s of misery; he saw the noblest and
most intelligent of them filling humble stations, and elevating the low
and degraded ones; he remembered his good father, whose last years were
embittered by a proud and wilful wife; he remembered his sister, a
creature all light and joy, vilely deceived and forever disgraced; he
remembered finally that angelic half of his own being snatched from the
world when she had just touched her lips to the cup of happiness....

Creation suddenly presented itself before him in a terrible aspect;
beings pitilessly devouring each other; the stronger constantly pushing
the weaker to the wall--all deceived by the illusion of happiness which
is beyond the reach of any, working, suffering for the advantage of
other species, and these for still others, and so on to infinity! The
world, in fine, appeared to him like an immense fraud, a place of
torment for all living beings, more cruel still for those gifted with
consciousness; absolute happiness for the All-existent because It is and
ever will be: absolute misery for individuals, because they will
eternally be created anew to suffer and to die.

Before that terrible picture which he saw in the intensest light, his
soul was tormented, and a shudder of horror shook his frame.

"My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" his trembling lips repeated
again and again, and a wrenching sob which had been gathering for some
time in the depths of his breast suddenly burst forth.

The minister opened his eyes; in affright.

"Man alive!" said he, "you spend your life either laughing or crying."

"That is true," replied the secretary, raising his handkerchief to his
eyes.

END OF THE NOVEL.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Foolish maiden.

[2] She says _Usted esta_ instead of _tu estas_.

[3] Galicia is the northwestern province of Spain.

[4] Using _Usted_, contraction for _Vuestra merced_; literally, your
grace.

[5] Brigadier-General Rivera's widow, Miguel's step-mother.

[6] _El buen Retiro_, a public park and drive in Madrid, formerly the
pleasure ground of the Spanish kings.

[7] _El reservado del Suizo._

[8] Lady-killers, literally, drivers of cattle.

[9] _Hasta manana_, literally, till morning.

[10] Dollars: _pesos duros_ or _pesos fuertos_ is the full expression.
It contains twenty _reales_.

[11] Twenty-five dollars.

[12] Equivalent to Mr. Such-an-one.

[13] Sweetmeats made of flour, sugar, and rose-water.

[14] Academia de Estado M