The man disappeared and the house was soon invaded by the police. I leave it to be imagined what the police of Alicante forty years ago were like. I answered all the questions asked me by a Vice-Consul who was Hungarian and spoke French. I had seen the man and he had a silk handkerchief on his head. He had a beard, and on his shoulder a _poncho_, but that was all I knew. The Hungarian Vice-Consul who, I believe, represented France, Austria, and Hungary, asked me the color of the brigand’s beard, silk handkerchief and _poncho_. It had been too dark for me to distinguish the colors exactly. The worthy man was very much annoyed at my answer. After taking down a few notes he was very thoughtful for a moment and then gave orders for a message to be taken to his home. It was to ask his wife to send a carriage and to prepare a room in order to receive a young foreigner in distress. I prepared to go with him, and after paying my bill at the hotel, we started off in the Hungarian’s carriage, and I was welcomed by his wife with the most touching cordiality. I drank the coffee with thick cream which she poured for me, and, during breakfast, told her who I was, and where I was going. She then told me in return that her father was an important manufacturer of cloth, that he was from Bohemia, and a great friend of my father’s. And she took me to the room that had been prepared for me, made me go to bed, and told me that while I was asleep she would write me some letters of introduction in Madrid. I slept for ten hours without waking, and at six in the evening when I roused up, was thoroughly rested in mind and body. I wanted to send a telegram to my mother, but this was impossible, as there was no telegraph at Alicante. I wrote a letter, therefore, to my poor, dear mother, telling her that I was in the house of friends of my father. The following day I started for Madrid with a letter for the landlord of the Hotel de la Puerta del Sol. Nice rooms were given to us and I sent messengers with the letters from Mme. Rudcouritz. I spent a fortnight in Madrid, and was made a great deal of and generally fêted. I went to all the bullfights, and was infatuated with them. I had the honor of being invited to a great _corrida_ given in honor of Victor Emmanuel who was just then the guest of the Queen of Spain. I forgot Paris, my sorrows, disappointments, ambitions, and everything else, and I wanted to live in Spain. A telegram sent by Mme. Guérard made me change all my plans. My mother was very ill, the telegram informed me. I packed my trunk and wanted to start off at once, but when my hotel bill was paid I had not a fraction for the railway journey. The landlord of the hotel took my two bank notes, prepared me a basket of provisions and gave me two hundred francs at the station, telling me that he had received orders from Mme. Rudcouritz not to let me want for anything. She and her husband were certainly most delightful people.