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He could not have found wide prospects among the laity, for after a few months he took the vows, and ten or twelve years later he returned to Spain, the Superior of his Order, and went to a monastery in the province of Castellon. Francisco Guillen had changed his name, and was now called Fray Jose de Calasanz de Villanueva.
Among other members of the house of Mila settled in Rome was Don Pedro, whose daughter, Adriana Mila, we shall later find in most intimate relations with the family of her uncle Rodrigo. Of the sisters of this same Rodrigo, Beatrice was married to Don Ximenez Perez de Arenos, Tecla to Don Vidal de Villanova, and Juana to Don Pedro Guillen Lanzol. All these remained in Spain.
Whatever the motive was, the fact is that one day Peyro, the father, and his eldest son were found, full of bullet holes, in an orange orchard. Juan Guillen was arrested; in court he affirmed his innocence with great tenacity; but after he had been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, he said that there were still two Peyros left to kill, whom he would put off until he got out of prison.
To Guillen it seemed indispensable that he should carry his blunderbuss when discussing an affair with anybody. Juan's energy did not diminish with age; he kept on being as barbarous and brutal as when he was young. His barbarity did not prevent his being very fine and polite, because he was under the conviction that his life was a well-nigh exemplary life.
It was said that Guillen had got in down the chimney, and going close to where Peyro lay asleep, had fired the blunderbuss right against him. Then he had gone tranquilly out by the door, without anybody's daring to stop him. These two last deaths did not cause Guillen any trouble with the law. All the witnesses in the suit testified in his favour.
Vicenta Guillen, who was known in Valencia, for what reason is not evident, as the Tender-hearted, had her ups and her downs, rich lovers and poor, and was distinguished by her boldness and her spirit of adventure. It was said of her that she had taken part, dressed as a man, in several popular disturbances.
As it turned out, Guillen was set free after six years and returned to Villanueva. The two threatened Peyros did their utmost to keep away from the revengeful Guillen; but it did not work. Juan Guillen killed one of the Peyros while he was watering the flowers in the balcony of his house. The other took refuge in a remote farm-house rented to peasants in his confidence.
Laura took her brother's arm, they went out on the Piazza Esedra, and entered the hotel. The Valencian family of Guillen was really fecund in men of energy and cleverness.
It is true that with the exception of Father Francisco Guillen and of his nephew Juan Fort, none of them became known; but in spite of the fact that the members of this family lived in obscurity in a humble sphere, they performed deeds of unheard-of valour, daring, and impertinence. Juan Guillen, the first of the Guillens whose memory is preserved, was a highwayman of Villanueva.
If the Spanish theatre had not advanced farther, if it had possessed only the works of Lope and the more eminent of his contemporaries, as Guillen de Castro, Montalban, Molina, Matos-Fragoso, &c., we should have to praise it, rather for grandeur of design and for promising subjects than for matured perfection.
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