When we arrived at the inn, the
young man took me above, as you saw, and there for some time he
could do nothing but weep and sob.
His story is soon told:- he
returned from his travels, and the first intelligence which awaited
him on his arrival in Spain was, that his father was drowned, his
mother dead, and his brother hanged, and, moreover, all the
possessions of his family confiscated. This was not all: wherever
he went, he found himself considered in the light of a factious and
discontented person, and was frequently assailed by the nationals
with blows of sabres and cudgels. He applied to his relations, and
some of these, who were of the Carlist persuasion, advised him to
betake himself to the army of Don Carlos, and the Pretender
himself, who was a friend of his father, and remembered the
services of his brother, offered to give him a command in his army.
But, mon maitre, as I told you before, he was a pacific young
gentleman, and as mild as a lamb, and hated the idea of shedding
blood. He was, moreover, not of the Carlist opinion, for during
his studies he had read books written a long time ago by countrymen
of mine, all about republics and liberties, and the rights of man,
so that he was much more inclined to the liberal than the Carlist
system; he therefore declined the offer of Don Carlos, whereupon
all his relations deserted him, whilst the liberals hunted him from
one place to another like a wild beast. At last, he sold some
little property which still remained to him, and with the proceeds
he came to this remote place of Colunga, where no one knew him, and
where he has been residing for several months, in a most melancholy
manner, with no other amusement than that which he derives from a
book or two, or occasionally hunting a leveret with his spaniel.
"He asked me for counsel, but I had none to give him, and could
only weep with him. At last he said, 'Dear Antonio, I see there is
no remedy. You say your master is below, beg him, I pray, to stay
till to-morrow, and we will send for the maidens of the
neighbourhood, and for a violin and a bagpipe, and we will dance
and cast away care for a moment.' And then he said something in
old Greek, which I scarcely understood, but which I think was
equivalent to, 'Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we
die!'
"Eh bien, mon maitre, I told him that you were a serious gentleman
who never took any amusement, and that you were in a hurry.
Whereupon he wept again, and embraced me and bade me farewell. And
now, mon maitre, I have told you the history of the young man of
the inn."
We slept at Ribida de Sela, and the next day, at noon, arrived at
Llanes.
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