m into his bosom, drew forth a little purse which appeared to have
once been of amber-coloured silk, and was not badly filled. "It was with
this," said he, "that my service to his reverence the Student has been
rewarded--with this and two quartos besides. Do you take it, Rincon, for
fear of what may follow."

Cortado had scarcely given the purse in secret to his companion, before
the Student returned in a great heat, and looking in mortal alarm. He no
sooner set eyes on Cortado, than, hastening towards him, he inquired if
he had by chance seen a purse with such and such marks and tokens, and
which had disappeared, together with fifteen crowns in gold pieces,
three double reals, and a certain number of maravedis in quartos and
octavos. "Did you take it from me yourself," he added, "while I was
buying in the market, with you standing beside me?"

To this Cortado replied with perfect composure, "All I can tell you of
your purse is, that it cannot be lost, unless, indeed, your worship has
left it in bad hands."

"That is the very thing, sinner that I am," returned the Student. "To a
certainty I must have left it in bad hands, since it has been stolen
from me." "I say the same," rejoined Cortado, "but there is a remedy for
every misfortune excepting death. The best thing your worship can do
now is to have patience, for after all it is God who has made us, and
after one day there comes another. If one hour gives us wealth, another
takes it away; but it may happen that the man who has stolen your purse
may in time repent, and may return it to your worship, with all the
interest due on the loan."

"The interest I will forgive him," exclaimed the Student; and Cortado
resumed:--"There are, besides, those letters of excommunication, the
Paulinas;[15] and there is also good diligence in seeking for the thief,
which is the mother of success. Of a truth, Sir, I would not willingly
be in the place of him who has stolen your purse; for if your worship
have received any of the sacred orders, I should feel as if I had been
guilty of some great crime--nay of sacrilege--in stealing from your
person."

[15] _Paulinas_ are the letters of excommunication despatched by the
ecclesiastical courts for the discovery of such things as are supposed
to be stolen or maliciously concealed.

"Most certainly the thief has committed a sacrilege," replied the
Student, in pitiable tones; "for although I am not in orders, but am
only a Sacristan of ce