Chapter XXI: The End of an Idyll

Days of chivalry not over--In the evening light--Night porter grateful--Dragon in full force--Combative and revengeful--Equal to the occasion--Gall turns to sweetness when H. C. appears--Last night in Lerida--Bane of our host's life--Mysterious disappearance--Monastery of Sigena--Devout ladies--Returning at night--Place empty and deserted--Birds flown with keys--Quite a commotion--"The senor is pleased to joke"--Was murder committed?--Mysteries explained--Probably down the well--Drag for skeletons--Host's horror--"We drink the water"--A tragedy--Out in the quiet night--Discords--Lerida cafe--Create a sensation--Polite captain--Offer declined--Regrets--Final crash--Paradise or Lerida--Deserted market-place--Trees whisper their secrets--El Sereno at the witching hour--Hard upon the angels--Not a bed of roses--Alphonse--End of a long life--Until the dawn--Acolyte and priest--"We must all come to it, senor"--El Sereno disappears for the last time--Daybreak--In presence of death--Alone, but resigned--Surpassing loveliness--Sacred atmosphere 313

CHAPTER XXII.

A SAD HISTORY.

Broad plains of Aragon--Wonderful tones--Approaching Zaragoza--Celestial vision--Distance lends enchantment--Commonplace people--The ancient modernised--Disillusion followed by delight--Almost a small Paris--Cafes and their merits--Not socially attractive--Friendly equality--Mixture of classes--Inheritance of the past--Interesting streets--Arcades and gables--Lively scenes--People in costume--Picture of Old Spain--Ancient palaces--One especially romantic--The world well lost--Fair Lucia--Where love might reign for ever--Paradise not for this world--Doomed--The last dawn--Inconsolable--Seeking death--Found on the battlefield--A day vision--Few rivals--In the new cathedral--Startling episode--Asking alms--Young and fair--Uncomfortable moment--Terrible story--Fatal chains--"And after?"--How minister to a mind diseased?--Sunshine clouded--Burden of life--Any way of escape?--Suggestions of past centuries--The mighty fallen 329