Myself. - You Have Twenty Alguazils At Your Beck And Call, And Have
Of Course The Power, And So Had Your
Predecessor, who nearly lost
his situation by imprisoning me; but you know full well that you
have not the right,
As I am not under your jurisdiction, but that
of the captain-general. If I have obeyed your summons, it was
simply because I had a curiosity to know what you wanted with me,
and from no other motive whatever. As for imprisoning me, I beg
leave to assure you, that you have my full consent to do so; the
most polite society in Madrid is to be found in the prison, and as
I am at present compiling a vocabulary of the language of the
Madrilenian thieves, I should have, in being imprisoned, an
excellent opportunity of completing it. There is much to be learnt
even in the prison, for, as the Gypsies say, "The dog that trots
about finds a bone."
Corregidor. - Your words are not those of a Caballero. Do you
forget where you are, and in whose presence? Is this a fitting
place to talk of thieves and Gypsies in?
Myself. - Really I know of no place more fitting, unless it be the
prison. But we are wasting time, and I am anxious to know for what
I have been summoned; whether for crimes trivial or enormous, as
the messenger said.
It was a long time before I could obtain the required information
from the incensed corregidor; at last, however, it came. It
appeared that a box of Testaments, which I had despatched to Naval
Carnero, had been seized by the local authorities, and having been
detained there for some time, was at last sent back to Madrid,
intended as it now appeared, for the hands of the corregidor. One
day as it was lying at the waggon-office, Antonio chanced to enter
on some business of his own and recognised the box, which he
instantly claimed as my property, and having paid the carriage,
removed it to my warehouse. He had considered the matter as of so
little importance, that he had not as yet mentioned it to me. The
poor corregidor, however, had no doubt that it was a deep-laid
scheme to plunder and insult him. And now, working himself up into
almost a frenzy of excitement, he stamped on the ground,
exclaiming, "Que picardia! Que infamia!"
The old system, thought I, of prejudging people and imputing to
them motives and actions of which they never dreamed. I then told
him frankly that I was entirely ignorant of the circumstance by
which he had felt himself aggrieved; but that if upon inquiry I
found that the chest had actually been removed by my servant from
the office to which it had been forwarded, I would cause it
forthwith to be restored, although it was my own property. "I have
plenty more Testaments," said I, "and can afford to lose fifty or a
hundred.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 346 of 424
Words from 181493 to 181992
of 222596
