night, _bambino_," she said.

"Good-night. Shall I turn down the light?"

"As you like." Caesar turned down the light and stretched himself out.
He couldn't sleep in trains and he got deep into a combination of
fantastical plans and ideas. When they stopped at stations and the noise
of the moving train was gone from the silence of the night, Caesar could
hear Laura's gentle breathing.

A little before dawn, Caesar, tired of not sleeping, got up and started
to take a walk in the corridor. It was raining; on the horizon, below
the black, starless sky, a vague clarity began to appear. Caesar took
out his Proudhon book and immersed himself in it.

When it began to be day they were already getting near Rome. The train
was running through a flat, treeless plain of swampy aspect, covered
with green grass; from time to time there was a poor hut, a hay-stack,
on the uninhabited, monotonous stretch.

The grey sky kept on resolving itself into a rain which, at the impulse
of gusts of wind, traced oblique lines in the air.

Laura had waked and was in the dressing-room. A little later she came
out, fresh and hearty, without the least sign of fatigue.

They began to see the yellowish walls of Rome, and certain big edifices
blackened by the wet. A moment more and the train stopped.

"It's not worth the trouble to take a cab," said Laura. "The hotel is
here, just a step."

They gave a porter orders to attend to the luggage. Laura took her
brother's arm, they went out on the Piazza Esedra, and entered the
hotel.

II. AN EXTRAORDINARY FAMILY

_JUAN GUILLEN_

The Valencian family of Guillen was really fecund in men of energy and
cleverness. It is true that with the exception of Father Francisco
Guillen and of his nephew Juan Fort, none of them became known; but in
spite of the fact that the members of this family lived in obscurity in
a humble sphere, they performed deeds of unheard-of valour, daring, and
impertinence.

Juan Guillen, the first of the Guillens whose memory is preserved, was a
highwayman of Villanueva.

What motives for vengeance Juan Guillen had against the Peyro family is
not known. The old folk of the period, two or three who are still alive,
always say that these Peyros devoted themselves to usury; and there is
some talk of a certain sister of Juan Guillen's, ruined by one of the
Peyros, whom they made disappear from the town.

Whatever the motive was, the fact is that one day Peyro, the fathe