brethren and sisterhood were furiously
clapping their hands. Other dancers,
attired in ballet costume, relieved the
rugged performance with capers of a more
stagey kind; but the two classes had this
in common, that every lady belonging to
either troop had a right to fling her
handkerchief into the lap of any spectator she
might deign thus to honour. Nor was the
favour disinterested. The honoured
spectator was bound to put a dollar into the
handkerchief, and when the dance was
ended to bear it gracefully to the lovely
owner.

When a certain strapping gipsy-girl,
with eyes like sloes, with her back hair
tied into the knot indicative of her race,
with a dingy white dress descending to
her toes, and with a singularly plebeian
handkerchief bound across her shoulders,
darted at me flashing glances, I knew
what was coming. Nevertheless, I was
literally beside myself when she sprang
towards the place where I sat, and with a
countenance in which the love of hard cash
beamed resplendent, figured away before
me, like a bacchante, searching my face
with the fire that flashed from her eyes.
I was enchanted. In a few moments the
solicitous handkerchief was on my knees,
and the gipsy, bounding away to another
part of the room, allowed me leisure for
meditation.

Could I not now do something worthy of
an hidalgo of the old reckless school? By
the law of the room, the favoured
spectator could not put less than a dollar into
the handkerchief; but there was no law
restricting his maximum. The dance was
over, and, availing myself of my exhaustless
purse, I deliberately counted out
twenty gold pieces, taking the greatest
care not to be unobserved.

Now the Spaniards, as a rule, are not
expensive in their enjoyments. I was once
in a show in Seville, the patrons of which
having, in return for a penny a-piece, seen
an excellent conjurer perform many tricks,
three ballets, and two plays, acted by
puppets—the whole lasting two hours—were
on the point of making a riot, on the
ground that they had not received enough
for their money. Very stately did I look as
I bore the golden treasure to the
fascinating gipsy; but a titter passed through
the assembly, which made me uneasily
doubt whether I really was an object of
unmixed admiration. Was I simply making
a fool of myself?

The gipsy sparkled with gratitude; but
a curious smile which played upon her lips
gave weight to the mental self-interrogation.
A bold, quick effort was necessary
for the salvation of my dignity. I resolved
violently to abduct the gipsy amid the
horror of the assembly. I seized her by
the wrist——

At that moment I was aware of a sensation
suggesting the notion that I had been
boxed on the ear by a paving-stone, and I
became immediately unconscious.

When I had recovered, I found myself
at the corner of the street, the name of
which, "Man of Stone" (Hombre de
pièdra), still records the frightful visit
paid to my predecessor. A gaunt person,
without a face, was looking down upon me,
as benignantly as it could under the
disadvantageous circumstances. Of course it
was the commandant.

"For the sake of auld lang syne," he
said, "I have saved you from an unpleasant
difficulty. It was I who knocked you
down!"

As I lacked words to express my dubious
gratitude, the figure, after a pause,
continued:

"While you were committing that
absurdity in the ball-room you did not notice
a slim male gipsy, who is the intended of
that extremely plain and vulgar dancer.
That ingenious person carries a sort of
needle, with which he is capable of inflicting
a stab, unperceived at the moment, but,
in the long run, certainly fatal. This
needle he was on the point of using, but by
my timely box on your ear he was
prevented from so doing. Be wiser in future."

I expressed my thanks with all the
gratitude which a man with ears lustily boxed
is able to feel towards the dealer of the
blow; but I despised the counsel of my
benefactor.

Was I not the Don Juan Tenorio, who a
few centuries ago had carried off Doña Anna
(they call her Iñez at Seville), and was I
not, therefore, bound in honour to do
something desperate?

With my cloak closely wrapped around
me, I strayed unwittingly beyond the
boundaries of the city, and entered the
fair, which, as usual, was held on the
adjoining plain. I walked through the most
fashionable of the temporary streets, where
all the noble and gentle families of Seville
lived for three days, each in a separate
stall, or met in a ball-room, erected in their
immediate vicinity. The sound of the
chat in the brilliant stalls, and of the
music in the ball-room, sounded pleasant