CATHOLIC GRANADA 83 



In front of the church of Santos Pedro y Pablo 

 is a very handsome mansion built in 1539 for 

 Hernando de Zafra, secretary of the Catholic 

 sovereigns. The portal is in three stages : the 

 first contains the entrance, a square doorway, 

 between Doric columns ; the second bears the 

 escutcheons of the family, above them being 

 sculptured griffins and lions ; the third, a bal- 

 cony between pilasters, carved in delicate relief. 

 In a line with this is another balcony, bear- 

 ing the curious inscription, Esperandola del 

 Cielo "Looking for it from Heaven." These 

 words are explained by a tragic legend. De 

 Zafra is said to have suspected his daughter 

 of a clandestine attachment. To satisfy his 

 doubts, he burst into her room one day, and 

 found her page assisting the lover to escape 

 by the window. Baulked of his prey, the father 

 turned, with death in his face, upon the 

 boy. "Mercy!" shrieked the page. "Look 

 for it in Heaven ! " answered the Don, as he 

 hurled his daughter's accomplice from the bal- 

 cony into the street below. So runs the legend. 

 De Zafra does not appear, according to the 

 records, to have left any children ; but his 

 daughter may not have survived the terrible 

 consequences of her amour. ' After all," 

 remarks Valladar, " nothing was easier in the 

 sixteenth century than to throw a page out of the 



