Any Of
The Other Gentlemen Beneath My Care Shall, At Any Time You Desire
It, Be Permitted To Wait Upon You In Your Apartment.
I will even
go so far as to cause their irons, if irons they wear, to be
knocked off in order that they may partake of your refection with
that comfort which is seemly and convenient:
But to the gentleman
in question I must object; he is the most evil disposed of the
whole of this family, and would most assuredly breed a funcion
either in your apartment or in the corridor, by an attempt to
escape. Cavalier, me pesa, but I cannot accede to your request.
But with respect to any other gentleman, I shall be most happy,
even Balseiro, who, though strange things are told of him, still
knows how to comport himself, and in whose behaviour there is
something both of formality and politeness, shall this day share
your hospitality if you desire it, Cavalier."
Of Balseiro I have already had occasion to speak in the former part
of this narrative. He was now confined in an upper story of the
prison, in a strong room, with several other malefactors. He had
been found guilty of aiding and assisting one Pepe Candelas, a
thief of no inconsiderable renown, in a desperate robbery
perpetrated in open daylight upon no less a personage than the
queen's milliner, a Frenchwoman, whom they bound in her own shop,
from which they took goods and money to the amount of five or six
thousand dollars. Candelas had already expiated his crime on the
scaffold, but Balseiro, who was said to be by far the worst ruffian
of the two, had by dint of money, an ally which his comrade did not
possess, contrived to save his own life; the punishment of death,
to which he was originally sentenced, having been commuted to
twenty years' hard labour in the presidio of Malaga. I visited
this worthy and conversed with him for some time through the wicket
of the dungeon. He recognized me, and reminded me of the victory
which I had once obtained over him, in the trial of our respective
skill in the crabbed Gitano, at which Sevilla the bull-fighter was
umpire.
Upon my telling him that I was sorry to see him in such a
situation, he replied that it was an affair of no manner of
consequence, as within six weeks he should be conducted to the
presidio, from which, with the assistance of a few ounces
distributed among the guards, he could at any time escape. "But
whither would you flee?" I demanded. "Can I not flee to the land
of the Moors," replied Balseiro, "or to the English in the camp of
Gibraltar; or, if I prefer it, cannot I return to this foro (city),
and live as I have hitherto done, choring the gachos (robbing the
natives); what is to hinder me? Madrid is large, and Balseiro has
plenty of friends, especially among the lumias (women)," he added
with a smile.
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