Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1888-06-02
THE MAN OF ALMONACID.

am free to confess now that when flrSt
oeard of him l took him for a swindler.
When heard that Toledo had been his home
for ten whole months-Toledo, which lives
only by moonlight, and is the mere corpse of
a city in the sunshine-when l heard of a
modesty so very retiring, and remembered
that England had no extradition treaty with
Spain, my only wonder was as to the sum of
his spoils. Was he defaulter for thirty
thousand pounds, OF a petty rogue of all
works
'Ten months! That is a long time |" I
said to Donna Mercedes, my informant, and
the elder of the two old maids who kept the
Casa de Huespedes, in which found that l
bad this stranger for a neighbor. Zone
might see the antiquities even of Toledo in
that time"
"Truly," she answered; "but then, Don
Iago is a painter"
"Ah, now understand" replied, with a
great increase of cheerfulness. Zone might
paint Toledo for ten years and not have done.
I, too, am painter"
'And no doubt" said the old dame, beam
ing upon me through her round trimmed spec
tacles, Don Iago will be known to your
took up the visitors book, in which the
sand had not yet dried my autograph.
"James Client" said, reading the name to
which she pointed. mo, do not know him. ="
Dona Mercedes was puzzled, being scarcely
able to understand that two Englishmen,
even two English artists, might be strangers
to one another. But presently she crossed
herself. 'Don Iago is an old Christian" she
said softly, and so went off with her book,
benevolent still, but conscious, fear, of a
serpent in her Eden.
Eden was our boarding house. From a
paved alley, the Gale del Arzobispo, you
turned into an archway and groped for a
door up three steps in the darkest corner
Then you pulled weight which hung there
and by and by the iron studded door opened
as of itself and lo a tiny courtyard, in
which four orange trees in tubs produced an
effect of somber gayety. Round this patio,
at the level Of q first floor, ran a veranda,
reached by an uncovered staircase. All the
rooms opened on to this veranda. On the
right hand side were four little bedrooms
On the side which faced the entrance was
the common parlor and on the left the
kitchen and the old ladies' room, at window
of which one was always sitting ready to
open the outer door with a cord whenever
the bell tangled.
1t was all very plain and primitive, but
clean, and looking round my bedroom, which
had whitewashed walls, and matted floor,
and for furniture bed, a stool, basin and
a brasero, found no cause to regret the
dingy hotel had left.
When passed No. !, on my way to din
ne9, the door was ajar, and Dona Mercedes
was inside with lamp in her hand.
paused before the door, and she, looking up,
saw me. "Ah" she said proudly, "did not
tell you that Don Iago was painter? See
here!n And she threw her light upon q
picture which was resting on an easel before
the window.
I saw at once that it was not badly painted
There was a show of facility about it. And
yet it was mediocre, surprising me less by
its execution than its subject. Here in To-
ledo, the grand and bizarre, in the midst of
such architectural beauty and grotesqueness
as fairly bewildered an artists eye, my
neighbor had not painted a street scene, a
Moorish gateway, or leafy cloister. He had
chosen instead country landscape almost as
commonplace as it was dreary; gray house
and gray, sloping olive grove, and round
them bleak, wind swept uplands. I was
scarcely more astonished to find that knew
the place. had passed it the day before
In my walk from Torrijos-walking is a
whim of mine and is was fully seven miles
from Toledo.
At the time said something pretty to
Dona Mercedes, and went on to the parlor
NY neighbor was late had nearly finished
when he entered. He was a man of 35, per-
haps, with thin, careworn face and lines be-
low the temples. He was about my height,
wearing his hair and mustache cut short-a
blonde, and English looking. He had proba-
bly, heard of my arrival, yet he seemed put
out at sight Of me-perhaps merely because
he was late.
II have left the head Of the table for you,
said, half rising, politely. "You have been
here some time, understand"
He was breaking his bread into morsels and
eating with q worried air.
'Yes; the place suits me-" he answered
rather curtly.
"Yet you like to hear the lark sing as well
as the mouse squeak, replied, smiling. His
tone was not encouraging, but wished to be
agreeable "If am not mistaken, ! met You
yesterday"
"Not that am aware Of" he said, with a
hasty glance at me, and then devoted him
self to his soup with renewed zest
"Noi On the pathway-I cannot call it a
road-from Torrijosi About o'clockW
He shook his head. "You are mistaken,
he answered ~ was not outside the town
yesterday"
"Then saw man very like you" re-
Joined, nettled by his manner. "There is
ruined castle, called Almonacid, believe,
about mile this side of Torrijos AS l was
passing it l saw an Englishman, and an art
list also, if portfolio makes an artist, leave
it and make quickly for the village before
ma Somehow l missed him among the
] houses, and was too far from him at any
time to see his features distinctly. But he
was wearing clothes like yours"
Sand like yours, too, presume" he re-
joined sharply. He had way of waiting
for you, and taking you up suddenly, OF
which this was my first experience
"Just sol" l said, for he was right; we
were dressed alike "But am not aware
that the mirage occurs in Spain. Perhaps
81 YOU know Almonacid~
Nth "No," he replied, more equably, as If he
were ashamed Of his show of temper. ~
have heard of it. But it is too far for my
legs, and cannot afford horse hire. / some
times walk out In that direction, but not
half as far"
*& made n hastv colonization Almonacid