For so complete had been the
conquest of the once proud possessors of Southern Spain, that
they were usually known only by the contemptuous title of
"Moriscoes," and were despised and hated by their "chivalrous"
Christian conquerors.
But little Theresa de Cepeda was of so loving and generous a
nature that even the plea of an outcast and despised Morisco
moved her to pity. From her earliest childhood she had delighted
in helpful and generous deeds. She repeatedly gave away, so we
are told, all her pocket-money in charity, and any sign of
trouble or distress found her ready and anxious to extend relief.
There was really a good deal of the angelic in little Theresa,
and even the risk of arousing the wrath of the Inquisition, the
walls of whose gloomy dungeon in Avila she had, so often looked
upon with awe, could not withhold her from wishing to help this
poor old man who was hunting for his lost son.
"Nay, brother," she said to little Pedro, "it can be not so very
great a crime to give food to a starving man"; and much to
Pedro's disgust, she opened the wallet and emptied their little
store of provisions into the old beggar's hand.
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