You Are Become Paralytic, Batuschca, And Your
Club Has Degenerated To A Crutch."
We arrived at the prison, which stands in a narrow street not far
from the great square.
We entered a dusky passage, at the end of
which was a wicket door. My conductors knocked, a fierce visage
peered through the wicket; there was an exchange of words, and in a
few moments I found myself within the prison of Madrid, in a kind
of corridor which overlooked at a considerable altitude what
appeared to be a court, from which arose a hubbub of voices, and
occasionally wild shouts and cries. Within the corridor which
served as a kind of office, were several people; one of them sat
behind a desk, and to him the alguazils went up, and after
discoursing with him some time in low tones, delivered the warrant
into his hands. He perused it with attention, then rising he
advanced to me. What a figure! He was about forty years of age,
and his height might have amounted to some six feet two inches, had
he not been curved much after the fashion of the letter S. No
weazel ever appeared lanker, and he looked as if a breath of air
would have been sufficient to blow him away; his face might
certainly have been called handsome, had it not been for its
extraordinary and portentous meagreness; his nose was like an
eagle's bill, his teeth white as ivory, his eyes black (Oh how
black!) and fraught with a strange expression, his skin was dark,
and the hair of his head like the plumage of the raven. A deep
quiet smile dwelt continually on his features; but with all the
quiet it was a cruel smile, such a one as would have graced the
countenance of a Nero. "Mais en revanche personne n'etoit plus
honnete." "Caballero," said he, "allow me to introduce myself to
you as the alcayde of this prison. I perceive by this paper that I
am to have the honour of your company for a time, a short time
doubtless, beneath this roof; I hope you will banish every
apprehension from your mind. I am charged to treat you with all
the respect which is due to the illustrious nation to which you
belong, and which a cavalier of such exalted category as yourself
is entitled to expect. A needless charge, it is true, as I should
only have been too happy of my own accord to have afforded you
every comfort and attention. Caballero, you will rather consider
yourself here as a guest than a prisoner; you will be permitted to
roam over every part of this house whenever you think proper. You
will find matters here not altogether below the attention of a
philosophic mind! Pray, issue whatever commands you may think fit
to the turnkeys and officials, even as if they were your own
servants. I will now have the honour of conducting you to your
apartment - the only one at present unoccupied.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 291 of 424
Words from 152609 to 153112
of 222596