The Washington times., 1925-12-16


that seemed taller than ever as
young BrulI evoked 1t from the
hazes Of his early years.
What horrible reputation
/ Doctor Moreno had! The curates
of the town spoke of him in
terms of hair raising horror. An
infidel! "a man cut off from
Mother Church.! He defended Il
certain fellow by the name of
Darwin, who claimed than men
were related to monkeys, a view
that gave much amusement to
the indignant Dona Bernardo, who
repeated all the jokes on the
crazy notion her favorite preacher
cracked of Sunday in the pulpit
In Dona Ramon's judgment the
Doctor was good sort, though
his head may have been a Bit
turned by books. He knew him
very well: they had been school
mates together. and RafaeIs
father had never cared to Join
the hue and cry against Doctor
Moreno.
The Doctor had one passion
music; and everybody admired his
talent for that art. What didn't
Ing to DOna Bernardo and her
friends, that remarkable skill had
been acquired through "eviI arts.
It was another fruit OF his i'm.
piefy! But that did not prevent
crowds from thronging the streets
at night, cautioning pedestrians
to walk more softly ashley Il ap.
preached his house; mar fRonls
Lar
[ better when that devil Tof a6c.T
tor would be playing his viclorI- !
cello. This he did when certain
friends of his came up from
Valencia to: spend 81 few days !.
with him a. queer, long-haired
crew that talked q strange Ian.
called Beethoven with as mucn
respect as IL we were San Der
nardo himself.
Yes, Don Andres said Rafael
remember Doctor Moreno very
we'll And his ears seemed TO
tingle again with the diaboIical
melodies that had floated in to
!. the side OF his little bed our ter,
srible nights stiI fresh in his
memory.
x "
man. That lady Ii the Doctors
daughter. What a man he was.
How he made your father and
that all that is so far IN the
past, I'll say he was q fine fel.
low. He married a beautiful
orchard-girl, who happened to be
very poor. He said the marriage
was &. for the purpose of pei.
petuating the species those were
his very words of having strong,
sound, healthy children. For thai
{ he didn't need to bother about his
Wife's social position. What he
was looking for was health. So
he picked out that Teresa OF his,
! as strong as an OK, and as fresh
as an apple. But little good 1T
one baby and died a few days
the desperate efforts OF .AsTs nus.
band; They had lived together
less than year. 800 gs.s..
"And now comes the good
part" Don Andres continued.
The mad Doctor had two saints:
Castelar, and Beethoven. Well
when his. daughter was born the !.
Doctor wondered what name to
give her. As a tribute to Emilio
CASTELAR,, his idol, he felt he
ought to call her Emilia: but he
liked the sound of Leonora bet.
ter (no. not Lenor, but LeonoraD
According to what he told us.
that was the title of the only
opera Beethoven ever wrote-an
he
ter, the way / read the paper.
Anyhow, the foreigner won out:
and the Doctor packed the child
off to church with his sister, who
took a few neighbors of tho
poorer sort along to see Leonora
baptized.
And what became Of Moreno?
Is 1t true, as they said wears
ago, that he shot l1imself?"-
Oh, some say one thing. some
another. Perhaps it's all lie.
Who knows! It all happened so
far away. After the IA.
public fell, it was the turn of
decent people again. Poor Mo.
reno took it all harder than he
did the death of his Teresa, and
kept himself locked up in his
house day in, day out. Your ).
father was stronger than before
and We ran things in a way that
was a sight for sore eyes! Dor
Antonio up in Madrid gave or
ders to the governors to give us
a free hand in cleaning up every
thing that was left Of the Revolu.
ton. The people who before had
been cheering for the Doctor ali
hA
him for fear we should catch
them. He had but one joy left
him. Leonora loved music as
much as he. She learned her
lessons rapidly: and soon could
accompany her fathers violon--
cello on the piano. They would
spend the days playing together.
going through the whole pile of
music sheets they kept stored III
the attic along with those &C
cursed medical books. Besides.
the little girl showed she had
voice, and it seemed to grow.
fuller and more beautiful every
day. She will be a singer, "a great
singer, her father proclaimed en-
Enthusiastically
Don Andres paused to sift his
recollections, and after a long ST.
lence added:
Lost Sight of Him
"The truth is, ! can't tell you
any more. At that time, we were
in power again, and 1 had very
little to do with the Doctor. We.
gradually lost sight of him, for
got him, practically. The music
we heard when going by the
hnIns,o L..