ments. What a head, Senora Dona Perfecta, what a head your
young nephew has! When I was in Madrid and they took me to the Atheneum,
I confess that I was amazed to see the wonderful talent which God has
bestowed on the atheists and the Protestants."

"Senor Don Inocencio," said Dona Perfecta, looking alternately at her
nephew and her friend, "I think that in judging this boy you are more
than benevolent. Don't get angry, Pepe, or mind what I say, for I am
neither a savante, nor a philosopher, nor a theologian; but it seems to
me that Senor Don Inocencio has just given a proof of his great modesty
and Christian charity in not crushing you as he could have done if he
had wished."

"Oh, senora!" said the ecclesiastic.

"That is the way with him," continued Dona Perfecta, "always pretending
to know nothing. And he knows more than the seven doctors put together.
Ah, Senor Don Inocencio, how well the name you have suits you! But don't
affect an unseasonable humility now. Why, my nephew has no pretensions.
All he knows is what he has been taught. If he has been taught error,
what more can he desire than that you should enlighten him and take him
out of the limbo of his false doctrines?"

"Just so; I desire nothing more than that the Senor Penitentiary should
take me out,"--murmured Pepe, comprehending that without intending it,
he had got himself into a labyrinth.

"I am a poor priest, whose only learning is some knowledge of the
ancients," responded Don Inocencio. "I recognize the immense value, from
a worldly point of view, of Senor Don Jose's scientific knowledge, and
before so brilliant an oracle I prostrate myself and am silent."

So saying, the canon folded his hands across his breast and bent his
head. Pepe Rey was somewhat disturbed because of the turn which his mind
had chosen to give to an idle discussion jestingly followed up, and
in which he had engaged only to enliven the conversation a little. He
thought that the most prudent course to pursue would be to end at once
so dangerous a debate, and for this purpose he addressed a question to
Senor Don Cayetano when the latter, shaking off the drowsiness which
had overcome him after the dessert, offered the guests the indispensable
toothpicks stuck in a china peacock with outspread tail.

"Yesterday I discovered a hand grasping the handle of an amphora, on
which there are a number of hieratic characters. I will show it to you,"
said Don Cayetano, delighted to intr