Considerable Success Attended My Feeble Efforts In The
Good Cause, For Which At Present, After The Lapse Of Some Years, I
Still Look Back With Gratitude To The Almighty.
All the villages within the distance of four leagues to the east of
Madrid, were visited in less than a fortnight, and Testaments to
the number of nearly two hundred disposed of.
These villages for
the most part are very small, some of them consisting of not more
than a dozen houses, or I should rather say miserable cabins. I
left Antonio, my Greek, to superintend matters in Madrid, and
proceeded with Victoriano, the peasant from Villa Seca, in the
direction which I have already mentioned. We, however, soon parted
company, and pursued different routes.
The first village at which I made an attempt was Cobenna, about
three leagues from Madrid. I was dressed in the fashion of the
peasants in the neighbourhood of Segovia, in Old Castile; namely, I
had on my head a species of leather helmet or montera, with a
jacket and trousers of the same material. I had the appearance of
a person between sixty and seventy years of age, and drove before
me a borrico with a sack of Testaments lying across its back. On
nearing the village, I met a genteel-looking young woman leading a
little boy by the hand: as I was about to pass her with the
customary salutation of vaya usted con Dios, she stopped, and after
looking at me for a moment, she said:
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