Chapter XXIII: In Zaragoza

Bygone days--Sumptuous roosting--Old exchange--Traders of taste--Glory of Aragon--Cathedral of La Seo--Modernised exterior--Interior charms and mesmerises--Next to Barcelona--Magnifice effect--Parish church--Moorish ceiling--Tomb of Bernardo de Aragon--The old priest--Waxes enthusiastic--Supernatural effect--Statuette of Benedict XIII.--Mysterious chiaroscuro--One exception--Alonza the Warrior--Moorish tiles--Bishop's palace--Frugal meal--Trace of old Zaragoza--Fifteenth century house--Juanita--Streets of the city--Caesarea Augusta--Worship of the Virgin--Alonzo the Moor--Determined resistance--Days of struggle--Falling--Return to prosperity--Fair maid of Zaragoza--The Aljaferia--Ancient palace of the Moorish kings--Injured by Suchet--Salon of Santa Isabel--Spanish cafe--Four generations--Lovely voice--Lamartine's _Le Lac_--Recognised--Reading between the lines--Out in the night air--An inspiration--Night vision of El Pilar--In the far future 343

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE CANON'S HOSPITALITY.

El Pilar by day--In the old cathedral--The canon reproachful--Equal to the occasion--No pressure needed--_Un diner maigre_--Dream of forty years--True to time--Juanita--Fruits of long service--Exploring Juanita's domains--House of magic--"Surely not a fast-day"--Artistic dreams--Who can legislate after death?--Canon's abstinence--Juanita withdraws--Our opportunity--Canon earnest and sympathetic--Eugenie de Colmar--Canon's surprise--An old friend--Truth stranger than fiction--"You will forget the old priest"--Ingratitude not one of our sins--Arivederci--Canon's letter--End of Eugenie's story--En route for Tarragona--Landlord turns up at Lerida--Missing keys--Skeletons floated out to Panama--Domestic drama--Dragon again to the front--Tarragona--Matchless coast scene--Civilised inn--Military element--Haunted house--Mystery unsolved--Distinct elements--Roman and other remains--Dream of the past--Green pastures and sunny vineyards 357

CHAPTER XXV.

QUASIMODO.

Tarragona by night--Cathedral--Moonlight vision--Dream-fabric--Deserted streets--Ghostly form approaches--Quilp or Quasimodo?--Redeeming qualities--Pale spiritual face--Open sesame--Approaching the apparition--Question and answer--Invitation accepted--Prisoners--The Shadow--Under the cold moonlight--Enter cathedral--Vast interior--Gloom and silence--Fantastic effects--Enigma solved--Strange proceeding--No inspiration--Why Quasimodo turned night into day--Weird moonlight scene--Soft sweet sounds--Schumann's Traeumerei--Spellbound--The magician--Witching hour--Cathedral ghosts--An eternity of music--Varying moods--Returning to earth--Quasimodo's rapture--Travelling moonbeams--Night grows old--Sky full of music--Lost to sight--Dreams haunted by Quasimodo--New day 372