it was cultivated badly. One day there came to Labraz certain men to contract for the building of a railway. The mayor, a man opposed to all progress, declared that the railway set the crops on fire and rendered the road useless, and he refused to allow the line to pass through Labraz. The inhabitants of Chozas, on the contrary, did all they could to attract the railway and attained their object. Presently engineers arrived at Chozas with their glasses and measuring-rods; they measured the land, they planted stakes; and soon an army of workmen was making tunnels and entrenchments and the trains passed with their roar and smoke. Chozas grew in size; it had a pretty railway-station, and its streets were lit at night; on the other hand Labraz sank into decay; it lost the dignity of a collegiate city; the court of justice was transferred to Chozas; and scarcely anyone remained at Labraz. Of the nobles only one was left, belonging perhaps to the oldest family of all: the noble Don Juan de Labraz."
"What about us?" asked the old man, who was gesticuiating and talking to himself in a strongly foreign accent: "Are we not noble?"
"But we do not belong to Labraz."
"Ah, that makes no difference."
"And does that nobleman still live at Labraz?" I inquired.
"Yes; in one of the houses of the smaller square, near the church; that which has a great coat of arms over the door."
