"There you see a man ready for anything and everything, my dear SofÍa," said Teodoro. "It is the result of our education, is it not, CÁrlos? of having had no coddling in our childhood, and having been accustomed from our tenderest infancy to the idea that no one could be our inferior? Men who have made themselves, as we have done, who, without any mortal help nor any safeguard but strong will and high ambition, have been able to triumph in the struggle for existence—the devil's in it, but they are the only people who really know how to help the helpless! I will not tell you half the things I have been able to do in my life—treating my neighbor as myself—for fear of falling into an ugly trick of singing my own praises; for fear too of making you envious, in spite of your raffles and benevolent lotteries—enough of that."

"Nay, tell us, or tell us some other time."

"No, no, such things should be kept secret for modesty's sake. I am bound to confess that I cannot boast of any considerable store of that lovely grace; I am not lacking in vanity, and one of the things I am vainest of, is of having been a beggar, of having asked charity from door to door, of having walked barefoot with my brother CÁrlos, and slept in corners under door-ways, without a roof, without shelter, without a home of any kind. Some wonderful spirit of energy and determination burned within me—whence it came I know not; but I felt that before us lay two paths, one to prison and one to glory. I took my poor little brother on my shoulders—just as I am carrying Nela—and I said: 'Our Father which art in Heaven—save us!' And he saved us. I learnt to read, and then I taught my brother; I served many masters, who gave me food and let me go to school. I saved my pittance. I bought a money-box, and scraped enough together to buy some books. How I began medicine, I do not know; but somehow I did, while my brother was earning a living as an errand boy in a shop."

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed SofÍa much annoyed, for this was a theme she particularly disliked. "I cannot help asking; what is the use of recalling all these childish details? Besides, you exaggerate them greatly."

"I exaggerate nothing," said Teodoro with triumphant jollity. "Just listen, SeÑora, and say nothing. I speak of what I know with the authority of experience. Hear me all ye poor, all ye helpless ones, and ye forsaken little ones! I took to medicine, God knows how; I learnt, God knows how. A worthy man—blessings on his memory! gave me good counsel and helped me with money; I loved the science, but how could I study without ceasing to work for my living? This was a terrible dilemma. Do you remember, CÁrlos, when we both went to ask for employment in the barber's shop, in the old calle de Cofreros? [5] Never in our lives had either of us had a razor in his hand, but we had to earn our bread by shaving. At first we only looked on—do you remember CÁrlos—and then we wielded the noble instruments ourselves.—Bleeding was the making of us. Then I began to study anatomy; a noble, a glorious science! but my school-work became a serious matter, and I had to give up working for the worthy barber.—He cried, positively cried, the day I left him; he gave me two duros, and his wife made me a present of a pair of her husband's old trousers.—Then I went as a valet. God was always merciful in giving me good masters. My love of study interested these dear, kind people, and they allowed me as much spare time as possible. I sat up to study; nay, I studied in my sleep. I was like a monomaniac, for while I did the washing, I repeated the names of the different parts of the human frame. I remember, that as I brushed my master's clothes, I studied muscular anatomy—as I folded a sleeve I would say to myself: 'deltoid, biceps, supinator, flexor, cubitalis;' and over his trousers I would repeat, 'glutaeus, psoas, gemellus, tibialis.' In that house they used to give me broken food, which I carried to my brother, who was living with a worthy man who bought and sold old clothes. Do you remember, CÁrlos?"

"I remember well," said CÁrlos with feeling. "And I am grateful to the good soul who gave me a roof over my head in return for some trifling service in keeping his accounts. And it was there that I was so lucky as to come across the retired Colonel, who taught me the elements of mathematics."

"Well! you have not a rag that you blush to display to all the world!" snorted SofÍa.

"My brother asked me for bread," Teodoro went coolly on, "and my answer was: 'Bread? work at mathematics.' One day my master gave me tickets of admission to the Theatre de la Cruz; I took my brother, and we enjoyed it enormously, but CÁrlos caught a cold and inflammation of the lungs. That was a dreadful, a terrible business; it was a blow at the very root of our existence, a shot in our backbone. But who is cast down? On we had to go.—He must be cured. A physician who had taken a great fancy to me, undertook to doctor him."

"It was nothing less than a miracle that he saved my life in that squalid hole—a perfect museum of old clothes, old iron, and old leather."

"God was on our side—I see it plainly. Oh! I knew very well in whom I trusted," Teodoro went on, with the fervid rapid eloquence, which was as characteristic of the man, as his black elf-locks and leonine countenance. "But, for my brother to have medicine, I had to do without clothes. The Pharmacopeia did not admit of tailors' bills—nay, prescription after prescription—first my cloak went, then my overcoat, then my shoes were turned into pills. However, my master stood by me. I got some clothes once more, and my brother was outside the house again. The doctor said: 'He will get quite well in the country.'—'The country,' said I, and I thought it over; then he may go to the School of Mines. My brother was a good mathematician, I taught him some chemistry, he soon took a fancy to rocks and stones, and before he went into the school he had begun going out into the fields to pick up pebbles. Well, I meanwhile went on my way, beaten by winds and waves; every day I knew something more of medicine. A famous operator took me as his assistant; then I was no longer a mere menial—I was a servant to science. My master fell ill, I nursed him like a Brother of Charity—but he died, leaving me a legacy. God bless me! but it was a fortune! It consisted of a walking-stick, a machine for making cigars, a hunting-horn, and four thousand reales in money. My brother bought books and I bought some clothes, and as soon as I was decently dressed, I began to get patients. It really seemed as if folks fell ill on purpose to give me employment. On—straight on! Years and years went by; at last, after many miseries I saw, far off, the way to a refuge. Still, my brother and I sailed on without any too severe toil, and we were never melancholy; God smiled upon our souls. Well, indeed, for us! God held out his hand to us, as it were. I began to study the eye and soon could operate for cataract, but I wanted something more than this. I was earning money, no doubt, but my brother cost me all I earned. At last, however, CÁrlos passed out of the schools. Three cheers for the brave—none but the brave win the day. I saw him settled at Riotinto with a good salary, and then off I went to America. I was a sort of Columbus, the Columbus of labor; a sort of CortÉs; I discovered a New World for myself, and having discovered it, I conquered it."

"You are your own trumpeter," said SofÍa laughing.

"If there are still heroes to be found you are one of them," said CÁrlos with eager admiration for his brother.

"Well, set to work now, noble Demi-god," said SofÍa, "crown your achievement by working a miracle, and restore to sight a man blind from his birth.—Look, there is Don Francisco coming out to meet us."

And, in fact, mounting the ridge which shuts in the mines to the west, they had come to Aldeacorba, and past the house of PenÁguilas, who, pulling on his coat in the utmost haste now came hurrying towards them. Darkness was falling fast.