind of the jealous hunchback. 
 
 " This trip of mine," he said to himself, " is 
 a strategern of the amorous Corregidor's. The 
 declaration which I heard him make this after- 
 noon from my place on top of the grape arbour 
 proves to my mind that the little old Madrilene 
 can wait no longer. Indubitably he is going 
 back to the mill tonight, and that is why he has 
 begun by getting -me out of the way. But, what 
 of it? Frasquita is Frasquita and she would 
 never open the door even if they set the house 
 on fire! Besides: even if she should open it; 
 even if the Corregidor should succeed by means 
 of some deception or other in surprising my ex- 
 cellent Navarrese, the old rascal would leave 
 with his head in his hands. Frasquita is Fras- 
 quita! Nevertheless," he added after a mo- 
 104
 
 A BIRD OF EVIL PORTENT 
 
 ment, " it will be just as well to get back home 
 tonight as soon as I possibly can ! ' 
 
 At this point, Tio Lucas and the alguacil ar- 
 rived at the Village and made their way to the 
 house of the Sefior Alcalde. 
 
 105
 
 XVII 
 
 A COUNTRY ALCALDE 
 
 SENOR JUAN LOPEZ, both as a private 
 citizen and as an alcalde was tyranny, 
 ferocity, and pride personified (when he 
 dealt with his inferiors) . However, at that hour 
 of the night, after dispatching his official duties 
 and his private agricultural business, and after 
 giving his wife her daily beating, he condescended 
 to drink a jar of wine in the company of his secre- 
 tary and the sacristan an operation that was 
 more than half finished when the miller appeared 
 before his presence. 
 
 " Hello, Tio Lucas ! " he said to him, scratching 
 his head to stir up his vein of lies. " How's 
 your health? Here, Secretary; hand Tio Lucas 
 a glass of wine! And Sena Frasquita? Is she 
 still keeping her beauty? I haven't seen her for 
 a long time now. But, man alive how fine the 
 grist is these days ! Our rye bread looks as if it 
 106
 
 A COUNTRY ALCALDE 
 
 were made of winter wheat ! Well here ! Sit 
 down and rest yourself! Thank God we aren't 
 in any hurry ! ' 
 
 " Devil a bit on my part," answered Tio Lucas, 
 who up to that point had not opened his lips, but 
 whose suspicions were augmenting more and 
 more as he saw the friendly reception he was 
 given after such a terrible and urgent message. 
 
 " Well then, Tio Lucas," continued the alcalde, 
 " Inasmuch as you aren't in any great hurry, you 
 will sleep here tonight, and tomorrow morning 
 we shall dispatch our little business " 
 
 " All right," responded Tio Lucas with an 
 irony and a feigned innocence that were by no 
 means inferior to the diplomacy of Senor Juan 
 L6pez. " Since the case is not urgent, I'll spend 
 the night away from home." 
 
 " Neither urgent, nor of any danger to your- 
 self," added the alcalde, deceived by him whom 
 he thought to deceive. " You may be completely 
 at your ease. Here you, Tonuelo . . . Bring out 
 that half -keg so Tio Lucas can sit down." 
 
 " Well, let's have another drink ! " exclaimed 
 the miller as he sat down. 
 
 107
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Here you are ! ' replied the alcalde, handing 
 him a full glass. 
 
 " It's in good hands take half of it." 
 
 " Well, here's to your health ! ' said Seiior 
 Juan Lopez, drinking half the wine. 
 
 " Here's to yours, Senor Alcalde," replied Tio 
 Lucas, draining the remaining half. 
 
 " Here, Manuela ! ' the country alcalde 
 shouted. " Tell your mistress that Tio Lucas is 
 going to sleep here tonight. Tell her to make 
 him up a. bed in the granary " 
 
 " Ca! No by no means! I'll sleep in the 
 straw like a king." 
 
 " See here ; we have some bedding - 
 
 " Of course ! But why do you wish to dis- 
 turb the family? I have my cloak - 
 
 "Well, Senor; as you wish. Manuela! Tell 
 your mistress to never mind " 
 
 " What you realty can let me do," continued 
 Tio Lucas with an atrocious yawn, " is to go to 
 bed immediately. I had a lot of grist last night, 
 and I haven't had a chance to close my eyes 
 since." 
 108
 
 A COUNTRY ALCALDE 
 
 " Granted ! ' replied the alcalde majestically. 
 " You may retire when you wish." 
 
 " I think it is time for us to retire also," said 
 the sacristan, peeping into the wine jar to esti- 
 mate the amount left. " It must be ten o'clock, x 
 
 / 
 
 or a little less." 
 
 " Just a quarter to ten," announced the sec- 
 retary after pouring the rest of the wine that 
 was due them that evening into the glasses. 
 
 " Well, to bed, Senores ! ' exclaimed the host 
 as he drained his share. ^ 
 
 " Until tomorrow, Senores," added the miller 
 as he drank his. 
 
 " Wait until they bring you a light. Tonuelo ! 
 Show Tio Lucas to the straw loft." 
 
 " This way, Tio Lucas ! ' ' said Tonuelo, taking 
 the jar with him in the hope that there might 
 be a few^ drops left. 
 
 " Until tomorrow, God willing," added the 
 sacristan, after draining all the glasses. 
 
 And he went out staggering, and joyfully 
 singing the De Profundis. 
 
 109
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 V 
 
 c\ y t , 
 
 " Well, Seiior," said the alcalde to the secre- 
 tary when they were alone ; Tio Lucas never 
 suspected a thing! We can go to bed in peace, 
 and much good may it do the Corregidor ! " 
 
 110
 
 I 
 
 XVIII 
 
 IN WHICH IT IS SEEN THAT TIO LUCAS 
 SLEPT VERY LIGHTLY 
 
 FIVE minutes later, a man swung down 
 from the window of the Sefior Alcalde's 
 straw loft; a window which opened on 
 the corral, and which was distant not more than 
 four yards from the ground. 
 
 In the corral there was a shelter built over a 
 long row of mangers to which were tied six or 
 eight horses of diverse lineage, though all of 
 them of the weaker sex. The horses, mules, and 
 burros of the stronger sex formed a camp apart 
 in a contiguous spot. 
 
 The man untied a burra which was, of course, 
 saddled, and started toward the corral gate, 
 leading her by the halter. He lifted the bar 
 and slid back the bolt that secured the gate, 
 
 111
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 opened it very cautiously, and found himself in 
 the open country. 
 
 Once there, he mounted the burra, gave her a 
 good kick, and sped like an arrow in the direc- 
 tion of the City not by the ordinary road, how- 
 ever, but across sown fields and ravines, as one 
 who is on his guard against some evil encounter. 
 
 It was Tio Lucas, on his way to the mill. 
 
 112
 
 XIX 
 
 VOICES CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
 LCALDES to me: I'm from Arch- 
 ena ! " the Murcian kept saying to 
 himself. " Tomorrow morning, as a 
 preventive measure, I'll go and see the Sellor 
 Bishop and tell him everything that has hap- 
 pened tonight! To call me in such haste and 
 secrecy at such an unusual hour ; to tell me that 
 I must go alone; to speak of the service of the 
 King, and counterfeit money, and witchcraft, and 
 goblins, just to hand me two glasses of wine and 
 send me to bed! It couldn't be plainer! Gar- 
 dufia brought those instructions to the Village 
 for the Corregidor, and about this time the Cor- 
 regidor will be taking the field against my wife 
 - 1 might even find him knocking at the mill 
 door! I might even find him inside! I 
 might ; ! But what was I going to say? 
 
 113
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Doubt my Navarrese? Oh, that would be to 
 
 I 
 
 offend God ! It is impossible that she - Im- 
 possible that my Frasquita ! Impossible ! 
 But what am I saying? Is anything in this 
 world impossible? Didn't she marry me- -she 
 so pretty, and I so ugly? " 
 
 And as he voiced this last reflection, the poor 
 hunchback began to weep. . . . 
 
 Just then the burra stopped to rest. He dried 
 his tears; breathed a deep sigh; took out his 
 smoking materials ; broke up and rolled a cigar- 
 ette of black tobacco; took his flint and tinder 
 and steel; and after a few blows, succeeded in 
 striking a light. 
 
 At that very moment he heard the sound of 
 footsteps toward the road some three hundred 
 rods away. 
 
 " How imprudent I am ! ' he said. " What if 
 the Justice were already looking for me, and I 
 had given myself away by striking a light ! ' 
 
 So he concealed the fire and dismounted, hid- 
 ing himself behind the burra. 
 
 But the burra, having a different idea about 
 the matter, gave vent to a bray of satisfaction. 
 114
 
 VOICES CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
 " Confound you ! ' cried Tio Lucas, trying to 
 close her mouth with his hands. 
 At the same time, by way of a gallant reply, 
 
 another bray resounded in the road. 
 
 *f 
 
 " Now we are in a pickle! " thought the miller. 
 " The proverb is right : the worst of all evils is 
 that of dealing with animals!" 
 
 And discoursing thus, he remounted, clucked 
 to his beast, and was off like a shot in the opposite 
 direction to that from which the second bray had 
 sounded. 
 
 The most peculiar part of it was that the per- 
 son who was riding the donkey interlocutor must 
 have been as frightened as Tio Lucas was. I say 
 this because whoever it was also left the road, 
 doubtless fearing that Tio Lucas was an alguacil 
 or an evil-doer in the pay of Don Eugenio, and 
 rushed off through the sown fields on the other 
 side. 
 
 Meanwhile the Murcian continued to rumi- 
 nate as follows: 
 
 "What a night! What a world! Wha^S 
 life I have led for the past hour! A!V ucas 
 
 turned procurers ; alcaldes conspiring ag 
 
 117
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 honour; burros braying when it wasn't neces- 
 sary; and here, in my breast, a miserable heart 
 that dares doubt the noblest woman God ever 
 created! Oh! My God, my God! Help me to 
 get home quickly and to find my Frasquita 
 there ! " 
 
 Tio Lucas proceeded on his way, across sown 
 ground and stubble-fields, until at last, at about 
 eleven o'clock, he arrived without further mishap 
 at the large outer door of the mill. . . . 
 
 Damnation ! The mill door was open ! 
 
 1L 
 
 . 
 *i 
 
 B 
 
 the ma, 
 114
 
 XX 
 
 DOUBT AND REALITY 
 
 IT was open and when he left he had heard 
 his wife close it with key, bar and bolt ! 
 Therefore, no one else but his wife could 
 have opened it. 
 
 But how? when? why? Through some trick? 
 On account of some order? Or very deliberately 
 and voluntarily, by virtue of a previous agree- 
 ment with the Corregidor? 
 
 What was he going to see? What was he going 
 to learn? What awaited him within his house? 
 Had Sena Frasquita run off? Had they stolen 
 her? Was she dead? Or was she in the arms 
 of his rival? 
 
 " The Corregidor counted upon my not being 
 able to get back here all night," said Tio Lucas 
 to himself lugubriously. " The alcalde of the 
 
 117
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Village must have had orders to put ine in 
 chains if necessary to keep me from coming back. 
 . . . Did Prasquita know all this? Was she in 
 the plot? Or has she been the victim of de- 
 ception, or of violence, or of infamy? ' 
 
 The unfortunate man spent no more time on 
 these cruel reflections than it took to cross the 
 pavement under the grape arbour. 
 
 The door of the house was also open. As in 
 all country houses, the first room was the 
 kitchen. . . . 
 
 There was no one in the kitchen. 
 
 Nevertheless, there was a huge blaze roaring 
 in the fireplace - - which he had left cold, and 
 which was never lit until late in the month of 
 December ! 
 
 Finally, from one of the hooks on the shelf 
 hung a lighted lamp. . . . 
 
 What did all this mean? And how did such 
 signs of wakefulness and sociability tally with 
 the deathlike silence that reigned in the house? 
 
 What had become of his wife? 
 
 Then, and then only did Tio Lucas become 
 j aware of some clothes that were hung on the 
 ^
 
 DOUBT AND REALITY 
 
 backs of two or three chairs placed near the 
 fireplace. . . . 
 
 He gazed at those clothes and gave vent to 
 such an intense groan that it stuck in his throat 
 and changed into a mute and stifled sob. 
 
 The poor unfortunate thought that he was 
 going to choke, and he lifted his hands to his 
 neck, as livid, convulsed, his eyes starting from 
 their sockets, he gazed upon that clothing, pos- 
 sessed with as much horror as the criminal to 
 whom they present the black robe of execution. 
 
 For what he saw there was the scarlet cloak, 
 the three-corned hat, the dove-coloured tunic and 
 waistcoat, the black silk breeches, the white 
 stockings, the buckled shoes, and even the staff, 
 the sword, and the gloves of the execrable Cor- 
 regidor. What he saw there was the execution 
 robe of his ignominy, the shroud of his honour, 
 the winding-sheet of his good fortune! 
 
 The terrible blunderbuss stood in the same 
 corner in which the Navarrese had left it two 
 hours before. . . . 
 
 x ]/ 
 
 tfeer-lil 
 
 Tio Lucas gave a tfger-like leap and possessed 
 himself of it. He sounded the barrel with the 
 
 119
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 ramrod and found that it was loaded; glanced 
 at the flint and saw that it was in place. 
 
 He then turned toward the stairway which 
 led to the room where he had slept so many years 
 with Sen& Frasquita, and murmured thickly: 
 
 " They are there ! " 
 
 Then he took a step in that direction, but im- 
 mediately stopped and looked about him to see 
 if any one were watching him. . . . 
 
 "Not a soul!" he said to himself. "Only 
 God and He has wished this ! " 
 
 His determination thus strengthened, he was 
 about to take another step, when his errant vision 
 fell upon a bit of paper which lay upon the 
 table. . . . 
 
 To see it, to pounce upon it, and to have it in 
 his claws was only a matter of a second. 
 
 That paper was the appointment of Sen A Fras- 
 quita's nephew, signed by Don Eugenio de Zuniga 
 y Ponce de Le6n ! 
 
 " That was the price of the bargain ! " thought 
 Tio Lucas, thrusting the paper in his mouth in 
 order to stifle his cries and to give food to his 
 rage. " I was always afraid that she liked her 
 120
 
 DOUBT AND REALITY 
 
 family better than she did me! Ah! We have 
 no children ! That is the cause of it all ! ' 
 
 The poor unfortunate was on the point of weep- 
 ing again. 
 
 But then his fury returned, and he said with 
 a terrible gesture rather than with his voice : 
 
 " Upstairs ! Upstairs ! ' 
 
 And he began to climb the stairs, creeping 
 along on all fours, carrying the blunderbuss in 
 one hand, and the infamous paper between his 
 teeth. 
 
 In corroboration of his logical suspicions, as 
 he neared the door of his bedroom (which was 
 closed), he saw a few rays of light shining 
 through the cracks in the boards, and through the 
 keyhole. 
 
 " They are in there ! " he said again. 
 
 And he paused an instant as though to swallow 
 this new draught of bitterness. 
 
 Then he went on until he reached the very 
 door of the bedroom. 
 
 Within, not a sound could be heard. 
 
 "If only no one were there ! ' Hope said to 
 him timidly. 
 
 121
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 But at that very instant the unhappy man 
 heard a cough within the room. . . . 
 
 It was the half -asthmatic cough of the Cor- 
 regidor ! 
 
 There was no room for doubt now ! There was 
 no life-saving plank in that shipwreck ! 
 
 The miller grinned in the darkness in a horri- 
 ble manner. Why do not flashes like that shine 
 in the darkness? What are all the fires of tor- 
 ment compared to those which sometimes burn 
 in the heart of man? 
 
 Still, such was the make-up of Tio Lucas' soul 
 (as we have remarked elsewhere), that no sooner 
 had he heard his enemy's cough than be began 
 to calm down. . . . 
 
 The reality hurt him less than the doubt. As 
 he himself had declared that afternoon to Send 
 Frasquita, from the very hour and second in 
 which he lost the only faith which was the life of 
 his soul, he began to change into a different man. 
 
 Like the Moor of Venice (to whom we com- 
 pared him when we were describing his char- 
 acter), the disappointment had destroyed all his 
 love at one blow; transfiguring the character of 
 122
 
 DOUBT AND REALITY 
 
 his mind, and making him look upon the world as 
 a strange region into which he had just arrived. 
 The only difference lay in the fact that Tio 
 Lucas was less tragic by disposition, less austere, 
 and more selfish than the insensate sacrificer of 
 Desdemona. 
 
 A strange thing, but peculiar to such situa- 
 tions! Doubt, or rather, Hope (for in this case 
 they are the same) once more returned to mortify 
 him a moment. . . . 
 
 " If only I were mistaken ! " he thought. " If l 
 that had been Frasquita's cough ! " 
 
 In the tribulation of his calamity, he forgot 
 that he had seen the Corregidor's clothes near the 
 fireplace ; that he had found the mill door open ; 
 that he had read the credentials of her infamy 
 
 He stooped then, and looked through the key- 
 hole, trembling with uncertainty and anguish. 
 
 His field of vision only succeeded in embracing 
 a small triangle near the head of the bed But 
 exactly within that little triangle, he could see 
 the end of a pillow; and upon that pillow, the 
 Corregidor's head! 
 
 123
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Another diabolical grin distorted the miller's 
 face. 
 
 One might have almost said that he was again 
 happy. . . . 
 
 " I am the master of the truth ! Let us think 
 this over ! ' he whispered, quietly standing up- 
 right. 
 
 Then he descended the stairs with the same 
 caution he had exercised in mounting them. 
 
 " It is a delicate matter. ... I must reflect 
 upon it. I have more than time enough for 
 everything " he thought as he descended. 
 
 As soon as he had reached the kitchen, he sat 
 down in the middle of the floor and hid his face 
 in his hands. 
 
 Thus he remained for a long time- -until he 
 was aroused from his meditations by a slight 
 blow upon one of his feet. . . . 
 
 It was the blunderbuss, which had slid from 
 his knees and had nudged him, as it were. . . . 
 
 " No ! I tell you ; no ! ' whispered Tio Lucas, 
 facing the weapon. " I don't need you ! Every- 
 body would be sorry for them, and they would 
 hang me ! It is an affair with a corregidor, and 
 124
 
 DOUBT AND REALITY 
 
 to kill a corregidor is still something inexcusable 
 in Spain ! They would say that I had killed him 
 on account of a groundless jealousy, and that I 
 then undressed him and put him in my bed. . . . 
 Then they would say that I killed my wife on a 
 mere suspicion. . . . And they would hang me! 
 Indeed they would!- Besides, I would have 
 shown signs of having very little strength and 
 talent if. at the end of mv life, I were to be 
 
 V 
 
 worthy of compassion ! Everybody would laugh 
 at me ! They would say that my misfortune was 
 very natural because I was a hunchback and 
 Frasquita so pretty ! Nothing of the sort ! No ! 
 What I need is vengeance; and after avenging 
 myself, I must triumph, scorn, laugh, laugh hard, 
 laugh at everybody . . . and so prevent any- 
 body from ever mocking the hump that I have 
 succeeded in making even enviable, and which 
 would look so grotesque on the gallows ! ' 
 
 And so Tio Lucas rambled on, scarcely heeding, 
 perhaps, what he said. But as a result of the 
 above discourse, he put the weapon back in its 
 place and began to pace to and fro with his hands 
 Dehind his back and his head bowed, as though 
 
 125
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 seeking his vengeance on the floor, in the earth, 
 among the ruins of his life, or in some ignomini- 
 ous and ridiculous prank that he intended to 
 play upon his wife and the Corregidor; rather 
 than in justice, in a duel, in forgiveness, or in 
 heaven as any other man in his place would 
 have done who was less rebellious against all im- 
 positions of nature, of society, or of his own feel- 
 ings. 
 
 Suddenly his eyes rested upon the Corregi- 
 dor's clothes. 
 
 Then he stood still. 
 
 Next, little by little, an indefinable expression 
 of joy, of happiness, and of triumph took pos- 
 session of his features . . . until at last, he be- 
 gan to laugh in a terrifying manner . . . that is, 
 f heartily, but without making a sound ( to prevent 
 J those upstairs from hearing him) ; holding his 
 sides to keep from bursting, shivering like an 
 ji epileptic, and ending by falling into a chair until 
 the convulsion of sarcastic joy was over. It was 
 genuinely Mephistophelian laughter. 
 
 No sooner had he calmed himself than he be- 
 gan to undress with feverish haste. He hung all 
 126
 
 DOUBT AND REALITY 
 
 his clothes upon the same chairs that had been 
 occupied by those of the Corregidor; put on the 
 garments that belonged to that gentleman 
 from the buckled shoes to the three-cornered hat; 
 buckled on the sword; wrapped himself up in 
 the scarlet cloak ; seized the staff and the gloves ; 
 left the mill, and took the road toward the City, 
 swaying from side to side exactly as Don Eugenio 
 de Zuniga was wont to do, and repeating from 
 time to time the following phrase, which epik 
 omized his thoughts : 
 
 " The Corregidor's wife is pretty too ! " 
 
 127
 
 XXI 
 
 ON GUARD, CABALLERO! 
 
 LET us abandon Tio Lucas for the nonce 
 and find out what took place at the mill 
 from the time when we left Senk Fras- 
 quita there alone until her husband returned and 
 encountered such stupendous and important mat- 
 ters. 
 
 About an hour had elapsed after Tio Lucas 
 went off with Tonuelo, when the afflicted Navar- 
 rese, who had determined not to retire until her 
 husband returned, and who was knitting in her 
 bedroom, which was on the second floor, heard 
 pitiful cries outside the house in the direction of 
 the place through which the water of the mill- 
 race ran. 
 
 " Help ! I'm drowning ! Frasquita ! Fras- 
 quita ! ? called a man's voice in the sad accents 
 of despair. 
 
 " Can it be Lucas? ' thought the Navarrese, 
 128
 
 ON GUARD, CABALLERO! 
 
 full of a terror which we have no need to 
 scribe. 
 
 In the bedroom itself there was a very small 
 door of which Garduna has already spoken ; and , 
 it opened directly upon the deepest part of the j 
 mill-race. Sen Frasquita opened it without hes- 
 itation as she could not recognize the voice that 
 was crying for help, and found herself face to 
 face with the Corregidor who at that moment 
 was arising dripping from the extremely swift 
 watercourse. . . . 
 
 " God forgive me ! God forgive me ! ' stut- 
 tered the infamous old man. " I thought I was 
 drowning ! " 
 
 "What! It's you? What does this mean? 
 How dare you? What are you doing here at this 
 time of night? " cried the miller's wife with more 
 indignation than terror; but mechanically step- 
 Ding back. 
 
 " Hush ! Hush, woman ! " stammered the Cor- 
 egidor, gliding behind her into the room. " I'll 
 ell you all about it. ... I came near drown- 
 og! {The water carried me off like a feather! 
 <ook, look what it has done to men" 
 
 ' 129
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 "Get out of here!" replied Sena Frasquita 
 >ith more violence than before. "You can ex- 
 plain nothing to me! I understand it all too 
 well! What do I care if you drown! Did I 
 send for you? Ah! What an outrage! So this 
 is why you ordered them to take away my hus- 
 band ! " 
 
 " Listen, woman " 
 
 "I shan't listen! Leave this house at once, 
 Seiior Corregidor! Leave it; or I shan't be re- 
 sponsible for your life ! " 
 
 " What are you saying? 7 
 
 " What you just heard ! My husband isn't in 
 the house, but I am perfectly able to make you 
 respect it. Go back the way you came if you 
 don't want me to throw you into the water again 
 with my own hands ! ' 
 
 " Child, child ! Don't shout so loud - I'm not 
 deaf! 1 exclaimed the old libertine. "I came 
 here for a purpose ! I came to liberate Tio Lucas, 
 who was arrested by mistake by a country al- 
 calde. . . . But first of all, I must have you dry 
 these clothes I am drenched to the skin ! " 
 
 " I tell you to go away ! " 
 130
 
 ON GUARD, CABALLEKO! 
 
 " Hush, you fool ! W^at can you do? See 
 here ; I have brought you your^negew ? s appoint- 
 ment. . . . Light the lamp and we'll have a chat. 
 . . . In the meantime, while you are drying my 
 clothes, I shall get into this bed " 
 
 " A-ha! So you admit you came for me? So 
 you admit that this is why you had my Lucas 
 arrested? So you brought your appointment 
 and all? By all the Saints of heaven! What 
 did this booby think I was? " 
 
 " Frasquita I I am the Corregidor ! ' 
 
 " I don't care if you are the King ! What dif- 
 ference does it make to me, eh? I am my hus- 
 band's wife and the mistress of my household! 
 Do you think I am afraid of corregidors? I 
 can easily go to Madrid, and to the end of the 
 world if need be, to seek justice against an inso- 
 lent old man who thus drags his authority in the 
 oiire! And above all else, tomorrow I shall be 
 ible to put on my mantilla and go to see the 
 Senora Corregidora. . . ." 
 
 " You won't do anything of the sort! ' replied 
 ;he Corregidor, losing his temper, or changing 
 us tactics. " You won't do anything of the sort ; 
 
 131
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 because I shall shoot you if I see that you will not 
 listen to reason " 
 
 " Shoot me? " exclaimed Sena Frasquita dully. 
 
 "Yes, shoot you and no harm would come 
 to me if I did. I let it be known casually in the 
 City that I was going out after criminals to- 
 night. ... So don't be silly and love me- 
 as I adore you ! ' 
 
 " Shoot me, Senor Corregidor," repeated the 
 Navarrese, throwing her arms back and her body 
 forward, as if to hurl herself upon her adversary. 
 
 " I shall do so if you persist ; and by doing so 
 I shall be free from your threats and your 
 beauty," replied the Corregidor, fearfully draw- 
 ing a pair of small pistols. 
 
 " Pistols too? And in the other pocket, my 
 nephew's appointment !" said Sena Frasquita, 
 nodding her head vigorously. " Well, Senor, the 
 choice is not a difficult one. Wait a moment, 
 Your Worship ; I'm going to light the fire." 
 
 And as she spoke, she made her way rapidly 
 to the stairs, which she descended in three leaps. 
 
 The Corregidor seized the lamp and followed 
 after her, fearful lest she escape; but he was 
 132
 
 ON GUARD, CABALLERO! 
 
 forced to descend more slowly, and consequently, 
 when he reached the kitchen, he encountered the 
 Navarrese on her way back to him. 
 
 " So you said that you were going to shoot 
 me?' exclaimed the indomitable woman, stejn 
 ping back a pace. " Well then ; on guard, cabal- 
 lero it's my turn now ! ' As she spoke, she 
 raised the formidable blunderbuss which has 
 played such a prominent part in this story to her 
 cheek. 
 
 " Stop, wretched woman ! What are you go- 
 ing to do?" shouted the Corregidor, frightened 
 to death. " I was joking about the shooting 
 See here the pistols aren't loaded. On the 
 other hand ; it is the truth about the appointment, 
 Here it is. ... Take it. ... I give to you. . . . 
 It's yours . . . for nothing, entirely gratis. . ." 
 
 And, trembling, he placed it upon the table. 
 
 " That's a good place for it ! " responded the 
 Navarrese. " Tomorrow I'll use it to light the 
 fire with when I cook my husband's dinner. I 
 wouldn't even take the hope of heaven from you 
 now ; and if my nephew should ever leave Estella, 
 it would only be to shoot the ugly hand for you 
 
 133
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 that wrote his name on that indecent paper! 
 That's what I said ! Leave my house ! Give me 
 air, give me air ! And' be quick about it ! : 
 For the gunpowder is going to my head ! ' 
 
 The Corregidor did not reply to this speech. 
 He had turned livid, almost blue; his eyes were 
 rolling up, and a trembling like that of the ter- 
 tian fevers shook his whole body. At last his 
 teeth began to chatter and he fell to the ground, 
 seized with a terrifying convulsion. 
 
 The fright of the mill-race, the fact that his 
 clothes were still wringing wet, the violent scene 
 in the bedroom, and the fear of the blunderbuss 
 which the Navarrese was aiming at him, had ex- 
 hausted the strength of the sickly old man. 
 
 " I'm dying," he gasped. " Call Garduna ! 
 Call Garduna- -he's outside in the ravine - 
 I must not die in this house ! ? 
 
 He could not go on. He closed his eyes, and 
 was as though dead. 
 
 " And he'll die just as he says he will ! ' ex- 
 claimed Sena Frasquita. "Well now; if that 
 
 isif t the worst ! What will I do now with this 
 
 > 
 
 man in my house? What will they say of me if 
 134
 
 ON GUARD, CABALLERO! 
 
 he dies? What will Lucas say?- How can I 
 justify myself, when I myself opened the door to 
 him? Oh, no! I mustn't stay here with him. 
 I must look for my husband I must scandal- 
 ize the whole world rather than compromise my 
 honour! ' 
 
 This resolution made, she dropped the blunder- 
 buss, went to the corral, seized the remaining 
 burra, saddled her any old way, opened the large 
 gate of the enclosure, mounted with one leap in 
 spite of her weight, and started for the ravine. 
 
 "Garduna! Garduna!' she kept crying as 
 she neared the spot. 
 
 " Present ! ' replied the alguacil at last, as he 
 appeared from behind a hedge. " Is that you, 
 Sena Frasquita? " 
 
 " Yes, it's me. Go to the mill and rescue your 
 master; he's dying! ' 
 
 " What did you say? That's a pretty trick! ' 
 
 u What you heard, Garduna - 
 
 " And you, my dear? Where are you going at 
 this time of night? " 
 
 " I ? Get out of the way, you blockhead ! 
 , [ m going to the City after a doctor ! " an- ^ *a 
 
 135
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 swered Sena Frasquita, kicking the burra with 
 her heels and Garduna with her toes. 
 
 And she took not the road to the City, as she 
 just said, but to the next village. 
 
 Garduna did not notice this last circumstance ; 
 but strode off toward the mill, mumbling to him- 
 self as he went in this fashion: 
 
 " Going for the doctor ! The poor thing can't 
 do better ! But what a poor sort of a man he is ! 
 A nice time to get sick ! God gives sugarplums 
 to those who can't chew them ! " 
 
 136
 
 XXII 
 
 GARDUNA OUTDOES HIMSELF 
 
 WHEN Garduna reached the mill, the 
 Corregidor was beginning to come 
 to, and was endeavouring to get up 
 from the floor. 
 
 Also upon the floor, and at his side, was the 
 lighted lamp that His Worship had brought down 
 from the bedroom. 
 
 " Has she gone yet? " were Don Eugenio's first 
 words. 
 "Who?" 
 
 " The devil ! I mean, the miller's wife " 
 "Si Sefior she's gone but I don't think 
 ihe was in very good humour." 
 " Ay, GarduSa ! I'm dying " 
 " But what's the matter with you? Good 
 leavens ! ' 
 
 " I fell into the mill-race and got drenched to 
 
 137
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 the skin. My bones are dropping apart with 
 cold ! " 
 
 " Never mind ! We'll get rid of that ! " 
 " Garduiia ! See what you are saying ! ' 
 " I'm not saying anything, Seiior." 
 " Well then ; get ine out of this trouble." 
 " Right off. . . . Your Honour shall see how 
 quickly I set everything to rights." 
 
 As the alguacil said this, he seized the lamp 
 in a jiffy with one hand, and picked up the Cor- 
 regidor and put him under his arm with the 
 other; climbed to the bedroom; stripped him to 
 the skin; put him in bed; ran to the cellar; gath- 
 ered an armful of wood; went to the kitchen; 
 made a huge fire ; brought down all his master's 
 clothes; hung them over the backs of two or 
 three chairs; lit a lamp; hung it from the shelf; 
 and went back to the bedchamber. 
 
 " How are you getting on? ' he then asked 
 of Don Eugenic, raising the lamp the better to 
 see his face. 
 
 " Admirably ! I believe I'm going to perspire ! 
 I shall hang you tomorrow, Garduiia ! ' 
 
 " Why, Senor? " 
 138
 
 GARDUNA OUTDOES HIMSELF 
 
 "And you dare ask me? Do you think that 
 after following the plan you made for me I 
 was expecting to get into this bed alone after re- 
 ceiving for the second time the sacrament of 
 baptism? I shall hang you tomorrow!' 
 
 " But tell me something, Your Worship 
 Sena Frasquita?" 
 
 " Seiia Frasquita tried to assassinate me. 
 That is all I accomplished with your advice. I 
 tell you I shall hang you tomorrow morning." 
 
 " It isn't as bad as that, Senor Corregidor ! ' 
 replied the alguacil. 
 
 " Why do you say that, insolent one? Because 
 you see me prostrated here before you? ' 
 
 " No, Seuor. I say it because Sena Frasquita 
 couldn't have been as inhuman as Your Wor- 
 ship thinks, since she has gone to the City to get 
 i doctor " 
 
 "Great God! Are you sure she went to the 
 Uity ? ' cried Don Eugenio more terrified than 
 ;ver. 
 
 " At least, that is what she told me " 
 
 " Run, run, Garduna ! Ah ! I am lost beyond i 
 ecall! Do you know why Seiia Frasquita is 
 
 139
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 going to the City? To tell my wife everything! 
 
 To tell her that I am here ! Oh, my God, my 
 God! How could I ever have imagined this? I 
 thought she had gone to the village after her hus- 
 band ; and, as I had him under lock and key, her 
 trip didn't trouble me any! But, to go to the 
 City ! Garduna, run, run you are so nimble 
 
 and prevent my ruin! Prevent the terrible 
 miller's wife from entering my house ! ' 
 
 " And Your Worship won't hang me if I suc- 
 ceed? " asked the alguacil ironically. 
 
 " On the contrary ! I'll give you a pair of 
 shoes in good repair which are too large for me. 
 I'll give you anything you wish ! " 
 
 " I'm off then. Your Worship may sleep in 
 peace. I'll be back within h'alf an hour, after 
 leaving the Navarrese in jail. It's a good thing 
 I can run faster than a burra ! " 
 
 When Garduna had said this, he disappeared 
 down the stairs. 
 
 It goes without saying that it was during the 
 alguacil's absence that the miller was in the mill 
 L and saw things through the keyhole. 
 
 Let us, then, leave the Corregidor perspiring 
 140 

 
 GARDUNA OUTDOES HIMSELF 
 
 in a strange bed, and Garduna running toward 
 the City (where Tio Lucas was so soon to follow 
 him in the three-cornered hat and the scarlet 
 cloak), and let us, nimble as well, fly in the 
 direction of the Village in pursuit of the valorous 
 Sena Frasquita. 
 
 141
 
 XXIII 
 
 ONCE MORE THE WILDERNESS AND THE 
 AFORESAID VOICES 
 
 IE only adventure that befell the Navar- 
 rese on her journey from the mill to the 
 Village was being a bit startled by notic- 
 ing some one striking a light in the middle of a 
 field. 
 
 " Could that be one of the Corregidor's hire- 
 lings? Is he going to detain me? " thought the 
 miller's wife. 
 
 At this point she heard a bray from the same 
 direction. 
 
 " Burras in the fields at this hour of the 
 night! v said Sena Frasquita to herself. " Why, 
 there isn't any orchard or farm house near here. 
 
 */ 
 
 Good gracious, the goblins are flying about as 
 they please tonight! For it can't be my hus- 
 142
 
 THE WILDERNESS 
 
 band's burra. What would my Lucas be doing 
 stopping in a field in the middle of the night? 
 
 " No indeed ! It must be a spy ! " 
 
 The burra which Send Frasquita rode thought 
 the moment opportune to bray herself. 
 
 "Hush, you demon!" said the Navarrese, 
 sticking a farthing pin into its withers. 
 
 And, fearing an inconvenient encounter, she 
 too turned her beast from the road and trotted 
 her across country. 
 
 Without further mishap she reached the gates 
 of the Village at about eleven o'clock. 
 
 143
 
 fi 
 
 XXIV 
 
 I . 
 
 A KING IN THOSE DAYS 
 
 T" 
 
 r 1 ^ HE Senor Alcalde was already sleeping 
 off his wine, back to back with his wife 
 (forming thus with her the figure of a 
 double-headed Austrian eagle, as our immortal 
 Quevedo puts it), when Tonuelo knocked on the 
 door of his matrimonial bedchamber and an- 
 nounced to Seuor Juan Lopez that Sena Fras- 
 quita, she of the mill, wished to see him. 
 
 We need not speak of all the groans and curses 
 that accompanied the awakening and dressing of 
 the country alcalde. Let it therefore suffice for 
 us to remark that the miller's wife saw him com- 
 ing, stretching himself like a gymnast exercising 
 his muscles, and exclaiming in the midst of an 
 interminable yawn: 
 
 " A very good evening to you, Sena Frasquita ! 
 What brings you here? Didn't Tonuelo tell you 
 144
 
 A KING IN THOSE DAYS 
 
 to stay at the mill? Is this the way you dis- 
 obey Authority? ' 
 
 " I must see my Lucas ! ' rejoined the Navar- 
 rese. " I must see him at once ! Tell him that 
 his wife is here ! ' 
 
 " Must ! Must ! Senora, you forget that you 
 are speaking to the King ! ' 
 
 " Never mind your kings, Senor Juan ; I'm in 
 no mood for joking! You know too well what 
 the matter is with me ! You know too well why 
 you arrested my husband ! ' 
 
 " I don't know anything, Ser& Frasquita. . . . 
 And as for your husband; he has not been ar- 
 rested, but is sleeping peacefully in this his 
 house, and treated as I know how to treat 
 people. Here, Tonuelo! Go to the straw loft 
 and tell Tio Lucas to get up and come here in a 
 hurry. . . . Come now tell me what the mat- 
 ter is! Were you afraid of sleeping alone?' 
 
 " Don't be indecent, Senor Juan ! You know 
 very well that I like neither your jokes nor your 
 truths! Something very simple is the matter 
 with me : and that is that you and the Corregidor 
 have tried to ruin me. But you have made a 
 
 145
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 fizzle of it ! I am here with nothing to blush for, 
 and the Senor Corregidor is at the mill, dying ! ' 
 
 "The Corregidor dying!" exclaimed his Infe- 
 riorship. " Senora, do you know what you are 
 saying? ' 
 
 " Of couse I do ! He fell into the mill-race 
 and almost drowned or else he's caught cold 
 or I don't know what That is the Corregi- 
 dor's affair! I came here to get my husband, 
 without giving up my right to go to Madrid to- 
 morrow, where I'll tell the King " 
 
 " The very devil ! " mumbled Senor Juan L6pez. 
 " Here, Manuela ! Girl ! Go saddle my mule 
 Sena Frasquita, I'm going to the mill 
 Heaven help you if you have hurt the Senor 
 Corregidor ! ? 
 
 " Senor Alcalde ! Senor Alcalde ! ' cried 
 Tofiuelo at this point, coming in more dead than 
 alive. " Tio Lucas isn't in the straw loft. And 
 his burra isn't in the shed, and the corral gate 
 is open The bird has flown ! " 
 
 " What are you saying? " shouted Senor Juan 
 L6pez. 
 
 "Holy Virgin! What will happen at my 
 146
 
 A KING IN THOSE DAYS 
 
 house?" cried SeM Frasquita. "Let's run, 
 Senor Alcalde; don't let's lose a second! My 
 husband will kill the Corregidor when he finds 
 him there alone at this time of night." 
 
 " Then do you believe that Tio Lucas is at the 
 mill? " 
 
 " Of cousj_do ! Besides when I was on my 
 way here I passed him without realizing it. He 
 must have been the one who was striking a light 
 in the middle of a field ! My heavens ! Would 
 one ever think that animals had more sense than 
 humans ! For you must know, Senor Juan, that \f 
 our two burras recognized and greeted each other, v 
 while my Lucas and I did neither. Instead, we 
 ran away from each other each taking the other 
 
 for a spy ! ' 
 
 " Your Lucas is all right ! " replied the alcalde. 
 " Well, let's get started ; we shall see later what 
 we shall do to you two. You can't play with 
 me ! I am the King ! But not a king like the 
 one we have in Madrid now, or rather, in the 
 Pardo l ; but like the one we had in Seville whom 
 they called Pedro the Cruel. Here, Manuela! 
 
 i Pardo : The Royal Country Residence- 
 
 147
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Bring me my staff, and tell your mistress I am 
 going ! " 
 
 The servant girl (who was certainly a more 
 attractive girl than was pleasing to the alcalde's 
 wife, or than was morally proper) obeyed; and, 
 as Senor Juan Lopez's mule was saddled, Sena 
 Frasquita and he set out for the mill, followed 
 by the indispensable Tonuelo. 
 
 148
 
 XXV 
 
 GARDUNA'S STAR 
 
 LET us precede them, assuming that we 
 have carte blanche to travel faster than 
 any one else. 
 
 Garduna, having looked for Sena Frasquita \/ 
 throughout every street in the City, was already /\ 
 back at the mill. 
 
 The astute alguacil had stopped at the Official 
 Residence on his way, and had found everything 
 quiet there. The doors, according to the custom 
 when the Authority was out performing his 
 sacred duties, were still open as in the middle of 
 the day. Other alguacils and servants were doz- 
 ing on the landing of the stairs, awaiting at 
 their ease their master's retrn ; but when they 
 heard Garduna coming, two or three of them 
 stretched themselves and asked him who was 
 
 their senior and immediate chief : 
 
 149
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Is the Seiior coming? ' 
 
 " Don't dream of such a thing ! Rest easy. 
 I came to find out if there is anything new at the 
 house." 
 
 " Nothing." 
 }/' Where is the Senora? " 
 
 "Withdrawn to her apartments." 
 
 " Has any woman entered these doors re- 
 cently?" 
 
 " Not a soul has been seen here all evening." 
 
 "Well, don't let any one in whoever it is or 
 whatever they say. On the contrary ! Lay your 
 hands on the first bright morning star who comes 
 to ask after the Senor or Senora, and take him 
 to jail." 
 
 " It looks as if you were hunting some pretty 
 important birds tonight ! " remarked one of the 
 menials. 
 
 " Big game ! " added another. 
 
 " With a big G ! " responded Garduna sol- 
 emnly. " You may be sure that the matter is a 
 delicate one when the Seiior Corregidor and I are 
 making the chase ourselves ! Well until later, 
 my good scallawags ; and keep your eyes peeled ! ' 
 150
 
 GARDUNA'S STAR 
 
 " Go you with God, Senor Bastidn," they re- 
 plied, bowing to Garduiia. > 
 
 "My star is eclipsed!" he murmured as he 
 left the Official Residence. " Even the women 
 deceive me ! The miller's wife went to the Vil- 
 lage after her husband instead of coming to the 
 City. . . . Poor Garduiia! What has happened 
 to the keenness of your scent? : 
 
 And, discoursing in this fashion, he returned 
 
 to the mill. 
 
 The alguacil had reason to regret the dul- 
 ness of his scent, because he failed to get 
 wind of a man who at that moment concealed 
 himself behind some scrub-willows a short 
 distance from the ravine, and who exclaimed 
 within his coat, or rather, within his scarlet 
 
 cloak : 
 
 "Hold on, there! Here comes Garduiia! 
 
 He mustn't see me " 
 
 It was Tio Lucas, dressed as the Corregidor, 
 
 on his way to the City repeating now and 
 
 again his diabolical phrase: 
 
 " The Corregidor's wife is pretty too ! " 
 Garduna went by without seeing him, and the 
 
 151
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 false Corregidor left his place of concealment 
 and entered the City. . . . 
 
 A little while later, as we have already indi- 
 cated, the alguacil reached the mill. 
 
 152
 
 XXVI 
 
 REACTION 
 
 THE Corregidor was still in bed exactly as 
 Tio Lucas had seen him through the key- 
 hole. 
 
 "How freely I perspire, Garduna! I have 
 saved myself from an illness ! ' ' he cried as soon 
 as the alguacil had entered the room. "What 
 about Sena Frasquita? Did you meet her? Is 
 she with you? Did you speak with my wife? " 
 
 " The miller's wife, Senor," replied Garduna 
 in heart-broken accents, " deceived me like a good 
 one because she didn't go to the City, but to 
 the Village after her husband. Forgive my 
 stupidity, Your Worship." 
 
 " Good ! Good ! " declared the Madrilene, his 
 eyes sparkling with evil. " Everything is saved 
 then! Before dawn, Tio Lucas and SeSa Fras- 
 quita will be on their way to the prison of the 
 
 153
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Inquisition, tied elbow to elbow, and there they 
 shall rot without having any one to whom they 
 can relate tonight's adventures. Bring me my 
 clothes, GarduSa ; they must be dry by this time 
 Bring them to me and dress me ! The lover 
 is about to turn into the Corregidor." 
 Garduna went down to the kitchen for the 
 
 
 clothes. 
 
 154
 
 XXVII 
 
 IN THE KING'S NAME 
 
 MEANWHILE, Send Frasquita, SeSor 
 Juan Lopez, and Tonuelo were ad- 
 vancing toward the mill, which they 
 reached a few minutes later. 
 
 " I shall go in first ! " exclaimed the country 
 alcalde. "I'm not an Authority for nothing! 
 You follow me, Tofiuelo; and you, Send Fras- 
 quita, wait at the door until I call you." 
 
 Then Senor Juan L6pez entered the grape 
 arbour, where he saw by the light of the moon a 
 rather hunchbacked individual dressed as the 
 miller was accustomed to dress, in waistcoat and 
 breeches of grey cloth, a black sash, blue stock- 
 ings, a plush Murcian cap, and a short overcoat 
 thrown over his shoulder. 
 
 "Tis he!" shouted the alcalde. "In the 
 King's name ! Surrender, Tio Lucas ! " 
 
 155
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 The man in the cap attempted to enter the 
 house. 
 
 " Surrender ! " shouted Tonuelo in his turn ; 
 >(and he pounced upon him, seized him by the neck, 
 applied his knee to the small of his back, and 
 forced him to the ground. 
 
 At the same moment another kind of a beast 
 leaped upon Tonuelo, and grasping him by the 
 belt, threw him to the pavement and began to 
 pommel him. 
 
 It was Send Frasquita, who cried: 
 
 " Leave my Lucas alone, you fool ! ' 
 
 But at this moment, another person came into 
 sight leading a burra by the halter, thrust him- 
 self resolutely between the two and tried to 
 rescue Tonuelo. 
 
 It was Garduna; and, mistaking the Village 
 alguacil for Don Eugenio de Zufiiga, he said to 
 the miller's wife : 
 
 " Senora, have a little respect for my mas- 
 ter ! " 
 
 Then he threw her across the villager's back. 
 
 Thereupon Send Frasquita, seeing that she was 
 between two fires, gave Garduna such a powerful 
 156
 
 IN THE KING'S NAME 
 
 backward kick in the stomach that he fell to the 
 ground with a mouth as big as himself. 
 
 So now, there were four persons sprawling 
 upon the ground. 
 
 Meanwhile, Sefior Juan Lopez was preventing, 
 Tio Lucas supposed-to-be from arising by step- 
 ping on the small of his back. 
 
 " Garduna ! Help ! In the King's name ! I 
 am the Corregidor ! ' shouted Don Eugenio at 
 last, when he felt that the alcalde's hoof, which 
 was clad in a rough bull-hide shoe, was about to 
 crush him. 
 
 " The Corregidor ! Why, so it is ! " said the 
 astonished Senor Juan L6pez. 
 
 " The Corregidor ! " echoed the others. 
 
 And the four sprawling figures were soon on 
 their feet. 
 
 " To the jail with everybody ! " exclaimed Don 
 Eugenio de Zuniga. " To the gallows with 
 them ! " 
 
 " But Senor " observed Senor Juan L6pez, 
 falling upon his knees. " Forgive me for having 
 mistaken you! How was I going to recognize 
 you in those ordinary clothes? ' 
 
 157
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Wildman ! " replied the Corregidor. " I had 
 to put something on ! Don't you know that they 
 have stolen mine? Don't you know that a band 
 of robbers led by Tio Lucas " 
 
 " You lie! " shouted the Navarrese. 
 
 " Listen to me, Sen 4 Frasquita," said Garduna, 
 
 \ 
 
 calling her to one side. "With the permission 
 of the Senor Corregidor and the company If 
 you don't fix this thing up, they'll hang us all, 
 beginning with Tio Lucas ! ' 
 
 " Well, what's the matter? ' inquired Sena 
 Frasquita. 
 
 " Why, Tio Lucas is now wandering about the 
 City dressed as the Corregidor and God knows 
 whether, in that disguise, he hasn't even reached 
 the bedroom of the Corregidora herself." 
 
 The alguacil told her in a few words every- 
 thing that we already know. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " exclaimed the miller's wife. 
 " So my husband thinks I'm dishonoured ! And 
 he has gone to the City to avenge himself ! Come 
 come to the City and clear me in the eyes of 
 my Lucas ! ' 
 
 " Come to the City and stop that man- from 
 158
 
 IN THE KING'S NAME 
 
 talking to my wife and telling her all the non- 
 sense he has imagined ! " said the Corregidor, 
 leaning upon one of the burras. " Give me a 
 hand to mount with, Senor Alcalde." 
 
 " Yes indeed, let's go," added Garduna ; " and 
 I hope to heaven, Senor Corregidor, that Tio 
 Lucas has contented himself with' talking to the ' 
 Senora ! " 
 
 "What are you saying, you wretch?" gaspedf 
 Don Eugenio de Zuuiga. "Do you think that 
 villain is capable ? " 
 
 " Of anything ! " replied Send Frasquita. 
 
 159
 
 XXVIII 
 
 AVE MARIA PURISIMAl HALF PAST TWELVE, 
 AND ALL'S WELL 1 
 
 THUS he whose right it was to do so was 
 crying through the streets of the City, 
 when the miller's wife and the Corregi- 
 dor, each mounted upon one of the mill burras, 
 Senor Juan Lopez on his mule, and the two al- 
 guacils on foot, all reached the door of the 
 Official Residence. 
 The door was closed. 
 
 One might say that everything was closed for 
 the day both to the Governor and to the gov- 
 erned. 
 
 " Bad ! " thought Garduna. 
 
 And he gave several blows upon the knocker. 
 
 i It is still the custom in some parts of Spain fof the 
 sereno, or night watchman to call the hours. As he does 
 so he generally prefixes the phrase Ave Maria Purisima. 
 
 160
 
 AVE MARIA PURISIMA! 
 
 A long time elapsed, and no one either opened 
 the door or answered. 
 
 Sefia Frasquita was paler than wax. 
 
 The Corregidor had already consumed all the 
 nails of his ten fingers. 
 
 Nobody said a word. 
 
 Bang! . . . Bang! . . . Bang! blows and 
 more blows upon the door of the Official Resi- 
 dence, applied successively by the two alguacils 
 and Senor Juan L6pez. . . . But nothing hap- 
 pened! No one answered! No one opened it! 
 Not even a fly moved! 
 
 All they could hear was the sound of the pipes 
 of a fountain in the patio of the house. 
 
 And so the minutes passed each an eter- 
 nity. 
 
 At last, when it was nearly one o'clock, a little 
 window on the second floor was opened and a 
 woman's voice said : 
 
 " Who is it? " 
 
 " It's the nurse's voice," whispered Gardufia. 
 
 " I," replied Don Eugenio de Zufiiga. 
 Open ! 
 
 There was a moment of silence. 
 
 161
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 "And who are you?" the nurse then ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 "Can't you hear me? I am the master! 
 The Corregidor ! " 
 
 There was another pause. 
 
 " Go you with God ! " replied the good woman. 
 " My master came in an hour ago and went right 
 to bed. You people had better go to bed too, 
 and sleep off the wine you must have in you ! ' 
 
 The window closed with a bang. 
 
 Sena Frasquita hid her face in her hands. 
 
 " Nurse ! ' thundered the Corregidor, beside 
 himself. " Can't you hear me tell you to open 
 the door? Can't you hear who I am? Do you 
 want me to hang you too? ' 
 
 The window was reopened. 
 
 " But let's see," said the woman. " Who are 
 you to shout so? " 
 
 " I am the Corregidor ! " 
 
 "Tut, tut! Didn't I just tell you that the 
 
 Corregidor came in before twelve o'clock, and 
 
 \ / that I saw him with my own eyes shut himself 
 
 A up in the Senora's apartments? Are you try- 
 
 162
 
 AVE MARIA TURISIMA! 
 
 ing to make fun of me? Just YOU wait -you'll 
 see what will happen to you ! ' 
 
 Just then the door opened suddenly, and a 
 cloud of servants and bailiffs, each provided with 
 a cudgel, fell upon those outside, exclaiming 
 furiously : 
 
 " Let's see ! Where is the fellow who says he 
 is the Corregidor? Where is the fool? Where is 
 the drunkard? ' 
 
 And a very devil of a row began in the dark, in 
 which no one could make himself understood, and 
 in which blow after blow was rained upon the 
 Corregidor, Gardufia, Senor Juan Lopez, and 
 Tonuelo. 
 
 It was the second beating that his evening's 
 adventure had cost Don Eugenio besides the 
 ducking he had gotten in the mill race. 
 
 Seiia Frasquita, at one side of the affray, was 
 crying for the first time in her life. . . . 
 
 "Lucas! Lucas!" she sobbed. "To think 
 
 
 
 that you could doubt me! That you could hold 
 another woman in your arms! Ah! Our mis- 
 fortune is beyond remedy ! ' 
 
 163
 
 XXIX 
 
 POST NUBILA . . . DIANA 
 
 HAT scandal is this?" said a 
 voice at last tranquil, majes- 
 tic, and of a delightful timbre, 
 which resounded above the tumult. 
 
 They all lifted their heads and saw a woman 
 dressed in black leaning over the main balcony 
 of the edifice. 
 
 " The Senora! " cried the servants, suspending 
 the tattoo of sticks. 
 
 "My wife!" gasped Don Eugenic. 
 
 "Let those country bumpkins in ... The 
 Senor Corregidor gives his permission/' con- 
 tinued the Corregidor's wife. 
 
 The servants gave way, and de Zfmiga and his 
 companions passed through the door and made 
 their way up the stairs. 
 
 No criminal ever ascended the gallows with 
 
 1G4
 
 POST NUBILA . . . DIANA 
 
 such a faltering step or such an altered mien 
 as that with which the Corregidor climbed the 
 
 * 
 
 stairs in his own house. Nevertheless, with 
 noble selfishness he was already thinking rather 
 of his own dishonour than of the misfortunes he 
 had brought upon others, not to speak of 
 further ridiculous aspects of the situation in 
 which he found himself. . . . 
 
 " Above all else," he was thinking, " I am a de 
 Ziiniga and a Ponce de Le6n! . . . Woe unto 
 them who have forgotten the fact! Woe unto 
 my wife if she has stained my name!" 
 
 165
 
 XXX 
 
 A LADY OF DISTINCTION 
 
 THE Corregidora received her husband and 
 the rustic committee in the main salon of 
 the Official Residence. 
 
 She was standing alone, with her eyes riveted 
 upon the door. 
 
 She was a very high-born woman, still rather 
 young, and of a placid and severe beauty that 
 was more suitable to the Christian brush than to 
 the Pagan chisel. She was dressed with as much 
 dignity and seriousness as the taste of that period 
 allowed. Her dress, with its narrow skirt and 
 full, short sleeves was of black bombazine: a yel- 
 lowish white lace kerchief veiled her admirable 
 shoulders, and extremely long mitts of black tulle 
 covered the greater part of her alabastrine arms. 
 She fanned herself with an enormous fan brought 
 from the Philippine Islands, and she held in her 
 166
 
 A LADY OF DISTINCTION 
 
 hand a lace handkerchief whose four corners 
 hung with a symmetrical regularity comparable 
 only to her attitude and lesser gestures. 
 
 This beautiful woman was something of a 
 queen, and a good deal of an abbess; and there- 
 fore instilled veneration and fear into whom- 
 soever looked upon her. For the rest, the ele- 
 gance of her dress at such a time, the gravity 
 of her bearing, and the many lights that illu- 
 minated the salon, showed that the Corregidor's 
 wife had taken pains to give to the scene a 
 theatrical solemnity and a ceremonious tinge that 
 should be a contrast to the villainous and coarse 
 adventure of her husband. 
 
 Finally we must inform you that the lady's 
 name was Dona Mercedes Carillo de Albornoz 
 y Espinosa de los Monteros, and that she was a 
 daughter, a granddaughter, a great-granddaugh- 
 ter, a great-great-granddaughter, and even a 
 twentieth granddaughter of the City being a 
 descendant of its illustrious conquerors. Her 
 family, for reasons of mundane vanity, had in- 
 duced her to marry the old and wealthy Corre- 
 gidor; and she, who otherwise would have been 
 
 167
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 a nun, since her natural inclination was toward 
 the cloister, consented to make the grievous sac- 
 rifice. 
 
 At that time she already had two offshoots 
 from the dashing Madrilene, and it was whis- 
 pered that once more there were " Moors in the 
 offing " 
 
 But let us return to our story. 
 
 168
 
 XXXI 
 
 THE LAW OF REPRISALS 
 
 \ 
 
 ERCEDES ! " exclaimed the Correg- 
 idor as he appeared before his 
 wife. " I must know at once " 
 
 "Hello, Tio Lucas! You here?" interrupted 
 
 } '* 
 the Corregidora. " Is there anything wrong at 
 
 the mill?" 
 
 " Sefiora, I am in no mood for jests! " rejoined 
 the furious Corregidor. " Before entering upon 
 any explanation in my behalf, I must know what 
 has become of my honour " 
 
 " That does not concern me ! Have you per- 
 haps left it on deposit with me? ' 
 
 " Si Sefiora with you ! " replied Don Eu- 
 genio. "Women are the depositories of their 
 husbands' honour ! ' 
 
 " Well then, my dear Tio Lucas, ask your wife 
 about it She is at this moment listening to 
 
 us." 
 
 169
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 Send Frasquita, who had remained in the door- 
 way, gave vent to a sort of bellow. 
 
 " Come in, Senora, and sit down," continued 
 the Corregidora, turning to the miller's wife 
 with superb dignity. 
 
 She herself crossed to the sofa. 
 
 The generous Navarrese was able to under- 
 stand from that moment all the greatness of the 
 wronged woman's attitude (and the Corregidora 
 was perhaps doubly wronged.) So that is why, 
 rising to an equal height, she forthwith domi- 
 nated her own natural impulses and kept a de- 
 corous silence. This is aside from the fact that 
 Send Frasquita, sure of her own innocence and 
 power, was in no hurry to defend herself. She 
 had, of course, much to complain of; but not 
 exactly to the Corregidora. The one with whom 
 she desired to adjust accounts was Tfo Lucas 
 and Tio Lucas was not there ! 
 
 " Send Frasquita," repeated the noble lady, 
 when she saw that the miller's wife had not 
 moved from her place ; " I told you that you 
 might enter and seat yourself." 
 170
 
 THE LAW OP REPRISALS 
 
 This second invitation was given in a more 
 affectionate and sympathetic tone of voice than 
 the first. . . . One might say that the Corregi- 
 dora, when she saw the calm bearing and statu- 
 esque beauty of the other woman, had also in- 
 stinctively divined that she was not about to 
 settle accounts with a vulgar and despicable per- 
 son, but rather with another unfortunate like 
 herself. Unfortunate indeed if only for hav- 
 ing known the Corregidor ! 
 
 Thereupon those two women who considered 
 themselves rivals exchanged glances of peace and | 
 indulgence, and in great surprise, became aware 
 that they warmed to each other like long lost 
 sisters. 
 
 In just this way do the chaste snows of the 
 lofty mountain tops perceive and greet each 
 
 other. 
 
 Enjoying these emotions, the miller's wife 
 majestically entered the salon and sat upon the 
 edge of a chair. 
 
 When she stopped at the mill, foreseeing that 
 she would have to make some important calls in 
 
 171
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 the City, she had tidied herself up a bit and 
 had put on a black flannel shawl with a 
 fringe of great plush balls that became her 
 divinely. 
 
 She looked every inch a lady. 
 
 As for the Corregidor, needless to say he was 
 silent during this episode. Sena Frasquita's bel- 
 low and her appearance upon the scene did noth- 
 ing less than astound him. That woman was 
 already causing him more terror than his own 
 wife! 
 
 " Come now, Tio Lucas," continued Dona Mer- 
 cedes, turning to her husband. " Here is your 
 SeM Frasquita. . . . You may now repeat your 
 demands! You may now ask her about your 
 honour ! " 
 
 " Mercedes, for the love of heaven ! " shouted 
 the Corregidor. " You don't realize what I am 
 capable of! Once more I entreat you to stop 
 jesting and to tell me what happened here during 
 my absence ! Where is that man ? ' 
 
 "Who? My husband? . . . My husband is 
 getting up, and will be here before long." 
 
 " Getting up! " ejaculated Don Eugenio. 
 172
 
 >u 
 of 
 
 THE LAW OF REPRISALS 
 
 " Are you surprised? Why, where would yo 
 want an honourable man to be at this time 
 night if not in his house, in his bed, and sleeping 
 with his legitimate consort according to God's 
 word?" 
 
 " Mercedes ! Look what you are saying ! Re- 
 member that people are listening to us ! Remem- 
 ber that I am the Corregidor! ' 
 
 " Don't scream at me so, Tio Lucas^ or I shall 
 have the alguacils throw you into jail! " replied 
 the Corregidora, rising to her feet. 
 
 "Me in jail? Me! The Corregidor of the 
 City ! " 
 
 "The Corregidor of the City, the representa- 
 tive of Justice, the plenipotentiary of the King," 
 rejoined the great lady with a severity and an 
 energy that drowned the voice of the false mil- 
 ler, " reached his house at the proper hour, to 
 rest after the noble tasks of his office, that he 
 might continue tomorrow to protect the honour 
 and lives of the citizens, the sanctity of their 
 homes, and the modesty of their women; in this 
 way preventing any one from entering a strange 
 woman's bedroom disguised as a Corregidor or as 
 
 173
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 ^^"^^^^^-^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^-^^ <^_ ^ ^H IM^ ^_ ^ ^ B^M 
 
 anything else; from surprising her virtue in her 
 peaceful repose; from abusing her chaste 
 sleep " 
 
 " Mercedes ! What are you saying? " whistled 
 the Corregidor between his gums and lips. " If 
 that is what really happened in this house, I say 
 that you are a scoundrel, a perfidious and licen- 
 tious woman ! 
 
 " To whom is this man speaking? '' ejaculated 
 the Corregidora disdainfully, as she looked at 
 each bystander in turn. " Who is this madman? 
 Who is this inebriate? I can no longer even 
 believe that he is an honest miller like Tio Lucas 
 in spite of the fact that he wears his rustic 
 clothes. Believe me, Senor Juan Lopez," she 
 continued, turning to the terrified country al- 
 calde ; " my husband, the Corregidor of the City, 
 reached this his house two hours ago, with his 
 three-cornered hat, his scarlet cloak, his knightly 
 sword, and his staff of office. The servants and 
 alguacils who are now listening to me, got up 
 and greeted him as he came through the door; 
 mounted the stairs, and went into the reception 
 room. All the doors were immediately closed, 
 174
 
 THE LAW OF REPRISALS 
 
 and since then no one has entered my house until 
 you came. Isn't that true? Answer me 
 
 " It's true ! Very true ! " answered the nurse, 
 the domestics, and the bailiffs ; all of whom were 
 present at the singular scene grouped about the 
 door of the salon. 
 
 " Everybody leave this room ! " shouted Don 
 Eugenio, foaming with rage. " Garduna ! Gar- 
 duna! Come and seize these vile creatures who 
 are so lacking in respect for me! To the jail 
 with them all ! To the gallows with them ! " 
 
 Garduna was nowhere in evidence. 
 
 " Moreover, Senor," continued Dona Mercedes, 
 changing her tone and deigning to look at her 
 husband and to treat him as such, fearful lest 
 the jest might reach irremediable extremes. 
 " Let us suppose that you are my husband. . . . 
 Let us suppose that you are Don Eugenio de 
 Zufiiga y Ponce de Le6n - 
 
 " I am ! " 
 
 "Let us suppose, moreover, that I was some- 
 what to blame for having mistaken the man who 
 entered my bedroom dressed as the Corregidor 
 
 for you " 
 
 175
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Wretches ! " shouted the old man, putting his 
 hand to his sword, but encountering only space 
 or rather, the Murcian miller's sash. 
 
 The Navarrese covered her face with a corner 
 of her shawl to hide the flames of her jealousy. 
 
 " Let us suppose anything you wish/' contin- 
 ued Do5a Mercedes with an inexplicable impassi- 
 bility. " But tell me now, my dear sir : Would 
 you have any right to complain? Could you 
 accuse me as a public prosecutor? Could you 
 sentence me as a judge? Did you just come from 
 a sermon? Did you just come from confession? 
 Did you just come from mass? Or where did you 
 come from in those clothes? Where did you 
 come from with that woman? Where have you 
 spent half the night? " | 
 
 " With your permission " exclaimed Send 
 Frasquita, jumping to her feet as if pushed by a 
 spring, and interposing herself arrogantly be- 
 tween the Corregidora and her husband. 
 
 The latter, who was about to speak, stopped 
 with his mouth open when he saw that the Nav- 
 arrese had entered the lists. 
 
 But Dona Mercedes forestalled her and said: 
 176
 
 THI LAW OF REPRISALS 
 
 " Sefiora, r .ease do not fatigue yourself by ask- 
 ing explanations of me. I am by no means ask- 
 ing them of you ! Here comes some one who has 
 the right to ask them of you. . . . You must 
 reckon with him ! " 
 
 ^And just then the door of an anteroom opened, 
 and Tio Lucas appeared, dressed as a corregidor 
 from head to foot, with the staff, the gloves, and 
 the sword, exactly as if he were presenting him- 
 self before the Town Council. 
 
 177
 
 XXXII 
 
 FAITH MOVETH MOUNTAINS 
 
 VERY good evening to you all," said 
 the recent arrival, removing his three- 
 cornered hat, and speaking through 
 tightly drawn lips as was Don Eugenio de Zuiii- 
 ga's habit. 
 
 Then he walked into the room, swaying in all 
 directions, and stooped to kiss the Corregidora's 
 ' hand. ] 
 
 Everybody was dumbfounded. The likeness of 
 Tio Lucas to the real Corregidor was marvelous. 
 So much so, that the servants, and even Senor 
 Juan L6pez himself could not contain their 
 laughter. 
 
 When Don Eugenio heard that added insult, 
 he threw himself upon Tio Lucas like a basilisk. 
 But Send Frasquita interfered, pushing the 
 178
 
 FAITH MOVETH MOUNTAINS 
 
 Torregidor aside with her hereinbefore-described 
 arm; and His Worship, to avoid another tumble 
 and the derision that would be sure to follow, 
 allowed himself to be thrust aside without saying 
 a word. One could see that that woman was 
 born to dominate the poor old man. 
 
 Tio Lucas turned paler than death when he \ 
 saw his wife approach him ; but he was soon mas- 
 ter of himself, and, with a smile so horrible that 
 he was forced to press his hand to his heart to 
 keep it from breaking, he said, still imitating the 
 Corregidor : 
 
 "God keep you, Frasquita! Have you sent 
 your nephew his appointment yet? ' 
 
 You should have seen the Navarrese then! 
 She threw back her shawl, lifted her head with 
 the majesty of a lioness, and fastening her two 
 dagger-like eyes upon the false Corregidor, she 
 said with her face close to his : 
 
 " I despise you, Lucas ! ! ' 
 
 Every one thought she had spit at him. 
 
 Such a gesture, such a bearing, and such a 
 tone of voice accentuated the phrase ! 
 
 The miller's face was transfigured when he 
 
 170
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 heard his wife's voice. A sort of inspiration like 
 that of religious faith had penetrated his soul, 
 inundating it with light and joy. . . . So, for- 
 getting for a moment all he had seen and 
 thought he had seen in the mill, he exclaimed 
 with tears in his eyes and sincerity upon his lips : 
 
 " Then you are my Frasquita? " 
 
 " No ! ' replied the Navarrese, beside herself. 
 " I am not your Frasquita ! I am ask your 
 tonight's doings, and they will tell you what you 
 have done to the heart that loved you so ! " 
 
 And like a mountain of ice that suddenly melts 
 into fluid, she burst into tears. 
 
 Unable to restrain herself, the Corregidora 
 went up to her and with the utmost tenderness 
 put her arms about her. 
 
 Then Send Frasquita scarcely realizing what 
 she was doing began to kiss her, and said to her 
 between her sobs, like a child that seeks its 
 mother's protection : 
 
 " Seiiora, Senora ! How unhappy I am ! ' 
 
 " Not as much as you think you are ! " the Cor- 
 regidora answered, also weeping copiously. 
 
 " I'm the unhappy one ! " groaned Tio Lucas at 
 180
 
 FAITH MOVETH MOUNTAINS 
 
 
 
 same time; fighting his tears with his fists 
 as if ashamed of spilling them. 
 
 "Well, what about me?" interjected Don 
 Eugenio at last, feeling somewhat softened by the 
 contagious weeping of the others ; or else hoping 
 to save himself also by the humid way I mean, 
 by the way of tears. " Ah, I am a scoundrel ! A 
 monster! An utter rake, who has got his just 
 deserts ! " 
 
 And he began to bellow sadly, throwing his 
 arms about the belly of Sefior Juan L6pez. 
 
 The latter, as well as the servants, began to 
 weep in like manner; and everything seemed to 
 have been settled, though no one had explained a 
 thing. 
 
 181
 
 XXXIII 
 
 WELL, WHAT ABOUT YOU? 
 
 TIG LUCAS was the first to come to the 
 surface in that sea of tears. 
 He was beginning to remember once 
 more what he had seen through the keyhole. 
 
 " Seii ores, let us get down to business !' he 
 said suddenly. 
 
 " There is no business worth getting down to, 
 Tio Lucas,'' exclaimed the Corregidora. " Your 
 w r ife is a saint ! " 
 
 " I know but ! " 
 
 " There is no but about it! Let her talk, and 
 you'll see how well she exculpates herself. The 
 minute I saw r her my heart told me that she was 
 a saint ; in spite of everything you told me ' . . . 
 
 " Very well ; let her speak ! " said Tio Lucas. 
 
 " I won't speak ! ' replied the miller's wife. 
 " You are the one to do the talking ! For the 
 truth is, you ' 
 182
 
 WELL, WHAT ABOUT YOU? 
 
 And Sena Frasquita said no more; the invin- 
 cible respect she had for the Corregidora pre- 
 vented her. 
 
 " Well, what about you? " rejoined Tio Lucas, 
 again losing his faith in her. 
 
 " This affair does not concern her at pres- 
 ent," shouted the Corregidor, also returning to 
 his jealousy. "It concerns you and this lady! 
 Ah, Merceditas! Who would have said that 
 you ? " 
 
 " Well, what about you? " replied the CorregifS 
 dora, halving him with a look. 
 
 And for several moments the couples repeated 
 the same phrases a hundred times : 
 
 " What about you? " ^ 
 
 " Well, what about you? " 
 
 " You are the one ! ' 
 
 No, you ! " 
 
 " But, how could you? "... 
 
 Etc., etc., etc. 
 
 The thing would have been interminable if the 
 Corregidora, once more clothing herself with 
 dignity, had not finally said to Don Eugenio : 
 
 " See here; you be still for a while! We shall 
 
 183
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 ventilate our own affair later. The important 
 thing now is to restore peace to Tio Lucas' heart : 
 a very easy matter in my judgment; for I can see 
 Senor Juan Lopez and Touuelo, who will jump 
 at the chance of exculpating Sena Frasquita." 
 
 " I don't need any men to clear me! " the latter 
 replied. " I have two witnesses of better stand- 
 ing, of whom it will not be said that I tempted or 
 bribed them." 
 
 " Where are they? " asked the miller. 
 
 " Downstairs at the door." 
 
 " Well, tell them to come up." 
 
 " The poor dears can't come up." 
 
 "Ah! They are two women! That's a fine 
 kind of testimony for you ! ' 
 
 " They are not two women, either : just two 
 females." 
 
 "Worse and more of it! Two girls! 
 Kindly tell me their names." 
 
 " One is called Pihona, and the other Liviana." 
 
 " Our two burras ! Frasquita : are you making 
 fun of me?" 
 
 "No; I am speaking very seriously. I can 
 prove to you by the testimony of our burras that 
 184
 
 
 
 WELL, WHAT ABOUT YOU? 
 
 I was not at the mill when you saw the Sefior 
 Corregidor there." 
 
 " For heaven's sake explain yourself ! " 
 
 "Listen, Lucas and die of shame for ever 
 having doubted my honour ! Tonight when you 
 were on the way from the Village to our house, 
 I was going from our house to the Village ; and, 
 consequently, we passed each other on the road. 
 But you were travelling outside of it, or rather, 
 you had stopped to strike a light in the middle of 
 a field." 
 
 " That's true I did stop ! Go on ! " 
 
 " Then your burra brayed " 
 
 "Just so! Ah, how happy I am! Speak, 
 speak ; every word you say gives me back a year 
 of life ! " 
 
 " And another bray answered from the road." 
 
 
 
 " Oh ! Yes yes ! Bless you ! I can hear it 
 
 now!" 
 
 " It was Liviana and Pinona who had recog- 
 nized each other and greeted each other like two 
 good friends, while we did neither " 
 
 " Say no more ! Say no more ! " 
 
 " We not only did not recognize each other," 
 
 185
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 continued Sena Frasquita, " but we were afraid 
 of each other, and fled in different directions. 
 . . , So now you see that I wasn't in the mill! 
 Now, if you want to know why you found the 
 Sefior Corregidor in our bed, feel of the clothes 
 you have on and you will find that they are still 
 damp. They will tell you better than I. His 
 Worship fell into the mill race, and Graduna un- 
 dressed him and put him to bed there! If you 
 want to know why I opened the door it was 
 because I thought it was you who were drowning 
 and calling to me. And lastly, if you want to 
 know about that appointment But that is all 
 I have to say for the present. When we are 
 alone, I'll tell you all about that and other par- 
 ticulars which I ought not to mention before 
 the Senora." 
 
 " Everything Sena Frasquita says is the pure 
 truth ! " cried Senor Juan Lopez, desirous of in- 
 gratiating himself with Dofia Mercedes, seeing 
 that she was the ruler of the Official Residence. 
 
 "Everything! Everything!" added Tonuelo, 
 following his master's example. 
 
 " So far, everything ! " agreed the Corregidor, 
 186
 
 WELL, WHAT ABOUT YOU? 
 
 very pleased that the explanations of the Navar- 
 rese had gone no further. 
 
 " Then you are innocent ! " exclaimed Tio 
 Lucas, surrendering to the evidence. " My Fras- 
 quita, my dear Frasquita ! Forgive my injustice, 
 and let me embrace you ! ' 
 
 " That is flour from another sack," replied the 
 miller's wife, slipping aside. " Before you em- 
 brace me, I must hear your explanations." 
 
 " I shall explain for him and for me," said 
 DoSa Mercedes. 
 
 " I've been waiting an hour for it! " offered the 
 Corregidor, attempting to stand erect. 
 
 " But I shall not do so," continued the Cor- 
 regidora, turning her back disdainfully upon her 
 husband, " until these gentlemen have changed 
 clothes and even then, only to the one who de- 
 serves to hear it." 
 
 " Come, let us change," said the Murcian to 
 Don Eugenio, very glad that he had not assassi- 
 nated him, but still looking upon him with a hate 
 that was truly Moorish. "Your Worship's 
 clothes are choking me! T have been most un- 
 happy while I have had them on ! ' 
 
 187
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 " Because you do not understand them ! v re- 
 sponded the Corregidor. " On the other hand, I 
 am anxious to put them on in order to hang you 
 and everybody else if my wife's explanations do 
 not satisfy me ! " 
 
 The Corregidora, when she heard these words, 
 calmed the assembly with a gentle smile pe- 
 culiar to those hard-working angels whose mis* 
 sion it is to watch over men. 
 
 188
 
 XXXIV 
 
 THE CORREGIDOR'S WIFE is PRETTY TOO! 
 
 WHEN the Corregidor and Tio Lucas 
 had departed from the salon, the 
 Corregidora again sat down upon 
 the sofa. She drew Sen& Frasquita to her side, 
 and turning to the domestics and bailiffs who 
 were obstructing the doorway, said to them with 
 kindly simplicity : 
 
 " Now, my lads ! Tell this excellent woman all 
 the evil you know of me/' 
 
 The fourth estate advanced, and ten voices at- 
 tempted to speak at once; but the nurse, being 
 the person who had the highest standing in the 
 house, imposed silence upon the rest and spoke as 
 follows: 
 
 " You must know, Sen& Frasquita, that the 
 Senora and I were taking care of the children 
 
 189
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 this evening, waiting for the master to return, 
 and counting the third Rosary to pass the time 
 (for the reason brought by Garduna was that 
 the Senor Corregidor was out after some very ter- 
 rible criminals, and we couldn't go to bed until 
 we saw him safely home), when we heard some- 
 body in the next room, which is where my master 
 and mistress sleep. We took the light, dead with 
 fear, and went to see who it was that was walk- 
 ing about in the bedroom ; when, Holy Virgin ! as 
 we entered, we saw a man dressed like the Senor, 
 but who wasn't he (because he was your hus- 
 band!), trying to hide himself under the bed. 
 ' Thieves ! ' we began to shout wildly ; and a min- 
 ute later the room was full of people, and the 
 alguacils w r ere dragging the false Corregidor 
 from his hiding place. The Senora, who like 
 everybody else, had recognized Tio Lucas, when 
 she saw him in that costume, feared that he had 
 killed the master, and began to wail loud enough 
 to break the stones. ' To jail with him ! To 
 jail with him ! ' the rest of us were shouting 
 meanwhile. ' Thief! Murderer !' were the best 
 words Tio Lucas heard ; and there he was propped 
 190
 
 CORREGIDOR'S WIFE IS PRETTY TOO! 
 
 up against the wall like a dead man without say- 
 ing a word. But when he saw that they were go- 
 ing to take him to prison, he said what I am go- 
 ing to repeat, though it would be really better to 
 keep still about it: < SeSora, I am neither a 
 thief nor a murderer: the thief and murderer 
 of my honour, is in my house in bed with my 
 wife/ " 
 
 " Poor Lucas ! " sighed Sena Frasquita. 
 
 " Poor me ! ' murmured the Corregidora 
 calmly. 
 
 " That's what we all said < Poor Tio Lucas, 
 and poor Senora ! ' Because the truth is, 
 Sena Frasquita, we already had an idea that the 
 Sefior had his eyes on you, and although nobody 
 imagined that you " 
 
 " Nurse! " exclaimed the Corregidora severely, 
 " Don't go on like that ! " 
 
 " I'll go on differently," said an alguacil, tak- 
 ing advantage of the juncture to possess himself 
 of the floor. " Tio Lucas (who fooled us wonder- 
 fully with his clothes and the way he walked 
 when he came in so much so that we all took 
 him for the Sefior Corregidor) did not come with 
 
 191
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 very good intentions, as you might say, and if the 
 Seiiora Corregidora had not been up you can 
 imagine what might have happened " 
 
 " Come ! You keep still too ! " interrupted the 
 cook. " You're only talking nonsense ! Why 
 yes, Sena Frasquita : in order to explain his pres- 
 ence in my mistress' bedroom, Tio Lucas had to 
 confess his intentions. Of course the Senora 
 could not contain herself when she heard him, but 
 handed him such a blow on the mouth that half 
 his words stayed in his body ! I myself filled him 
 with insults and abuse, and tried to scratch his 
 eyes out. . . . Because you know, Sefia Fras- 
 quita, even if he is your husband, this business of 
 coming here with evil intentions " 
 
 " You are a chatter box! " shouted the porter, 
 placing himself in front of the pratrix. " What 
 more could you want? Just you listen to me, 
 Seila Frasquita and we'll come to the point. The 
 Senora did and said exactly what she should ; but 
 after a little, when her anger calmed down, she 
 took pity on Tio Lucas, and thought over the 
 Corregidor's evil doings. Then she said some- 
 thing like this : ' As outrageous as your thought 
 192
 
 CORREGIDOR'S WIFE IS PRETTY TOO! 
 
 was, Tio Lucas, and though I shall never be able 
 to forgive such insolence, it is necessary that your 
 wife and my husband believe for some hours that 
 they have been caught in their own net, and that 
 you, with the help of that disguise, have returned 
 them insult for insult. We can take no better 
 vengeance upon them than this deception, which 
 will be so easy to dispel when it is convenient 
 for us to do so ! ' Having adopted such a clever 
 resolution, the Sefiora and Tio Lucas instructed 
 us all in what we were to do and say when His 
 Worship returned; and I certainly gave Sebas- 
 tian Garduua such a blow on the rump with my 
 stick, that I don't think he will ever forget the 
 night of St. Simon and St. Judas! ' 
 
 When the porter had ceased talking, the Cor- 
 regidora and the miller's wife whispered into 
 each other's ears for a long time; embracing and 
 kissing each other every minute, and, at times, 
 oven unable to restrain their laughter. 
 
 It is too bad that one could not hear what they 
 said! . . . But the reader can imagine it with- 
 out any great effort ; and if the reader cannot - 
 his wife can ! 
 
 193
 
 XXXV 
 
 AN IMPERIAL DECREE 
 
 AT that moment, the Corregidor and Tio 
 Lucas returned to the salon, each 
 dressed in his own clothes. 
 
 " Now it's my turn ! ' the distinguished Don 
 Eugenio de Zuniga remarked as he entered. 
 
 And, after striking the floor with his staff a 
 couple of times, as though to recover his strength 
 (like an official Antaeus who did not feel strong 
 until his bamboo cane touched the earth ) , he said 
 to the Corregidora with indescribable emphasis 
 and coolness : 
 
 " Merceditas I am awaiting your explana- 
 tions ! ' 
 
 Meanwhile, the miller's wife had arisen and 
 given to Tio Lucas a peace-pinch that made him 
 see stars; at the same time gazing at him with 
 appeased and bewitching eyes. 
 194
 
 
 A 5>*^ l> ^ P 
 
 " AN IMPERIAL DECREE X 
 
 The Corregidor, who observed that pantomime, 
 stood stock still, unable to explain such an in- 
 comprehensible reconciliation. 
 
 Then he turned to his wife and said sourly : 
 
 " Senora ! Everybody understands each other 
 but us ! Deliver me from my doubts I demand 
 it of you as your husband and as the Cor- 
 regidor ! ' 
 
 " Oh, must you be going? " exclaimed Dona 
 Mercedes, approaching Sena Frasquita, and pay- 
 ing no attention to Don Eugenio. " Well, don't 
 worry; this scandal will have no consequences. 
 Rosa! Bring a light for these people; they say 
 they are going. Go you with God, Tio Lucas." 
 
 " Oh, no ! ' shouted de Zuniga, obstructing 
 their passage. " Tio Lucas is not going ! Tio 
 Lucas will remain under arrest until I know the 
 whole truth! Here, alguacils! In the name of 
 the King ! " 
 
 Not a single bailiff obeyed Don Eugenio. 
 They all looked at the Corregidora. 
 
 " Here, my man ! Let them pass ! ' she con- 
 tinued, almost walking over her husband, and 
 dismissing every one with the utmost finesse : that 
 
 195
 
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 is to say, with her head to one side, her dress 
 caught up by the tips of her fingers, and bowing 
 gracefully until she had completed the curtsy 
 then in favour, which was called the peacock's 
 tail. 
 
 " But I but you but we - - but they " the 
 old man mumbled on, pulling his wife by the skirt 
 and disturbing the curtsies she had begun so well. 
 
 Useless effort! No one paid the slightest at- 
 tention to His Worship ! 
 
 When all had departed, and the discordant con- 
 jugal pair were alone in the salon, the Corregi 
 dora at last deigned to say to her spouse, in ac- 
 cents that a Czarina of all the Russias might have 
 employed when thundering at a fallen minister 
 the order of perpetual exile to Siberia : 
 
 "If you live for a thousand years, you will 
 I never know what happened in my bedroom to- 
 night ... If you had been there, as you should, 
 you would have had no necessity of asking any 
 one. As far as I am concerned, there is and 
 never shall be any reason for satisfying you; I 
 despise you so much, that if you weren't the 
 father of my children, I would throw you forth- 
 196
 
 AN IMPERIAL DECREE 
 
 with from that window, as I throw you forever 
 from my bedroom. So, sir, good night." 
 
 When she had spoken these words, which Don 
 Eugenio listened to without flickering an eyelash 
 (as he dared say nothing when he was alone with 
 his wife), the Corregidora went into the ante- 
 room, and from the anteroom passed into the bed- 
 room, shutting the door behind her. The poor 
 man stayed behind in the middle of the salon, 
 murmuring between his gums (for he had no 
 teeth), with a cynicism that will never be 
 matched : 
 
 " Well, I didn't expect to get out of it so eas- 
 ily ! - - Gardufia will find another one for me ! 
 
 I 
 \
 
 XXXVI 
 
 CONCLUSION, MORAL, AND EPILOGUE 
 
 THE birds were chirping their greeting to 
 the dawn when Tio Lucas and Sena Fras- 
 quita set out from the City in the direc- 
 tion of their mill. 
 
 Husband and wife went on foot, while ahead of 
 them, hitched together, walked the two burras. 
 
 " You must go to confession Sunday," the mil- 
 ler's wife was saying to her husband. " You 
 must cleanse yourself of all last night's evil 
 thoughts and criminal intentions." 
 
 " That's a good idea ! " answered the miller. 
 " But you must do me a favour too : and that is 
 to give our bedclothes to the poor and replace 
 them with new ones. I refuse to sleep where that 
 poisonous beast has perspired ! " 
 
 "Don't speak of him, Lucas!" replied Sefi! 
 198
 
 CONCLUSION, MORAL, AND EPILOGUE 
 
 Frasquita. "Let's talk about something else. 
 I'd like to ask another favour of you." 
 
 " Ask away ! ' 
 
 " Next summer you must take me to the baths 
 at Solan de Cabras." 
 
 " What for? " 
 
 " To see if we can't 
 
 ,^^___ __ mf 
 
 "Fine idea! I'll take you, if God gives us 
 life." 
 
 And with this they reached the mill, just as the 
 sun, which was still below the horizon, was gild- 
 ing the tops of the mountains. 
 
 
 
 That afternoon, much to the surprise of the 
 miller and his wife, who did not expect any more 
 calls from high personages after such a scandal 
 as that of the preceding night, more of the aris- 
 tocracy than ever assembled at the mill. The 
 venerable Prelate, many canons, the lawyer, two 
 priors, and various other persons (whom, as it 
 turned out afterward, His Reverend Lordship 
 had summoned to meet there) nearly filled the 
 little paved courtyard under the grape arbour. 
 
 Only the Corregidor was missing. 
 
 199
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 When all the coterie had gathered, the Sefior 
 Bishop took the floor and said that, just because 
 certain things had occurred in that house, his 
 canons and he would continue to come there as 
 they had in the past ; in order that neither the 
 honest miller and his wife, nor other persons 
 there present should participate in public cen- 
 sure, which was only merited by him who had 
 profaned by his base conduct a gathering so tem- 
 perate in its behaviour and so proper. He pa- 
 ternally exhorted Sena Frasquita to be less pro- 
 vocative and tempting in the future as to her 
 remarks and bearing, and to try to keep her arms 
 more covered, and to have her waist cut a bit 
 higher. He advised Tio Lucas to acquire more 
 disinterestedness, greater circumspection, and 
 less forwardness in dealing with his superiors; 
 and he ended by blessing everybody and saying 
 that as he was not fasting on that day, he would 
 take great pleasure in eating a couple of bunches 
 of grapes. 
 
 
 
 These delicious gatherings continued for nearly 
 three years until, contrary to the expectation of 
 200
 
 I 
 
 CONCLUSION, MORAL, AND EPILOGUE 
 
 everybody, Napoleon's armies entered Spain, and 
 the War of Independence broke out. 
 
 The Senor Bishop, the Magistral, and the Peni- 
 tentiary died in the year '08 ; and the lawyer and 
 the other members of the coterie in '09, '10, 
 '11, and '12, because they were unable to bear 
 the sight of the Frenchmen, the Polos, and 
 other scum who invaded their country; and 
 who smoked pipes in the presbyteries of the 
 churches while mass was being said for the 
 
 troops ! 
 
 The Corregidor, who never went back to the 
 mill, was removed from office by a French 
 marshal, and died in the Court Prison because 
 he had positively refused ( may it be said in his 
 honour) to compromise for a single instant with 
 
 foreign rule. 
 
 Dona Mercedes did not remarry, but brought 
 
 i up her children perfectly, retiring in her old age 
 
 to a convent where she ended her days in saintly 
 
 reputation. 
 
 Garduna became thoroughly gallicized. 
 
 Senor Juan L6pez became a guerrilla, com- 
 manded a band and died, as did his alguacil, in 
 
 201
 
 THE THREE-CORNERED HAT 
 
 the famous battle of Baza, after having slain 
 many Frenchmen. 
 
 Finally: Tio Lucas and Sena Frasquita (al- 
 though they never had any children, in spite of 
 having gone to Solan de Cabras, and of having 
 made many vows and said many prayers) con- 
 tinued to love each other in their own way until 
 they reached a very advanced age. They saw Ab- 
 solutism disappear in 1812 and 1820, to reappear 
 in 1814 and 1823 ; until at last the Constitutional 
 system became really established at the death of 
 the Absolute King; and they passed to a better 
 life (just as the Seven Years Civil War, broke 
 out), nor could the top-hats that everybody 
 was already beginning to wear make them forget 
 the days that were symbolized by the three-cor- 
 nered hat. 
 
 202
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 FEW Spaniards, even taking into consid- 
 eration the least learned and literate, 
 will fail to recognize the little popular 
 story that serves as a foundation for the present 
 short work. 
 
 An ignorant goatherd who had never left the 
 confines of the remote hamlet where he was born, 
 was the first person we heard relate it. He was 
 one of those rustics, absolutely illiterate, but nat- 
 urally clever and witty, who take such a promi- 
 nent part in our national literature under the 
 name of picaros (rogues). Whenever there was 
 a holiday in the little hamlet, either on account 
 of a wedding, or a baptism, or a solemn visit from 
 the proprietors, it was up to him to organize 
 pranks and pantomimes, to perform all sorts of 
 clownish tricks, and to recite ballads and tell 
 stories ; and it was upon just such an occasion 
 (nearly a whole lifetime ago - - that is, more than 
 
 203
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 thirty-five years ago), that he was kind enough to 
 dazzle and enchant our innocence (relative) one 
 night with the story in verse of The Corregidor 
 and the Miller's Wife, 1 or, if you will, The Miller 
 and the Corregidor 1 s Wife, which we now offer 
 to the public under the more transcendental and 
 philosophical title (since the gravity of these 
 times requires it thus) of The Three-Cornered 
 Eat. 
 
 I remember perfectly that when the goatherd 
 was entertaining us so nicely, the young unmar- 
 ried women there assembled turned very red; 
 from which their mothers concluded that the 
 story was somewhat raw- -and thereupon 
 started to give the goatherd a good raking over 
 the coals. But poor Repel a (as the goatherd was 
 called) was nothing daunted, and replied that 
 there was no reason for getting so upset about it, 
 as there w r as nothing in his story that even nuns 
 and four-year-old girls did not know . . . 
 
 "And if you don't think so," said he, "just 
 let's see exactly what we learn from the story of 
 
 i Corregidor: A magistrate-mayor of small Spanish towns, 
 who derived his power direct from the king. 
 
 204
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 The Corregidor and the Miller's Wife: That 
 married couples sleep together, and that no hus- 
 band likes to have another man sleep with his 
 wife ! It strikes me that that information ! " 
 
 " Well, true enough ! " responded the mothers 
 as they listened to their daughters' laughter. 
 
 "The proof that Tio Repela is right," the 
 groom's father observed at this point, " lies in the 
 fact that everybody here present, big and little, 
 is aware that just as soon as the dance is over 
 tonight, Juanete and Manolilla are going to in- 
 augurate the beautiful matrimonial bed which 
 Tia Gabriela has just shown to our daughters 
 that they might admire the embroidery on the 
 
 pillows . . ." 
 
 " There are other proofs ! " claimed the bride's 
 grandfather. "Even in the Book of Wisdom, 
 and in the very Sermons themselves, they men- 
 tion all these natural things to children when 
 they inform them of the long sterility of Our 
 Lady St. Anne, the virtue of the chaste Joseph, 
 the stratagem of Judith, and many other miracles 
 that I don't remember just now. Therefore, 
 
 Sefiores " 
 
 205
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 " Go on, Tio Repela ! " exclaimed the girls cour- 
 ageously. " Do tell us jour story again ; it's 
 awfully funny ! " 
 
 " And even very decent ! " continued the grand- 
 father. " Because nobody is either advised or 
 taught to be wicked in it ; nor is he who is wicked 
 allowed to go unpunished . . ." 
 
 " Go on ! Tell it again ! " the mothers of fam- 
 ilies at last said consistorially. 
 
 Tio Repela again recited the ballad, and, its 
 text examined by all in the light of that ingen- 
 uous critique, they found that there was no but 
 connected with it which is equivalent to saying 
 that they conceded him the necessary licenses. 
 
 With the passage of years, we have heard many 
 and diverse versions of that same story of The 
 Miller and the Corregidor's Wife always from 
 the lips of the graciosos (clowns) of the farms 
 and hamlets of the same species as the now de- 
 funct Repela. Then, too, we have read it in print 
 in different Romances de ciego, 1 and even in the 
 
 2 Ballads and songs printed on single sheets of paper. 
 206
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 famous Collection of Ballads by the unforgetable 
 Don Agustin Duran. 
 
 The basis of the matter is always the same: 
 tragi-comic, waggish, and terribly epigrammatic 
 like all those dramatic lessons with a moral of 
 which our people are so enamoured ; but the form, 
 the incidental mechanism, the chance happen- 
 ings, differ very much indeed from those in our 
 goatherd's tale so much so, that he would not 
 have been able to recite any of the said versions in 
 his hamlet - - not even the printed ones - - with- 
 out the decorous maidens first stopping up their 
 ears, and without exposing himself to the danger 
 of having his eyes scratched out by their mothers. 
 To such an extent have the coarse rustics of other 
 provinces overdone and perverted the traditional 
 event which became so delicious and discreet and 
 beautiful in the version of the classic Repela! 
 
 A long time ago, then, we conceived the idea of 
 re-establishing the truth of the matter, of return- 
 ing to the strange story in question its pristine 
 character, which we have never doubted was that 
 wherein the decorum was best preserved. And 
 how can we doubt it? Tales of this kind, as they 
 
 207
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 pass from hand to hand among the common peo- 
 ple, never change their character by becoming 
 prettier, more delicate, and more decent, but 
 rather by becoming disfigured and tarnished by 
 the contact with coarseness and vulgarity. 
 
 Such is the history of the present book . . . 
 So then let us set to work I mean, let us com- 
 mence the narrative of The Corregidor and the 
 Miller's Wife, not without expecting of your 
 healthy common sense (oh respectable public) 
 that " after having read it and crossed yourselves 
 more times than if you had caught sight of the 
 devil (as Estebanillo Gonzales said at the begin- 
 ning of his story) , you will hold it deserving and 
 worth the telling." 
 
 208
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 30112065532712