The Grand Orient

El Grande Oriente is the fourth novel in the second series of National Episodes by Benito Pérez Galdós.
The odyssey of the protagonist, Salvador Monsalud, serves the author to portray the environment of the secret societies of those convulsive years of the Liberal Triennium. The work includes, in its title, the name of an active secret society. This intervened powerfully in the events that shook Spanish political life between 1820 and 1823.
After the pronouncement of Rafael de Riego, King Ferdinand VII has to endure a liberal government. However, in the shadows it conspires to change this situation. In this way political clubs arise and Freemasonry lives its best time.
The author takes advantage of the action of The Grand Orient to describe in the most sarcastic and ridiculous way possible the rituals and degrees, both of Freemasonry, and of the commoners, which in the end are nothing more than a Spanish carbon copy of the rituals and degrees of the Freemasons.
In parallel, our hero Monsalud will take sides against his own convictions due to his sense of loyalty and honor. And so, he will conspire to save an absolutist friend, locked up in prison for conspiring against the government. He will succeed, but at the cost of renouncing his love.

Reference edition: Madrid, Administración de La Guirnalda y Episodios Nacionales, 1884.