ling my protests, I quickened my pace. For a second the boy
hesitated. Then he took two last devastating bites, flung the core in
my face, and took to his heels.

Pursuit being out of the question, I returned furiously to the others,
to find them, as was to be expected, quite weak with laughter.

"It w-was good of you, Boy," declared Jill, tearfully. "And I got such
a precious picture--just as he threw it."

"I suppose you know," I said stiffly, "that he hit me upon the nose."

"There must," said Berry, "have been some misunderstanding. The
Spaniard's courtesy is proverbial. You're sure you weren't rude to
him, brother?"

"Certain," said I grimly.

"Dear, dear," said my brother-in-law, opening a guide-book. "It's most
mysterious. Just listen to this. _The stranger is at first apt to be
carried away by the obliging tone of society, by the charming
spontaneity of manner, and by the somewhat exaggerated politeness of
the people he meets_. There now. Were you carried away at all? I
mean, if you were----"

"I was not," said I.

Berry returned to the book.

"_He should return these civilities in kind, but he should avoid
turning the conversation on serious matters, and should, above all,
refrain from expressing an opinion on religious or political
questions_. I do hope you didn't...."

I shook my head.

"Then," said Berry, "should we meet the child again, I shall cut him
dead. And that's that. And now let's go and find a dairy. You'll be
wanting a pick-me-up."

For an hour and a half we went about the city. We marked her bulwarks,
we told her towers, we observed her mansions, we strolled upon her
terraces, we enjoyed her prospects.

Last of all, we visited the Calle del Puerto. Before we had taken a
dozen paces along the aged alley, a faint odour of perfume began to
assert itself, and a few seconds later we were standing before a tiny
shop, scrupulously sweet and clean to look upon, absurdly suggestive of
the patronage of marionettes. A curtain of apple-green canvas was
swaying in the low doorway, while an awning of the same stuff guarded a
peepshow window, which was barely three feet long and less than one
foot high. Herein, ranged behind a slab of fine plate-glass, stood
three plain, stoppered phials, one rose-coloured, one green, and one a
faint yellow. Below, on a grey silk pillow, was set a small
vellum-bound book. This was open. In capitals of gold upon the pages
displayed were tw