The Firebrand

ith many of his abbatical brethren, he employed his leisure with quite other matters. Many have been the jests leve

their nephews, fell harmless against the triple brass of the reputati

ethren of the Order. But out of the sphere of his immediate jurisd

leth," quoth Don Baltasar, and was

which Don Baltasar did not treat

rchman, the courteous man of the world who had listened so approvingly to the wild talk of Rollo the Scot, and so condescendingly clinked glasses

ol for the father confessor, a pallet bed, a rough shelf with half a dozen worn volumes above it, two great books with locked cl

atter here. The curé lies elsewhere. We may indeed keep our petty bounds intact, sheltering within a dozen of leagues not one known unfaithful to the true King, and the principles of the

" said the gloomy monk. "God

hat we use such means as we have in our hands to work out the divine ends. It is well known to yo

s the priest dropped his head

gland, the overgrown cat's-paw of the money-brokers, the gabbler of the monkey

for a time. They flourish like a green bay tree-for a time. But doth not the Wise Man say in the Scripture, 'Bette

d?" said the Confessor. "What of his great generals Cabrera and El Serrado

inconceivably contemptuous movement, which indicate

os V.-that blessed and truly legitimate sovereign, is a donkey; Cabrera, a brave but cruel guerrillero who will get a shot through him one fine day, as all these gluttons for fighting d

s Church," said the

three legions of angels to sweep the Nationals from se

nor limits upon the Divine power!"

n sense, and of requiring us who are on earth to use th

t again contradict his sup

t Cortes is dissolved, Mendizábal means to abolish all the convents in Spain, to seize their treasures and revenues, turn their o

ally risen to his full height. At each slow-dropping phrase the expression of horror deepened on his countenance, and as the Abbot ended, he lifted his right arm and pronounced a curse upon Mendizábal, such as only the

him to the end

?" he sai

dly fingering his episcopal ring and smiling. Was it po

bind, so far as the world is concerned, is departed. But steel can still s

nd soul I will send him quick to the pit! I alone will go! Hereby I devote myself! Afterwards let them rend and tortur

, "moderate your voice and command yourself, father. These things are not to be spoken of even in secret. The Jew o

priest, "pray tell me why you claim the

reached down the small wall-mirror, which he used when he shaved, and handed it to the Father Confessor. "Thin

ise myself," s

imes the monk you are with your frock upon you! No, no, Anselmo; Holy Church has ne

rom which the dark monk took a pinch mechanically, his lips still working

ithin the walls of the Abbey of Montblanch at this moment.

, and the Prior whispered into it for some minutes. As he proceeded, doubt, hope, expectatio

d His poor children and

dryly; "and we must do what we