his
grave.

Leonora remained a mourning though wealthy widow; and whilst Loaysa
expected that she would fulfil the desire which he knew her husband had
expressed in his will, he learned that within a week she had become a
nun in one of the most austere and rigid convents in all Seville.
Mortified by this disappointment, he left the country and went to the
Indies. Leonora's father and mother were deeply grieved, but found
consolation in the wealth which their son-in-law had bequeathed them.
The two damsels likewise consoled themselves, as did the negro and the
female slaves, the former being well provided for, and the latter having
obtained their freedom; the wicked duena alone was left to digest, in
poverty, the frustration of her base schemes. For my part I was long
possessed with the desire to complete this story, which so signally
exemplifies the little reliance that can be put in locks, turning-boxes,
and walls, whilst the will remains free; and the still less reason there
is to trust the innocence and simplicity of youth, if its ear be exposed
to the suggestions of your demure duenas, whose virtue consists in their
long black gowns and their formal white hoods. Only I know not why it
was that Leonora did not persist in exculpating herself, and explaining
to her jealous husband how guiltless she had been in the whole of that
unhappy business. But her extreme agitation paralysed her tongue at the
moment, and the haste which her husband made to die, left her without
another opportunity to complete her justification.

THE ILLUSTRIOUS SCULLERY-MAID.

In the famous city of Burgos there lived two wealthy cavaliers, one of
whom was called Don Diego de Carriazo, and the other Don Juan de
Avendano. Don Diego had a son called after himself, and Don Juan
another, whose name was Don Tomas de Avendano. These two young gentlemen
being the principal persons of the following tale, we shall for the sake
of brevity call them Carriazo and Avendano.

Carriazo might be about thirteen or little more, when, prompted by a
scampish disposition, without having had any cause to complain of bad
treatment at home, he ran away from his father's house, and cast himself
upon the wide world. So much did he enjoy a life of unrestricted
freedom, that amidst all the wants and discomforts attendant upon it, he
never missed the plenty of his father's house. He neither tired of
trudging on foot, nor cared for cold or heat. For him all season