an whom Destiny bestows upon him
for a companion? 'Tis said that he is no drunkard, nor cudgeler, nor
dallier with women, nor a liar, and that he is besides possessed of
much property and very rich. Pity 'tis that one who is so ugly and
stiff-necked should unite such parts."

Thus turning the matter over and over in her mind, Maria together
with Juan reached their home, where was awaiting them an esquire in a
long mourning robe, who told Maria that the aunt of the mayor of the
city had died in an honest estate and in the flower of her age, for
she had not yet completed her seventy years, and that the obsequies of
this sexagenarian damsel were to be performed the following day, on
which occasion her coffin would be carried to the church by maidens,
and he was come to ask Maria if she would please to be one of the
bearers of the dead woman, for which she would receive a white robe,
and to eat, and ducat, and thanks into the bargain.

Maria, since she was a well-brought-up maid, replied that if it seemed
well to her father, it would also seem well to her.

Juan accepted, and Maria was rejoiced to be able to make a display of
her hair, for it is well known that the maidens who bear one another
to the grave walk with disheveled locks. And when on the morrow the
tiring-women of the mayoress arrayed Maria in a robe white as the
driven snow and fine as the skin of an onion; and when they girt her
slender waist with a sash of crimson silk, the ends of which hung down
to the broad hem of the skirt; and when they crowned her smooth and
white forehead with a wreath of white flowers, I warrant you that,
what with the robe and the sash and the wreath, and the beautiful
streaming hair and her lovely countenance and gracious mien, she
seemed no female formed of flesh and blood, but a superhuman creature
or blessed resident of those shining circles in which dwell the
celestial hierarchies. The mayor and the other mourners stepped forth
to see her, and all unceasingly praised God, who was pleased to
perform such miracles for the consolation and solace of those living
in this world.

And there in a corner of the hall, motionless like a heap of broken
stones, stood one of the mutes with the hood of his long cloak
covering his head, so that nothing could be seen but his eyes, the
which he kept fixed on the fair damsel. The latter modestly lowered
her eyes to the ground with her head a little bent and her cheeks red
for bashfulness, alt