manding
silence with a wave of his hand, addressed his auditory in a long and
pompous speech, with that profuse grandiloquence of which the Spanish
language is so capable.

The substance of his speech was as follows:

"My children! We have just heard from this respectable individual, Don
Juan de Dios Canelo, that a great crime has last night been committed;
the full knowledge of this villainy cannot fail to arrive at the ears of
justice, from which nothing can be kept hid. Not the less are we to
thank Don Juan for his official communication; it only remains for him
to complete the accusation by giving the names of the guilty persons."

"But, senor alcalde," interrupted the steward, "I do not know them,
although, as you say, my communication may be official--I can only say
that I will do all in my power to assist in finding them."

"You understand, my children," continued the alcalde, without taking
notice of what the steward had said, "the worthy Canelo by his official
communication asks for the punishment of the guilty persons. Justice
will not be deaf to his appeal. I may now be permitted, however, to
speak to you of my own little affairs, before abandoning myself to the
great grief which the disappearance of the Countess and the young Count
has caused me."

Here the alcalde made a sign to Cagatinta, whose whole faculties were
keenly bent to discover what service was expected from him, by which he
was to gain the object of his ambition--the liver-coloured breeches.

The alcalde continued:--

"You all know, my children, of my attachment to the family of Mediana.
You can judge, then, of the grief which this news has given me--news the
more incomprehensible, since one neither knows by whom, or for what
reason such a crime should be committed. Alas, my children! I lose a
powerful protector in the Countess de Mediana; and in me the heart of
the old and faithful servant is pierced with anguish, while as a man of
business I am equally a sufferer. Yes, my children! In the deceitful
security, which I felt no later than yesterday, I was up to the chateau,
and had an important interview with the Countess in regard to my rents."

"To ask time for their payment," Cagatinta would have added, for the
clerk was perfectly acquainted with the alcalde's affairs. But Don
Ramon did not allow him an opportunity of committing this enormous
indiscretion, which would forever have deprived him of the promised
breeches.

"Pa