"Oh! that is a trifle, senhor,--I mean, the service I have done you," said the Friar. "What do you stand gaping there for, you rogues? Off with you," he shouted to the robbers, who still stood at some little distance, while Luis and his servant mounted their horses. "Come, Senhor Frade, pay us for our work, then," answered one of the men. "We came to rob this young fidalgo by your orders, and we won't, go back empty-handed." "Oh, you villains! you will ruin my character if you talk thus;--that was to be if the young fidalgo was not charitable; but he has won my heart; and remember, the man who injures him is my enemy. However, here is more than you deserve," and he flung them the ten milreas Luis had left for the hermit, on which each of the men made him a low bow, and hurried away. Nothing abashed, he again turned to Don Luis. "You see, senhor, the truth of the saying exemplified, that charity brings its own reward. Now, if you had not been charitable, I confess the temptation to rob you was very great; but when I found the amount of your offering, I repented, and, as you see, came to rescue you. If you have a trifle about you, you can repay me at once;--well, never mind, if you have not; another time will do;--but don't say a Capuchin is ungrateful, that's all. Now, farewell, senhor; we shall meet again, I doubt not. You will not betray me, I know; and I am sure Senhor Pedro there will not, for he is an honest fellow; and if he does, I shall break his head some time or other. You had better make the best of your way home, and not encounter those men, as they have not the same feelings of honour that I have. Now, don't answer;--I know what you would say, that I am a rogue in grain; but it cannot be helped... Adeos, senhor." Without waiting for an answer to this specimen of consummate impudence, which, indeed, Don Luis would have had some difficulty in making, he again began to mount the hill, indulging in a loud chuckle as he went. Don Luis and Pedro, however, followed his advice, though they could not admire his principles. "That friar seems to be a very great rogue, senhor," said Pedro, as they rode home. "Not much greater, I suspect, than many others," answered his master; "only he certainly does not take much pains to conceal it." We must apologise to our readers for occupying so much of their time with this rather unromantic adventure of Don Luis's, and hope that his character will not have been injured in their estimation by it. He remained some weeks longer under his father's roof, without any very important event occurring to him; and, in the mean time, we must beg leave to fly back again to Lisbon. Volume 2, Chapter III.