ook after themselves."

So our driver was a philosopher after all, and had more in him than we
had imagined. With Caesar's opportunities he might have proved another
Caesar. Whipping up his horses, he began his return journey up the long
white road.

Making way, the outlines of Tarragona came into view, bathed in the glow
of the declining sun. The effect was gorgeous; and we fell into a dream
of the centuries gone by, when the Romans marched up that very same road
with their conquering armies, overlooked the very same sea that now
stretched to right and left, blue and flashing, and made themselves
aqueducts. In this vision of the past we saw them building their mighty
monuments, looking about for fresh worlds to conquer; and we heard the
famous decree of Augustus closing the Temple of Janus as a sign that
quiet reigned upon the earth and the Star of Bethlehem was rising in the
East--divine signal and fitting moment for the coming of the PRINCE OF
PEACE.

CHAPTER XXVII.

LORETTA.

Our ubiquitous host--Curious mixture of nations--Francisco--His
enthusiasm carries the point--French lessons--English
prejudice--Landlord's lament--Days of fair Provence--Francisco
determines to be in time--Presidio--Tomb of the Scipios--Fishing
for sardines--Early visit to cathedral--Still earlier
sacristan--Francisco's delight--Freshness of early
morning--Reus--Bark worse than bite--Where headaches come from--An
evil deed--Valley of the Francoli--Moorish remains--Montblanch--The
graceful hills of Spain--Espluga--Francisco equal to
occasion--Beseiged--Donkeys versus carriage--Interesting old
town--Decadence--Singular woman--Loretta's escort--Strange
story--Unconscious charm--What happened one Sunday
evening--Caro--"The right man never came"--Comes now--How she was
betrothed--Primitive conveyance--Making the best of
it--Wine-pressers--Loving cup--Nectar of the gods--Fair
exchange--Rough drive--Scene of Loretta's adventures.

Our landlord was a curious mixture of three nations: French, Spanish and
Italian. He was small, dark and wiry, and seemed to possess the power of
being in half a dozen places at once, yet was never in a hurry. One
moment you would hear his voice in the bureau, the next in the kitchen,
and two moments afterwards you might behold his head stretched out of a
second-floor window watching the omnibus as it turned the corner on its
wa