old enough to devote
herself to "poor papa."

Miss Avellanos, born in Europe and educated partly in England, was a
tall, grave girl, with a self-possessed manner, a wide, white forehead,
a wealth of rich brown hair, and blue eyes.

The other young ladies of Sulaco stood in awe of her character and
accomplishments. She was reputed to be terribly learned and serious. As
to pride, it was well known that all the Corbelans were proud, and her
mother was a Corbelan. Don Jose Avellanos depended very much upon the
devotion of his beloved Antonia. He accepted it in the benighted way of
men, who, though made in God's image, are like stone idols without sense
before the smoke of certain burnt offerings. He was ruined in every
way, but a man possessed of passion is not a bankrupt in life. Don Jose
Avellanos desired passionately for his country: peace, prosperity,
and (as the end of the preface to "Fifty Years of Misrule" has it)
"an honourable place in the comity of civilized nations." In this last
phrase the Minister Plenipotentiary, cruelly humiliated by the bad faith
of his Government towards the foreign bondholders, stands disclosed in
the patriot.

The fatuous turmoil of greedy factions succeeding the tyranny of Guzman
Bento seemed to bring his desire to the very door of opportunity. He
was too old to descend personally into the centre of the arena at Sta.
Marta. But the men who acted there sought his advice at every step. He
himself thought that he could be most useful at a distance, in Sulaco.
His name, his connections, his former position, his experience commanded
the respect of his class. The discovery that this man, living in
dignified poverty in the Corbelan town residence (opposite the Casa
Gould), could dispose of material means towards the support of the cause
increased his influence. It was his open letter of appeal that decided
the candidature of Don Vincente Ribiera for the Presidency. Another of
these informal State papers drawn up by Don Jose (this time in the
shape of an address from the Province) induced that scrupulous
constitutionalist to accept the extraordinary powers conferred upon him
for five years by an overwhelming vote of congress in Sta. Marta. It
was a specific mandate to establish the prosperity of the people on the
basis of firm peace at home, and to redeem the national credit by the
satisfaction of all just claims abroad.

On the afternoon the news of that vote had reached Sulaco by the usua