A Singular Incident Befell Me
Immediately After My Arrival; On Entering The Arch Of The Posada
Called La Reyna, Where I Intended To Put Up, I Found Myself
Encircled In A Person's Arms, And On Turning Round In Amazement,
Beheld My Greek Servant, Antonio.
He was haggard and ill-dressed,
and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets.
As soon as we were alone he informed that since my departure he had
undergone great misery and destitution, having, during the whole
period, been unable to find a master in need of his services, so
that he was brought nearly to the verge of desperation; but that on
the night immediately preceding my arrival he had a dream, in which
he saw me, mounted on a black horse, ride up to the gate of the
posada, and that on that account he had been waiting there during
the greater part of the day. I do not pretend to offer an opinion
concerning this narrative, which is beyond the reach of my
philosophy, and shall content myself with observing that only two
individuals in Madrid were aware of my arrival in Spain. I was
very glad to receive him again into my service, as, notwithstanding
his faults, he had in many instances proved of no slight assistance
to me in my wanderings and biblical labours.
I was soon settled in my former lodgings, when one my first cares
was to pay a visit to Lord Clarendon. Amongst other things, he
informed me that he had received an official notice from the
government, stating the seizure of the New Testaments at Ocana, the
circumstances relating to which I have described on a former
occasion, and informing him that unless steps were instantly taken
to remove them from the country, they would be destroyed at Toledo,
to which place they had been conveyed.
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