The Mass 



apply the end of his cigar, drawing a succession of whifFs 

 between his words, which (the whifFs) came out again in 

 long streams from his nostrils ; for in this country the 

 fumes of the cigarillo are breathed down into the bottom of 

 the lungs, and come out in volumes unknown to the short 

 mouthful-puff of cigar and pipe-smoking nations. 



At about half-past nine we went to bed. The cura and 

 Madruga attended our coucMe^ smoking and talking, and 

 assisting us in undressing ; after which they took away the 

 lamp, and departed with a good night from the capataz and 

 the euro's blessing. 



On Sunday morning, at a quarter to seven, the cura and 

 capataz made their appearance, and woke us up to hear 

 mass. I jumped out of bed, and, to the great astonishment 

 of the company, washed myself in cold water. The old cura^ 

 I believe, at first thought I had been seized with a sudden 

 madness, and declared that such a process, he was certain, 

 would kill him on the spot ; by which statement it plainly 

 appeared that he had never tried it. 



We dressed, and wrapping ourselves in our capas^ entered 

 a gallery of the chapel opposite the altar, where the cura, 

 attired in his robes, was already officiating, the people being 

 gathered under the gallery. The gamekeeper officiated as 

 sacristano. The altar was profusely decorated with paint and 

 gilding, and possessed two very handsome wooden statues of 

 the Virgin — the one above, about two feet high ; the other 

 below, the size of life. These decorations had belonged to 

 a private chapel of the marques's family in one of the con- 

 vents at Seville, at whose dismantling they had been 

 removed to this place. The chapel itself was a small high 

 room at the end of a cloister, under the columns of the 

 patioy upon which it opened with wide folding doors ; so 

 that when these were flung open, the cloister became the 

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