I understood very soon that all that which was published in the "Gazette" of the sixteenth was a canard, and so I said to Don José de Montoria and his wife, who in their optimism attributed my incredulity to a lack of public spirit. I had gone with Augustine and others of my friends to the Montoria house to help them at a task that was wearying them greatly. A part of their roof had been destroyed by the bombs, and this threatened the walls with destruction also. They were trying to remedy this with all possible speed. The eldest son of Montoria, wounded in battle at the Molino, had been lodged with his wife and son in the cellar of a house close by, and Doña Leocadia gave her hands and feet no rest, going and coming between the two houses, carrying things which were necessary. "I can't let anything be done by others," she said to me; "that is my nature. Although I have servants, I am not content unless I do everything myself. How has my son Augustine borne himself?" "Like what he is, señora, a brave boy," I answered; "and his talent for war is so great that I should not be surprised to see him a general in a couple of years." "A general!" she exclaimed in surprise. "My son is going to chant masses as soon as the siege is ended. Indeed you know we have educated him for that. God and the Virgin del Pilar bring him in safety through battle, that the rest of his days may go on in appointed ways! The fathers at the Seminary have assured me that I shall see my son with his mitre on his head and his crosier in his hand." "It will be so, señora, I do not doubt it. But seeing how he manages arms, I cannot bring myself to the thought that with the same hand with which he pulls the trigger, he will also scatter benedictions." "It is true, Señor de Araceli; and I have always said that the trigger is not becoming to churchmen. But you see how it is. Here we have great warriors,--Don Santiago Sas, Don Manuel Lasartesa; the incumbent of San Pablo, Don Antonio La Casa; the parish priest of San Miguel, Don José Martinez; and also Don Vicente Casanova, who is famous as the first theologian of Saragossa. Indeed they all fight, my son also, though I suppose he will be eager to return to the Seminary and plunge into his studies. Would you believe it? Lately he was studying books so large that they weighed two quintals. God's blessing be on the boy! I am quite foolish over him when he recites some grand things all in Latin. I suppose they are all about our Lord, and his love for his church, because there is a great deal about _amorem_ and _formosa_ and _pulcherrima_, _inflamavit_, and other words like those." "Exactly," I replied, imagining that his recitations were from the fourth book of a certain ecclesiastical work called the Æneid, written by a certain Friar Virgil of the order of Predicadores. "It must be as I say," said Doña Leocadia. "And now, Señor de Araceli, let us see if you can help me move this table."