"What Kind Of Person Is The Alcalde To Whom You Are Conducting Me?"
Said I.
"Oh, very different from him of Finisterra," replied Antonio.
"This is a young Senorito, lately arrived from Madrid.
He is not
even a Gallegan. He is a mighty liberal, and it is owing chiefly
to his orders that we have lately been so much on the alert. It is
said that the Carlists are meditating a descent on these parts of
Galicia. Let them only come to Finisterra, we are liberals there
to a man, and the old valiente is ready to play the same part as in
the time of the French. But, as I was telling you before, the
alcalde to whom I am conducting you is a young man, and very
learned, and if he thinks proper, he can speak English to you, even
better than myself, notwithstanding I was a friend of Nelson, and
fought by his side at Trafalgar."
It was dark night before we reached Corcuvion. Antonio again
stopped to refresh at a wine-shop, after which he conducted us to
the house of the alcalde. His steps were by this time not
particularly steady, and on arriving at the gate of the house, he
stumbled over the threshold and fell. He got up with an oath, and
instantly commenced thundering at the door with the stock of his
musket. "Who is it?" at length demanded a soft female voice in
Gallegan. "The valiente of Finisterra," replied Antonio; whereupon
the gate was unlocked, and we beheld before us a very pretty female
with a candle in her hand.
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