These are a few out of hundreds of such stories told. _And the people believe they are true._ Certain scandals, relating to the disappearance of valuable paintings from one Spanish cathedral or another, are familiar to all who travel in Spain. One such incident has always been a mystery to the outside world, owing to the seeming impossibility of a thief getting access to the picture in question, which was in a chapel in the cathedral, protected by a heavy grille extending from floor to ceiling, the door of which was always kept locked. The following explanation was given by the widow of a former cathedral servant: “I know quite well how it was done. The assistant-keeper of the keys was on duty that night, his superior having leave of absence because his daughter was ill. The priest in charge of the chapel made some excuse to take the keys from him that afternoon. Next day he and several others were sent to prison, accused of having been concerned in the theft. They were released in a week, for there was no evidence against them, and the proof is that not one of them lost his place. The priest soon after left the city. It was said that he had been promoted, but no one ever heard of him again.” The husband of the speaker was one of those accused. A scandal which gave rise to a question in the Cortes was the disappearance of two valuable pictures from the Cathedral of Toledo. It appears that these pictures were in a chapel which had been built and endowed in the seventeenth century by a certain family. Two or three years ago their descendants claimed these pictures as their private property, and entered into treaty to sell them to a “foreigner.” The State intervened, declaring the whole contents of the cathedral to be inviolate. Soon afterwards “it was found necessary to repair” the chapel in question, and the pictures were taken down “for safe custody” meanwhile. What happened after that has never been cleared up, but a “foreigner” and a motor figure in the story, and the chapel is now without the pictures. No steps were ever taken, so far as the public could learn, to bring the matter home to any one. That quantities of valuable old laces and embroideries have disappeared from the cathedrals and parish churches of Spain there is no doubt. I know of one case myself in which an antique chasuble was exchanged for one of cheap jute imitating brocade. The explanation given was that the old one was worn out, but as it now figures in a private museum it is difficult not to believe, as the people say, that some money changed hands with the chasuble.