Part 10 (2/2)

”_Yo soy Inglesa_.”

The priest gave a long whistle.

”Englis.h.!.+” he cried; ”Englis.h.!.+ Then in future please be kind enough to speak English, for your Spanish--is--well, declined, with thanks.”

At these words the woman started, and then, with an uncontrollable impulse, seized the hand of the priest in a convulsive grasp.

”Oh!” she cried, ”are you really--really an Englishman? Oh, thank Heaven! thank Heaven! Then you will help me!”

”English?” said the priest; ”well, for the matter of that, I'm anything you please just now, in this infernal country. I certainly do speak English, but at the same time I prefer calling myself what I am--namely, an American.”

This loquacity of the priest made no impression upon the woman, who was absorbed now by her one idea of escape, of obtaining help, of flight.

”Oh, sir,” she continued, ”can you help me? Can I go on by this road?

Do you know what I can do? Will you tell me?”

”Oh yes,” said the priest, ”I'll tell you. I do not know what you can do. What can you do? You can read, perhaps, and I suppose you can play the piano, and crochet; but I know what you cannot do--you cannot speak Spanish.”

These words were spoken with the indifferent air of one who is thinking of something else.

”Ah, sir,” said the woman, in a tone of anguish, ”don't mock at me!

I'm in distress unspeakable. I've--I've lost my way.”

She could scarcely speak from agitation. The priest was silent for a moment. Then he drew a long breath.

”Lost your way?” said he. ”Well, that is queer too. Your way--and what way can that be in times like these, and here in this country, and, above all, in this part of the country? Are you walking for a wager? Are you going round the world in a bee-line? Do you carry a portable canoe?”

”I was in the diligence,” said the woman, not choosing to notice such ill-timed levity, ”and we were stopped--by the Carlists--and I escaped--and I'm trying to find my way to some safe place--but I cannot--I cannot.”

”H'm!” said the priest, ”that is a coincidence too--just my own case to a T. I've been captured by the Carlists too, and I've escaped, and I'm now making a bolt for a place of safety. Well, this does beat my grandmother, I must say!”

The lady was too full of her own troubles to notice the peculiar expressions of the priest. She merely continued, as before, to beg for help.

”Oh, sir,” said she, ”do you know the way here? and can you help me?”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Coming Suddenly Upon The Priest, She Was Evidently Quite Terrified.”]

”Well,” said the priest, ”I know some of it, I may say, but that depends on what you mean by knowing it. But will you allow me to ask you one or two questions? In the first place, where did you come from last?”

”Last?” said the lady; ”the last place I came from was Barcelona.”

”When?”

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