"It must be very long ago, then, before there was any Cordillera. Rain-clouds never cross the Andes, and for untold ages there can have been no rain here on the coast." "You are right. Without rain you cannot have much of a river, and if the _azequia_ were to fail there would be very little left of Quipai." "Don't suggest anything so dreadful as the failure of the _azequia_. It is the Palladium of the mission and the source of all our prosperity and happiness. Besides, how could it fail? You see how solidly it is built, and every month it is carefully inspected from end to end." "It might be destroyed by an earthquake." "You are pleased to be a Job's comforter, Monsieur Nigel. Damaged it might be, but hardly destroyed, except in some cataclysm which would destroy everything, and that is a risk which, like all dwellers in countries subject to earthquakes, we must run. We cannot escape from the conditions of our existence; and life is so pleasant here, we are spared so many of the miseries which afflict our fellow-creatures in other parts of the world--war, pestilence, strife, and want--that it were as foolish and ungrateful to make ourselves unhappy because we are exposed to some remote danger against which we cannot guard, as to repine because we cannot live forever." "You discourse most excellent philosophy, Mademoiselle Angela." "Without knowing it, then, as Monsieur Jourdan talked prose." "So! You have read Molière?" "Over and over again." "Then you must have a library at San Cristobal." "A very small one, as you may suppose; but a small library is not altogether a disadvantage, as the abbé says. The fewer books you have the oftener you read them; and it is better to read a few books well than many superficially." "The abbé has been your sole teacher, I suppose?" "Has been! He is still. He has even written books for me, and he is the author of some of the best I possess--But don't you think, monsieur, we had better descend to the valley? The abbé will have finished his business by this time, and though he is the best man in the world he has the fault of kings; he does not like to wait." CHAPTER XXVIII. I BID YOU STAY. "You have been here a month, Monsieur Nigel, living in close intimacy with Angela and myself," said the abbé, as we sat on the veranda sipping our morning coffee. "You have mixed with our people, seen our country, and inspected the great _azequia_ in its entire length. Tell me, now, frankly, what do you think of us?" "I never passed so happy a month in my life, and--" "I am glad to hear you say so, very glad. My question, however, referred not to your feelings but your opinion. I will repeat it: What think you of Quipai and its institutions?" "I know of but one institution in Quipai, and I admire it more than I can tell." "And that is?" "Yourself, Monsieur l'Abbé."