“That he would give us a little house to live in, something more suitable and decent than this wretched stable.” “You are right, woman; but now there is no help for it.” “Perhaps there may be.” “How?” “Look here; go and see the emperor, and ask him.” “Yes; now is the time to go on such an errand!” “Go you shall, and quickly, too!” “But, woman, don’t get angry. My goodness! what a temper you have! Well, well; I will go, and God grant his majesty does not send me off with a flea in my ear, although, under present circumstances, he is a very open‐ hearted, outspoken gentleman.” Well, Juan set out for the palace of the emperor; and the emperor granted him an audience immediately on his arrival. “Hallo, Juan!” said his majesty. “What brings you this way, man?” “Sire!” replied Juan, twirling and twirling the hat which he held in his hand, “my wife, under present circumstances, is as good as gold; but, you see, the stable that we live in is gone to rack and ruin, and we wish to get it out of our sight. So she said to me this morning: ‘If your majesty, who is so kind, would only give us a little house, something better than the one we have, who dare sneeze at us then?’ ” “Does your wife want nothing more than that? Well, it’s granted. This very moment I will give orders that they place the little white house at her disposal. Go into the dining‐room, and take a mouthful and a drop of something; and, instead of going afterwards to the stable, go to the little white house, and there you will find your wife already installed.” Juan returned thanks to the emperor for his latest kindness, and, passing on to the dining‐room, filled himself with ham and wine. Our friend commenced his journey home, and, when he arrived at the white house, his wife rushed out to receive him with tears of joy. And indeed it was very natural for poor Ramona to find herself so merry, for the little white house was a perfect jewel. It occupied the summit of a gentle acclivity, whence the whole beauty of the plain was spread out before it. A large Muscatel vine covered the whole of the porch, and beneath it there were seats and little plots of pinks and roses. The apartments of the house were a little drawing‐room, very white, and clean, and pretty, with its chairs, its cupboard, and its looking‐glass; an alcove with its bed, so soft and clean and beautiful that the emperor himself might have slept in it; a little kitchen with all its requirements, among which were included the utensils, which shone like gold; and a little bewitching dining‐room, with four chairs, a table, and a sideboard. To the dining‐room there was a fairy entrance, adorned without by an arc of flowers, and through this entrance you passed into a garden, where there were fruits, and flowers, and vegetables, and a small army of chickens clucked; and every egg they laid was as big as Juan’s fist.