On My Telling Him, However, That He Should
Show Me No Other Place, He At Length Unwillingly Attended Me.
On
the way I learned from him that the schoolmaster was one of the
friars who had lately been expelled from the convent, that he was a
very learned man, and spoke French and Greek.
We passed a stone
cross, and the boy bent his head and crossed himself with much
devotion. I mention this circumstance, as it was the first
instance of the kind which I had observed amongst the Portuguese
since my arrival. When near the house where the schoolmaster
resided, he pointed it out to me, and then hid himself behind a
wall, where he awaited my return.
On stepping over the threshold I was confronted by a short stout
man, between sixty and seventy years of age, dressed in a blue
jerkin and grey trousers, without shirt or waistcoat; he looked at
me sternly, and enquired in the French language what was my
pleasure. I apologised for intruding upon him, and stated that,
being informed he occupied the situation of schoolmaster, I had
come to pay my respects to him and to beg permission to ask a few
questions respecting the seminary. He answered that whoever told
me he was a schoolmaster lied, for that he was a friar of the
convent and nothing else. "It is not then true," said I, "that all
the convents have been broken up and the monks dismissed?" "Yes,
yes," said he with a sigh, "it is true; it is but too true." He
then was silent for a minute, and his better nature overcoming his
angry feelings, he produced a snuff-box and offered it to me.
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