and brother alive; and when I want to do a thing they hurry to let me do
it lest I have a fit--of which I would be capable."

"As you are a Cristobal," said the Cherub mildly, "it might be managed, if
you liked, without our having to go more than an extra time to confession.
I could wear the sin upon my conscience, if you could; and if you could
wear also the uniform of my son."

"I'd like to see Carmona's face when you're introduced," remarked Dick, in
his slow Spanish.

"You will see it," exclaimed Pilar; and with this, the door opened and the
other Cristobal came in.

XII

UNDER A BALCONY

I liked the brother because he had his sister's eyes, and--being the
ordinary, selfish, human man--I liked him still better for his enthusiastic
desire to help the last of the Casa Trianas. Whether his enthusiasm was
for the sake of Casa Triana, or Angele de la Mole, was a detail. It had
the same effect upon my affairs; and having taken very little time for
reflection. I let myself be hurried away on the tide.

Pilar--as unlike a Spanish girl in mind as she was like one in
face--stage-managed us all. We merely accepted our parts in the play, I
thankfully, the others calmly.

Brother Cristobal was, perhaps, not sorry to make an unexpected flight to
Biarritz, with news of Dick and me as an excuse, instead of spending his
leave tamely at home. There was, at all events, a suspicious alacrity
about the way in which he agreed to disappear as early as possible the
following day. As he was wearing the uniform which was to be made over to
me, it was decided that he should bring it to my room next morning before
hearing mass at the cathedral. It was Pilar's idea that I should go there
with him, getting off before the _fonda_ was fully astir, and seek
sanctuary in dusky corners of remote chapels until my friends arrived.

"We'll find out when the Duke and his mother take Lady Monica to look at
the cathedral," said the girl, delighting in her own ingenuity; "and then
we'll start too. Though we can't bear the Duke, we've always been civil to
him and his mother whenever we've met in Madrid, praise the saints, so
they can't be rude to us now. If we go up and speak, they'll have to
introduce us to Lady Vale-Avon and Lady Monica. I shall take a _great_
fancy at first sight to Lady Monica, of course; and I shouldn't wonder if
I can make her like _me_. The rest will be easy for the whole trip.