And these people who would pay no taxes to king or regent remained quiet amid the anarchy that reigned all over Spain.
Thus a week passed and rumours of strange doings at Madrid reached the quiet valley.

All over the country, bands of malcontents calling themselves Carlists had risen in obedience to the voice of Don Carlos' grandson, the son of that Don Juan who had renounced a hopeless cause.

To meet a soldier with his cap worn right side foremost was for the time unusual in the cities of the north.

For the army no longer knew a master; and the Spanish soldier has a naive and simple way of notifying this condition by wearing the peak of his cap behind.
Marcos heard nothing of his father at Madrid, but surmised that there the talkers still held sway.

The postal service of Spain is still almost mediaeval.