al
City it was with the tentative papal appointment to Seville.

Just why Padre Rafael had been relieved of his duties in Madrid was
never divulged. But gossip supplied the paucity of fact with the usual
delectable speculations, the most persistent of which had to do with
the rumored birth of a royal child. The deplorable conduct of the
Queen after her enforced marriage to Don Francisco D'Assis had thrown
the shadow of suspicion on the legitimacy of all her children; and
when it began to be widely hinted that Padre Rafael, were he so
disposed, might point to a humble cottage in the sunlit hills of
Granada where lay a tiny _Infanta_, greatly resembling the famous
singer and favorite of the Queen, Marfori, Marquis de Loja, Isabella's
alarm was sufficient to arouse the Vatican to action. With the removal
of Padre Rafael, and the bestowal of the "_Golden Rose of Faith and
Virtue_" upon the Queen by His Holiness, Pio Nono, the rumor quickly
subsided, and was soon forgotten.

Whether because of this supposed secret Padre Rafael was in favor at
the court of Pio Nono's successor, we may not say. The man's character
was quite enigmatical, and divulged nothing. But, if we may again
appeal to rumor, he did appear to have influence in papal circles. And
we are not sure that he did not seek to augment that influence by
securing his irresolute little nephew to the Church. And yet, the
sincerity of his devotion to the papacy cannot be questioned, as
witness his services to Pius IX., "the first Christian to achieve
infallibility," during the troublesome years of 1870-71, when the
French _debacle_ all but scuttled the papal ship of state. And if now
he sought to use his influence at the Vatican, we shall generously
attribute it to his loyalty to Rincon traditions, and his genuine
concern for the welfare of the little Jose, rather than to any desire
to advance his own ecclesiastical status.

But, it may be asked, during the eight years of Jose's course in the
seminary, did his tutors not mark the forces at work in the boy's
soul? And if so, why did they not urge his dismissal as unfit for the
calling of the priesthood?

Because, true to his promises, and stubbornly hugging the fetish of
family pride, the boy gave but little indication during the first four
years of his course of the heretical doubts and disbeliefs fermenting
within his troubled mind. And when, after the death of his father and
its consequent release of the flood of