--A tragedy--Out in
the quiet night--Discords--Lerida cafe--Create a sensation--Polite
captain--Offer declined--Regrets--Final crash--Paradise or
Lerida--Deserted market-place--Trees whisper their secrets--El
Sereno at the witching hour--Hard upon the angels--Not a bed of
roses--Alphonse--End of a long life--Until the dawn--Acolyte and
priest--"We must all come to it, senor"--El Sereno disappears for
the last time--Daybreak--In presence of death--Alone, but
resigned--Surpassing loveliness--Sacred atmosphere.

So the days of chivalry and devotion were not over: could never be over
as long as there are Alphonses and Nerissas in the world. As we went
back to the hotel in the evening light, the whole town seemed full of
romance. One by one the outlines faded and died out, and when we entered
the fonda the stars were beginning to shine.

The night porter was standing in the doorway, though his reign had not
yet begun. He made us a low bow.

"Senor, allow me to thank you for not complaining of me this morning to
the padrone. I am still full of remorse for having locked you out last
night, but it is seldom any of our visitors trouble the dark streets of
Lerida at midnight. Most of our guests are commercial travellers, who
have no eye for the ancient and picturesque, and are generally glad to
get early to bed."

Again assuring the worthy man of our good will, we passed up the shabby
old staircase. At the top we came into contact with the Dragon striding
along with bare arms and flourishing a rolling-pin. She looked the
picture of fiery indignation and we wondered what had gone wrong.

After some difficulty we managed to gather that the waiter, in spite of
her want of beauty, in spite of her being an appropriated blessing, had
offered her a chaste salute. In return for the affront, the
rolling-pin--it was a _washing_ pin, by the way--had come into sharp
contact with his skull, which, fortunately for him was a hard one. Since
then the Dragon had been marching up and down with threatening weapon
and flashing eyes, brandishing her rolling-pin like another Communist,
mouthing voiceless words.

As soon as she caught sight of H. C., however, her gall turned to
sweetness; she marshalled him to our rooms, threw wide the door, and
beamed on him one of her most cavernous smiles. That a chaste salute
from him would have been very differently received was evident.

It was our last night in L