The VELVET GLOVE
By
Henry Seton Merriman
(HUGH STOWELL SCOTT)
Contents
Chapter
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 ofSaragossa. It is a river, moreover, which should be accorded thesympathy of this generation, for it is at once rapid andshallow.
On one side it is bordered by the wall of the city. The leftbank is low and sandy, liable to flood; a haunt of lizards in thesummer, of frogs in winter-time. The lower bank is bordered bypoplar trees, and here and there plots of land have beenrecovered from the riverbed for tillage and the growth of thatharsh red wine which seems to harden and thicken the men ofAragon.
One night, when a half moon hung over the domes of theCathedral of the Pillar, a man made his way through theundergrowth by the riverside and stumbled across the shingletowards the open shed which marks the landing-place of the onlyferry across the Ebro that