Mais Je
Lui Ris Au Nez, Made The Sign Of The Cortamanga - Asked For My
Wages, And Left Him; And Well It Was That I Did So, For The Very
Domestic Whom He Took With Him He Caused To Be Shot Upon A Charge
Of Mutiny."
"I am afraid," said I, "that you are of a turbulent disposition,
and that the disputes to which you have alluded are solely to be
attributed to the badness of your temper."
"What would you have, Monsieur? Moi je suis Grec, je suis fier et
j'ai des principes d'honneur. I expect to be treated with a
certain consideration, though I confess that my temper is none of
the best, and that at times I am tempted to quarrel with the pots
and pans in the kitchen. I think, upon the whole, that it will be
for your advantage to engage me, and I promise you to be on my
guard. There is one thing that pleases me relating to you, you are
unmarried. Now, I would rather serve a young unmarried man for
love and friendship, than a Benedict for fifty dollars per month.
Madame is sure to hate me, and so is her waiting woman; and more
particularly the latter, because I am a married man. I see that mi
Lor is willing to engage me."
"But you say you are a married man," I replied; "how can you desert
your wife, for I am about to leave Madrid, and to travel into the
remote and mountainous parts of Spain."
"My wife will receive the moiety of my wages, while I am absent, mi
Lor, and therefore will have no reason to complain of being
deserted. Complain! did I say; my wife is at present too well
instructed to complain. She never speaks nor sits in my presence
unless I give her permission. Am I not a Greek, and do I not know
how to govern my own house? Engage me, mi Lor, I am a man of many
capacities: a discreet valet, an excellent cook, a good groom and
light rider; in a word, I am [Greek text]. What would you more?"
I asked him his terms, which were extravagant, notwithstanding his
principes d'honneur. I found, however, that he was willing to take
one half.
I had no sooner engaged him, than seizing the tureen of soup, which
had by this time become quite cold, he placed it on the top of his
forefinger, or rather on the nail thereof, causing it to make
various circumvolutions over his head, to my great astonishment,
without spilling a drop, then springing with it to the door, he
vanished, and in another moment made his appearance with the
puchera, which, after a similar bound and flourish, he deposited on
the table; then suffering his hands to sink before him, he put one
over the other and stood at his ease with half-shut eyes, for all
the world as if he had been in my service twenty years.
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