I have already informed
the reader that, on his success in obtaining a degree depended in a
great measure the union and future fortunes of himself and his
cousin Dolores; at least so I was privately informed by Mateo Ximenes,
and various circumstances concurred to corroborate his information.
Their courtship, however, was carried on very quietly and
discreetly, and I scarce think I should have discovered it, if I had
not been put on the alert by the all-observant Mateo.
In the present instance, Dolores was less on the reserve, and had
busied herself for several days in fitting out honest Manuel for his
expedition. All his clothes had been arranged and packed in the
neatest order, and above all she had worked a smart Andalusian
travelling jacket for him with her own hands. On the morning appointed
for his departure, a stout mule on which he was to perform the journey
was paraded at the portal of the Alhambra, and Tio Polo (Uncle
Polo), an old invalid soldier, attended to caparison him. This veteran
was one of the curiosities of the place. He had a leathern visage,
tanned in the tropics, a long Roman nose, and a black beetle eye. I
had frequently observed him reading, apparently with intense interest,
an old parchment-bound volume; sometimes he would be surrounded by a
group of his brother invalids, some seated on the parapets, some lying
on the grass, listening with fixed attention, while he read slowly and
deliberately out of his favorite work, sometimes pausing to explain or
expound for the benefit of his less enlightened auditors.
Pages:
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448