"[.] CHAPTER I CAPTAIN ULYSSES FERRAGUT His first gallantries were with an empress. He was ten years old, and the empress six hundred. His father, Don Esteban Ferragut-third quota of the College of Notaries-had always had a great admiration for the things of the past. He lived near the cathedral, and on Sundays and holy days, instead of following the faithful to witness the pompous ceremonials presided over by the cardinal-archbishop, used to betake himself with his wife and son to hear mass in San Juan del Hospital,-a little church sparsely attended the rest of the [.]".