It was said that she had originally been a washerwoman or a cigarette maker in Seville, but this was perhaps an exaggeration.

So much, however, was certain, that her husband had begun in a very small way, and had received his title at the accession of King Alfonso, in return for financial services which had materially helped toward the re-establishment of the throne.

The Countess Cuerbo could now give points as to pride of station to the bluest-blooded grandee.

She associated exclusively with persons of title, and strove, in every possible way, to play the "grande dame." She was always bedizened with the most costly diamonds, and so shamelessly rouged that she must have been mobbed had she gone through the Boulevards on foot.

She was not actually plain, but so affected that she did not know what to do with herself, and made such frightful grimaces that one was afraid to look at her.