The people we met saluted him with great humility, and he returned their salutations quite en grand seigneur, even, as I thought, somewhat haughtily.  One woman knelt in the road, kissed his hand, and asked for his blessing, which he gave like the superior being she obviously considered him.  It was the same in the village.  Everybody whom we met or passed stood still and uncovered.  There could be no question who was master in San Cristobal.  Abbe Balthazar was both priest and king, and, as I afterward came to know, there was every reason why he should be.

He kept a large establishment, for the country, and lived in considerable state.  On entering his house, which was surrounded by a veranda and embowered in trees, the abbe, asked if I would like a bath, and on my answering in the affirmative ordered one of the servants, all of whom spoke Spanish, to take me to the bath-room and find me a suit of clothes.

The bath made me feel like another man, and the fresh garments effected as great a change in my personal appearance.  There was not much difficulty about the fit.  A cotton undershirt, a blue jacket with silver buttons, a red sash, white breeches, loose at the knee, and a pair of sandals, and I was fully attired.  Stockings I had to dispense with.  They were not in vogue at San Cristobal.

When I was ready, the servant, who had acted as my valet, conducted me to the dining-room, where I found Angela and the abbe.

“Parbleu!” exclaimed the latter, who occasionally indulged in expressions that were not exactly clerical. “Parbleu! I had no idea that a bath and clean raiment could make so great an improvement in a man’s appearance.  That costume becomes you to admiration, Monsieur Nigel.  Don’t you think so, Angela?”

“You forget, father, that he is the only caballero I ever saw.  Are all caballeros like him?”

“Very few, I should say.  It is a long time since I saw any; but even at the court of Louis XV.  I do not remember seeing many braver looking gentlemen than our guest.”

As I bowed in acknowledgment of the compliment Angela gave me a quick glance, blushed deeply, and then, turning to the abbe, proposed that we should take our places at the table.

I was so hungry that even an indifferent meal would have seemed a luxurious banquet, but the repast set before us might have satisfied an epicure.  We had a delicious soup, something like mutton-cutlets, land-turtle steaks, and capon, all perfectly cooked; vegetables and fruit in profusion, and the wine was as good as any I had tasted in France or Spain.  After dinner coffee was served and the abbe inquired whether I would retire to my room and have a sleep, or smoke a cigarette with him and Angela on the veranda.

In ordinary circumstances I should probably have preferred to sleep; but I was so fascinated with Mademoiselle Dieu-donnee, so excited by all that I had seen and heard, so curious to know the history of this French priest, who talked of the court of Louis XV., who had created a country and a people, and contrived, in a region so remote from civilization, to surround himself with so many luxuries, that I elected without hesitation for the cigarettes and the veranda.