



Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Robert Prince, and
the Online Distributed Proofresding Team





THE VELVET GLOVE

By

Henry Seton Merriman
(HUGH STOWELL SCOTT)



Contents:

I. IN THE CITY OF THE WINDS
II. EVASIO MON
III. WITHIN THE HIGH WALLS
IV. THE JADE--CHANCE
V. A PILGRIMAGE
VI. PILGRIMS
VII. THE ALTERNATIVE
VIII. THE TRAIL
IX. THE QUARRY
X. THISBE
XI. THE ROYAL ADVENTURE
XII. IN A STRONG CITY
XIII. THE GRIP OF THE VELVET GLOVE
XIV. IN THE CLOISTER
XV. OUR LADY OF THE SHADOWS
XVI. THE MATTRESS BEATER
XVII. AT THE INN OF THE TWO TREES
XVIII. THE MAKERS OF HISTORY
XIX. COUSIN PELIGROS
XX. AT TORRE GARDA
XXI. JUANITA GROWS UP
XXII. AN ACCIDENT
XXIII. KIND INQUIRIES
XXIV. THE STORMY PETREL
XXV. WAR'S ALARM
XXVI. AT THE FORD
XXVII. IN THE CLOUDS
XXVIII. LE GANT DE VELOURS
XXIX. LA MAIN DE FER
XXX. THE CASTING VOTE



List of Illustrations:
"'ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE NOT HEARD FROM PAPA?'"
"A MOMENT LATER THE TRAVELER WAS LYING THERE ALONE."
"ALL TURNED AND LOOKED AT HIM IN WONDER."
"'DO YOU INTEND TO PUNISH YOUR FATHER'S ASSASSINS?'"
"MARCOS WAS ESSENTIALLY A MAN OF HIS WORD."
"THE DOOR WAS OPENED BY A STOUT MONK."
"'HE IS NOT KILLED,' SAID MARCOS, BREATHLESSLY."
"HE LEFT JUANITA ALONE WITH MARCOS."




CHAPTER I

IN THE CITY OF THE WINDS
The Ebro, as all the world knows--or will pretend to know, being an
ignorant and vain world--runs through the city of Saragossa. It is a
river, moreover, which should be accorded the sympathy of this
generation, for it is at once rapid and shallow.

On one side it is bordered by the wall of the city. The left bank is low
and sandy, liable to flood; a haunt of lizards in the summer, of frogs in
winter-time. The lower bank is bordered by poplar trees, and here and
there plots of land have been recovered from the riverbed for tillage and
the growth of that harsh red wine which seems to harden and thicken the
men of Aragon.

One night, when a half moon hung over the domes of the Cathedral of the
Pillar, a man made his way through the undergrowth by the riverside and
stumbled across the shingle towards the open shed which marks the
landing-place of the only ferry across the Ebro that Saragossa possesses.
The ferry-boat was moored to the landing-stage. It is a high-prowed,
high-sterned vessel, built on Viking lines, from a picture the observant
must conclude, by a landsman carpenter. It swings across the river on a
wire rope, with a running tackle, by the force of the stream and the aid
of a large rudder.

The man looked cautiously into the vine-clad shed. It was empty. He crept
towards the boat and found no one there. Then he examined the chain that
moored it. There was no padlock. In Spain to this day they bar the window
heavily and leave the door open. To the cunning mind is given in this
custom the whole history of a great nation.

He stood upright and looked across the river. He was a tall man with a
clean cut face and a hard mouth. He gave a sharp sigh as he looked at
Saragossa outlined against the sky. His attitude and his sigh seemed to
denote along journey accomplished at last, an object attained perhaps or
within reach, which is almost the same thing, but not quite. For most men
are happier in striving than in possession. And no one has yet decided
whether it is better to be among the lean or the fat.

Don Francisco de Mogente sat down on the bench provided for those that
await the ferry, and, tilting back his hat, looked up at the sky. The
northwest wind was blowing--the Solano--as it only blows in Aragon. The
bridge below the ferry has, by the way, a high wall on the upper side of
it to break this wind, without which no cart could cross the river at
certain times of the year. It came roaring down the Ebro, bending the
tall poplars on the lower bank, driving before it a cloud of dust on the
Saragossa side. It lashed the waters of