So The
Landlord, As I Told Your Worship Before, When He Found That I Was
Of This Opinion, Glared At Me Like A Wild Beast:
'Get out of my
house,' said he, 'for I will have no spies here,' and thereupon he
spoke disrespectfully of the young Queen Isabel and of Christina,
who, notwithstanding she is a Neapolitan, I consider as my
countrywoman.
Hearing this, your worship, I confess that I lost my
temper and returned the compliment, by saying that Carlos was a
knave and the Princess of Beira no better than she should be. I
then prepared to swallow the chocolate, but ere I could bring it to
my lips, the woman of the house, who is a still ranker Carlist than
her husband, if that be possible, coming up to me struck the cup
into the air as high as the ceiling, exclaiming, 'Begone, dog of a
negro, you shall taste nothing more in my house; may you be hanged
even as a swine is hanged.' So your worship sees that it is
impossible for me to remain here any longer. I forgot to say that
the knave of a landlord told me that you had confessed yourself to
be of the same politics as himself, or he would not have harboured
you."
"My good man," said I, "I am invariably of the politics of the
people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep, at
least I never say anything which can lead them to suspect the
contrary; by pursuing which system I have more than once escaped a
bloody pillow, and having the wine I drank spiced with sublimate."
CHAPTER XVII
Cordova - Moors of Barbary - The English - An Old Priest - The Roman
Breviary - The Dovecote - The Holy Office - Judaism - Desecration of
Dovecotes - The Innkeeper's Proposal.
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