ars of the gate and thus save his peseta. The duke removed the
covering and watched me silently, a slight smile trembling below his
little, black moustache.

The duke and his wife, who was not his duchess, lay side by side on a
bed of carved alabaster; at the corners were four twisted pillars,
covered with little leaves and flowers, and between them bas-reliefs
representing Love, and Youth, and Strength, and Pleasure, as if, even in
the midst of death, death must be forgotten. Don Sebastian was in full
armour. His helmet was admirably carved with a representation of the
battle between the Centaurs and the Lapithae; on the right arm-piece were
portrayed the adventures of Venus and Mars, on the left the emotions of
Vulcan; but on the breast-plate was an elaborate Crucifixion, with
soldiers and women and apostles. The visor was raised, and showed a
stern, heavy face, with prominent cheek bones, sensual lips and a
massive chin.

'It is very fine,' I remarked, thinking the duke expected some remark.

'People have thought so for three hundred years,' he replied gravely.

He pointed out to me the hands of Don Sebastian.

'The guide-books have said that they are the finest hands in Spain.
Tourists especially admire the tendons and veins, which, as you
perceive, stand out as in no human hand would be possible. They say it
is the summit of art.'

And he took me to the other side of the monument, that I might look at
Dona Sodina.

'They say she was the most beautiful woman of her day,' he said, 'but in
that case the Castilian lady is the only thing in Spain which has not
degenerated.'

She was, indeed, not beautiful: her face was fat and broad, like her
husband's; a short, ungraceful nose, and a little, nobbly chin; a thick
neck, set dumpily on her marble shoulders. One could not but hope that
the artist had done her an injustice.

The Duke of Losas made me observe the dog which was lying at her feet.

'It is a symbol of fidelity,' he said.

'The guide-book told me she was chaste and faithful.'

'If she had been,' he replied, smiling, 'Don Sebastian would perhaps
never have become Duque de Losas.'

'Really!'

'It is an old history which I discovered one day among some family
papers.'

I pricked up my ears, and discreetly began to question him.

'Are you interested in old manuscripts?' said the duke. 'Come with me
and I will show you what I have.'

With a flourish of the hand he waved me out of the chapel, and