conduct while in it. Don Cayetano arriving at this moment,
words were exchanged between the two gentlemen, as between man and man;
but as we are more interested at present in another matter, we will
leave the Polentinos and the lieutenant-colonel to settle matters
between them as best they can, and proceed to examine the question of
the sources above mentioned.

Let us fix our attention on Maria Remedios, an estimable woman, to whom
it is indispensably necessary to devote a few words. She was a lady, a
real lady--for, notwithstanding her humble origin, the virtues of her
uncle, Senor Don Inocencio, also of low origin, but elevated by his
learning and his estimable qualities, had shed extraordinary lustre over
the whole family.

The love of Remedios for Jacinto was one of the strongest passions of
which the maternal heart is capable. She loved him with delirium; her
son's welfare was her first earthly consideration; she regarded him as
the most perfect type of beauty and talent ever created by God, and to
see him happy and great and powerful she would have given her whole life
and even a part of the life to come. The maternal sentiment is the
only one which, because of its nobility and its sanctity, will admit
of exaggeration; the only one which the delirium of passion does not
debase. Nevertheless it is a singular phenomenon, frequently observed,
that this exaltation of maternal affection, if not accompanied with
absolute purity of heart and with perfect uprightness is apt to become
perverted and transformed into a lamentable frenzy, which may lead, like
any other ungoverned passion, to great errors and catastrophies.

In Orbajosa Maria Remedios passed for a model of virtue and a model
niece--perhaps she was so in reality. She served with affection all who
needed her services; she never gave occasion for gossip or for scandal;
she never mixed herself up in intrigues. She carried her religion to the
extreme of an offensive fanaticism; she practised charity; she managed
her uncle's house with the utmost ability; she was well received,
admired and kindly treated everywhere, in spite of the almost
intolerable annoyance produced by her persistent habit of sighing and
speaking always in a complaining voice.

But in Dona Perfecta's house this excellent lady suffered a species of
_capitis diminutio_. In times far distant and very bitter for the family
of the good Penitentiary, Maria Remedios (since it is the truth, why
shou