Note 9 — XII

This noble house has since passed into alien hands, and the great library is scattered. Señora Garcia Pimentel was, fortunately, able to send a few of the most valuable manuscripts to England—the Cortés letters, the famous Motolinía manuscript, dedicated to the Conde de Benavente, a first edition of Cervantes, the “Dialogos” of Salazar, and a volume or two of Padre de la Vera Cruz and Padre Sahagun. She and her unmarried daughter took these away, concealed under shawls, when they were obliged to leave the house. There had been a sudden loud knocking at the door in the dead of night, followed by the entry of Carranzista officials. Madame Garcia Pimentel and her beautiful daughter were alone in the house at the time; the father and sons, in danger of their lives, had been secretly got to Vera Cruz, some time before.

The far-famed library of Casasus has also been scattered, its treasures destroyed. Sometimes a priceless volume has been bought for a few cents from a street vender, by some one on the lookout, but mostly these treasures have forever disappeared.—E. O’S.