I did
not like the appearance of my visitor, but assuming some degree of
courtesy, I requested him to
Sit down, and demanded his business.
"I come from his excellency the political chief of Madrid," he
replied, "and my business is to inform you that his excellency is
perfectly aware of your proceedings, and is at any time able to
prove that you are still disposing of in secret those evil books
which you have been forbidden to sell." "Is he so," I replied;
"pray let him do so forthwith, but what need of giving me
information?" "Perhaps," continued the fellow, "you think his
worship has no witnesses; know, however, that he has many, and
respectable ones too." "Doubtless," I replied, "and from the
respectability of your own appearance, you are perhaps one of them.
But you are occupying my time unprofitably; begone, therefore, and
tell whoever sent you, that I have by no means a high opinion of
his wisdom." "I shall go when I please," retorted the fellow; "do
you know to whom you are speaking? Are you aware that if I think
fit I can search your apartment, yes, even below your bed? What
have we here," he continued; and commenced with his stick poking a
heap of papers which lay upon a chair; "what have we here; are
these also papers of the Gypsies?" I instantly determined upon
submitting no longer to this behaviour, and taking the fellow by
the arm, led him out of the apartment, and then still holding him,
conducted him downstairs from the third floor in which I lived,
into the street, looking him steadfastly in the face the whole
while.
The fellow had left his sombrero on the table, which I dispatched
to him by the landlady, who delivered it into his hand as he stood
in the street staring with distended eyes at the balcony of my
apartment.
"A trampa has been laid for you, Don Jorge," said Maria Diaz, when
she had reascended from the street; "that corchete came here with
no other intention than to have a dispute with you; out of every
word you have said he will make a long history, as is the custom
with these people: indeed he said, as I handed him his hat, that
ere twenty-four hours were over, you should see the inside of the
prison of Madrid."
In effect, during the course of the morning, I was told that a
warrant had been issued for my apprehension. The prospect of
incarceration, however, did not fill me with much dismay; an
adventurous life and inveterate habits of wandering having long
familiarized me to situations of every kind, so much so as to feel
myself quite as comfortable in a prison as in the gilded chamber of
palaces; indeed more so, as in the former place I can always add to
my store of useful information, whereas in the latter, ennui
frequently assails me. I had, moreover, been thinking for some
time past of paying a visit to the prison, partly in the hope of
being able to say a few words of Christian instruction to the
criminals, and partly with the view of making certain
investigations in the robber language of Spain, a subject about
which I had long felt much curiosity; indeed, I had already made
application for admittance into the Carcel de la Corte, but had
found the matter surrounded with difficulties, as my friend Ofalia
would have said. I rather rejoiced then in the opportunity which
was now about to present itself of entering the prison, not in the
character of a visitor for an hour, but as a martyr, and as one
suffering in the holy cause of religion. I was determined,
however, to disappoint my enemies for that day at least, and to
render null the threat of the alguazil, that I should be imprisoned
within twenty-four hours. I therefore took up my abode for the
rest of the day in a celebrated French tavern in the Calle del
Caballero de Gracia, which, as it was one of the most fashionable
and public places in Madrid, I naturally concluded was one of the
last where the corregidor would think of seeking me.
About ten at night, Maria Diaz, to whom I had communicated the
place of my retreat, arrived with her son, Juan Lopez. "O senor,"
said she on seeing me, "they are already in quest of you; the
alcalde of the barrio, with a large comitiva of alguazils and such
like people, have just been at our house with a warrant for your
imprisonment from the corregidor. They searched the whole house,
and were much disappointed at not finding you. Wo is me, what will
they do when they catch you?" "Be under no apprehensions, good
Maria," said I; "you forget that I am an Englishman, and so it
seems does the corregidor. Whenever he catches me, depend upon it
he will be glad enough to let me go. For the present, however, we
will permit him to follow his own course, for the spirit of folly
seems to have seized him."
I slept at the tavern, and in the forenoon of the following day
repaired to the embassy, where I had an interview with Sir George,
to whom I related every circumstance of the affair. He said that
he could scarcely believe that the corregidor entertained any
serious intentions of imprisoning me: in the first place, because
I had committed no offence; and in the second, because I was not
under the jurisdiction of that functionary, but under that of the
captain-general, who was alone empowered to decide upon matters
which relate to foreigners, and before whom I must be brought in
the presence of the consul of my nation. "However," said he,
"there is no knowing to what length these jacks in office may go.
I therefore advise you, if you are under any apprehension, to
remain as my guest at the embassy for a few days, for here you will
be quite safe." I assured him that I was under no apprehension
whatever, having long been accustomed to adventures of this kind.
From the apartment of Sir George, I proceeded to that of the first
secretary of embassy, Mr. Southern, with whom I entered into
conversation.
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