STORY OF SOBRALIA KIENASTIANA 165 



intrinsic value, Pablo had a younger brother, a priest, in 

 the neighbourhood of Tehuacan. They had not met since 

 his_ ordination, until, once on a time, M. Kienast-ZoIIy 

 visited those parts, and Pablo took the opportunity to spend 

 a day and night at the Indian village, Nidiri, where his 

 brother was priest. This ecclesiastic was an earnest man. 

 He found no satisfaction in compounding the heathen 

 practices of his flock for money, as do his fellows. His 

 legitimate dues sufficed him — I daresay they reached ten 

 pounds a year. He found a melancholy diversion in writ- 

 ing plaintive memorials to the Bishop. Week by week the 

 good man raised his moan. He could not see very deep. 

 It did not occur to him that the Christian faith itself, as the 

 Indians understand it, is but a form of heathendom. The 

 doings of which he complained were acts of positive worship 

 towards the old idols. He demanded an investigation, 

 special magistrates ; in brief, the re -establishment of the 

 Inquisition. The Bishop had long ceased to acknowledge 

 these dolorous reports ; doubtless they contained nothing 

 new to him. 



Out of the fulness of his heart a man speaketh, and 

 after discussing family affairs, the Cura broached his spiritual 

 sorrows. Pablo had not been trained at a seminary, and 

 religious questions did not interest him. As a townsman, 

 also, he had picked up some liberal ideas, and when the 

 brother talked of converting his flock from their evil ways 

 by force, he observed that opinions are free in Mexico 

 nowadays. Then the Cura grew warm. Opinions .? Rising 

 hurriedly, he produced horrid little figures of clay or wood, 

 actual idols, found and confiscated, not without opposition. 

 When Pablo did not seem much impressed by these things 

 — not unfamiliar, probably — he hinted suspicions more 

 awful. There was a spot somewhere in the hills, frequented 

 at certain seasons by these wretches, where they performed 



