head. But all I was certain of was the
relish of the fowl and the delicious refreshment of the cool wine.
Having finished these, I lay back in my chair, luxuriating in the sense
of healthy fatigue, and going over again, in fancy, the rolling roads of
my journey.

I believe I, also, fell into the prevailing slumber of the place, lulled
by the soft atmosphere and gentle wine, and might have slept there till
morning had a furious sneeze not awakened me with a start. I looked
confusedly about in the dusk, but could see nothing save, at last, the
tip of a lighted cigarette in the remote depths of the bower. I called
out,--

"Who's there?" and was answered, courteously, by a deep, gruff voice in
Spanish,--

"It is I, senor, Jose Rosado."

"Are you a guest of 'La Fonda'?" said I, for I had learned that this was
the name of the inn, and was a little doubtful whether I had fallen
into the hands of friend or foe.

"Ha! ha! ha!" with a long explosion of guttural sounds, was my only
answer. Then, after a brightening of the cigarette-fire, to denote that
the smoker was puffing it into life, he said,--

"I, senor, am the host."

At this I drew my chair closer, and found, in the thin reflection of the
cigarette, a round, bronzed face beaming with smiles and picturing easy
good health.

It was winter in Spain, but the scent of flowers was abroad, and the
soft, far-off stars twinkled through the moving leaves. What wonder,
then, that we fell into talk,--I, the inquiring traveller, he, the
arch-gossip of Alcala,--and talked till the moon rose high into the
night?

"And who lives in the castle on the hill?" I asked, after hearing the
private history of half the town.

"Ah," said mine host, as if preparing to swallow a savory morsel,
"there's a bit of gossip; there's a story, indeed!" He puffed away for a
minute in mute satisfaction, and then began.

"That is a noble family, the Aranjuez. None can remember in Alcala when
there was not a noble Aranjuez living in its castle, and they have led
our people bravely in all the wars of Spain. I remember as a boy----"

But, having become acquainted with mine host's loquacity, I broke in
with a question more to the point,--

"Who, Senor Jose, lives in the castle now?"

He would have answered without a suspicion of my ruse, had not a bell
just then rung solemnly forth, awakening the still night, and arousing
Jose Rosado from his comfortable bench, promptly to his feet.

"Come," h