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.
