I am also
informed by the same observant and authentic personage, that a quiet
courtship is going on between the discreet Manuel and his
bright-eyed cousin, and that nothing is wanting to enable them to join
their hands and expectations but his doctor's diploma, and a
dispensation from the Pope on account of their consanguinity.
The good dame Antonia fulfils faithfully her contract in regard to
my board and lodging; and as I am easily pleased, I find my fare
excellent; while the merry-hearted little Dolores keeps my apartment
in order, and officiates as handmaid at meal-times. I have also at
my command a tall, stuttering, yellow-haired lad, named Pepe, who
works in the gardens, and would fain have acted as valet; but, in
this, he was forestalled by Mateo Ximenes, "the son of the
Alhambra." This alert and officious wight has managed, somehow or
other, to stick by me ever since I first encountered him at the
outer gate of the fortress, and to weave himself into all my plans,
until he has fairly appointed and installed himself my valet,
cicerone, guide, guard, and historio-graphic squire; and I have been
obliged to improve the state of his wardrobe, that he may not disgrace
his various functions; so that he has cast his old brown mantle, as
a snake does his skin, and now appears about the fortress with a smart
Andalusian hat and jacket, to his infinite satisfaction, and the great
astonishment of his comrades.
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