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[Illustration: image of the book's cover]

[Illustration: frontispiece: THE HOLIDAY MAKERS]

The Fourth Estate Vol. II

PALACIO VALDES

The Fourth Estate

VOLUME II

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH

WITH FRONTISPIECE

P. F. COLLIER & SON NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY

BRENTANO'S

_The Fourth Estate_




THE FOURTH ESTATE

VOLUME TWO




CONTENTS


                                                                    PAGE
CHAPTER XVII
Pablito Disports Himself                                               5

CHAPTER XVIII
Secrets of Gonzalo's Life                                             28

CHAPTER XIX
Vanities of Ventura                                                   46

CHAPTER XX
Don Rosendo's Example                                                 61

CHAPTER XXI
Our Esteemed Contemporary                                             74

CHAPTER XXII
Local Politics                                                        91

CHAPTER XXIII
The Duke of Tornos Appears                                           110

CHAPTER XXIV
What Happened at Dinner                                              133

CHAPTER XXV
The Duke's Diversions                                                146

CHAPTER XXVI
Story of a Mandarin                                                  161

CHAPTER XXVII
A Term of Peace                                                      176

CHAPTER XXVIII
Gonzalo Becomes Mayor                                                192

CHAPTER XXIX
A Woman's Sacrifice for Her Brother-in-law                           206

CHAPTER XXX
A Fancy Dress Ball at Sarrio                                         218

CHAPTER XXXI
The Enlightenment of Gonzalo                                         231

CHAPTER XXXII
Retribution                                                          248

CHAPTER XXXIII
The Final Tragedy                                                    273

Mariquita the Bald                                                   291




THE FORTH ESTATE




CHAPTER XVII

PABLITO DISPORTS HIMSELF


"It would be as well to put a light curb on her."

"Oh! a bit," returned Piscis gravely.

Both were silent for some minutes, then Pablito exclaimed:

"Confounded mare! I never in my life saw such a sensitive mouth."

"Like silk," returned his friend in a tone of profound conviction.

Another pause.

"Think we ought to give her more of the spur?"

"The spur is never amiss with any animal," growled Piscis in the same
decided tone.

"We must train her in trotting."

"It would be just as well."

During these remarks the two inseparable equestrians walked right across
the town from the other end, where they had been in conclave in Don
Rosendo's stables. It was ten o'clock at night; the air soft and
springlike. The few people about were hastening homeward, and the only
shops now open were those of popular resort, such as Graell's,
Marano's, and the like. In the Cabin there was a great deal of light and
excitement. Pablito, who shared his father's resentment in the matter,
said to his friend, as they passed the abhorred club:

"Piscis, throw a stone at the door and break the glass."

Thereupon Piscis, always aggressive, took up a flint from the road,
waited for his friend to get round the corner, and then, zas! he flung
it at the Cabin and shivered the windows to atoms. Then he took to his
legs, and for fear of being recognized by those who came out in search
of him, he ran away on all fours with wondrous agility.

There were also some people in the Cafe de la Marina. They entered the
place and quaffed in silence several glasses of chartreuse without its
interfering with the active working of their brains.

On rising Pablito said:

"The best thing will be to put her in harness with Romeo."

"That is just what I was thinking," returned Piscis eagerly.

After leaving the cafe Pablito was asked, not in words, but with a
horrible face, whither they were going.

"There."

"Good; then as I pass by my home I will make myself look a bit
shabbier."

They left the principal streets, not without Piscis stopping a minute at
his abode to alter his attire, and then they proceeded to the other end
of the town, where the working classes mostly lived. They stopped in a
certain street, as dull as it was dirty, in front of a poor-looking
house with a rough stone balcony. Pablito looked carefully all round,
and then gave a long, low whistle with the skill which distinguished him
in this acquirement. Then casting an anxious look at the oil-lamp
burning fifty steps off, he said:

"If we could but put out this light."

The terrible Piscis was again to the fore. He stepped to the corner of
the wall, and there extinguished the light with his stick, of course
breaking the glass at the same time.

A woman's form then appeared upon the balcony. Pablito