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Father Pedro's smile was rare. He was not a Las Casas, nor a Junipero Serra, but he had the deep seriousness of all disciples laden with the responsible wording of a gospel not their own.
In the next place, you are here by order of my excellent friend and patron, Don Pedro Morillo, captain of the brigantine Guerrilla; and, in the third place, I am conveying you also by Don Pedro's orders to Cariacou, an island which I understand you have already visited, under certain memorable circumstances." So that was it, was it?
Pedro's establishment was the chief and only respectable place of its kind of which the town could boast. It was the resort of the better element of Santa Fé, and if one were looking for a friend or acquaintance, he was usually to be found there. The hall was spacious and well lighted with electricity and resplendent in gilt and mirrors.
Father Pedro dwelt upon the stranger's rejection of the ministrations of the Church with a pitiable satisfaction; had he accepted it, he would have had a sacred claim upon Father Pedro's sympathy and confidence. Yet he rose again, uneasily and with irregular steps returned to the corridor, passing the door of the familiar little cell beside his own.
He used to insist that the offspring of illicit or unholy unions were in no way to be pitied if they inherited, as if often the case, the culture or splendid physique of the father and the comeliness of the mother; and instanced King Solomon, Falconbridge, in whose "large composition," could be read tokens of King Richard, and the list of notables from Homer to "Pedro's son," as catalogued by Camoens who said: "The meed of valour Bastards aye have claimed By arts or arms, or haply both conjoined."
Master Pedro's one eye was covered by a piece of green silk; Don Quixote judged by this that something had befallen him by accident. He asked the landlord to tell him all he knew of Master Pedro, and he learned that he traveled with his puppet-show from town to town, and was greatly renowned throughout the provinces as a showman.
"As for you, sir, you have heard which was more than your due, for it is not your business by virtue of your office, nor have you any obligations towards the deceased, such as excuse Don Pedro's rashness, to pursue the murderers of Escovedo. Your solicitude in this matter brings you under a suspicion the more odious since you are a priest.
"Beg pardon, Fra Sebastian, but would you like a cup of coffee?" "Ah! my daughter, would I like the impossible? But, yes, I am famished, indeed, for the good dinner of Marta, my housekeeper," he answered, with a shrug of his plump shoulders. "Well, father, I cannot give you a dinner, but I can make you a pot of fresh coffee; and in Pedro's little storeroom are cans of meat, and beans and biscuit.
No, he must go back to his old life at the presidio, just as soon as he was able, and leave her with his love unsaid. But love sometimes is stronger than will, and so it proved in Pedro's case. He determined to leave the mission the next day, without a word to any one, and this last evening he had wandered out into the olive orchard near the church.
On reaching it, I found a crowd assembled near one of the entrances, and pushing my way through, I beheld Pepito lying on the ground weltering in his blood. I rushed to him, and kneeling down, raised him in my arms. ''Ah! it is you, Señor, said he, in a feeble tone. 'This is Pedro's work, but it was his last; for I have killed the traitor.
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