Our Ideal Was A Carriage Which We Could Keep Throughout The Day And Use
For Our Return To The Train
In the afternoon; and this was so exactly
the ideal of a driver to whom we committed ourselves that we
Were
somewhat surprised to have his vehicle develop into a motor-omnibus, and
himself into a conductor.
When we arrived at the palace some miles off, up a winding way, he
underwent another change, and became our guide to the Escorial. In the
event he proved a very intelligent guide, as guides go, and I really
cannot now see how we could have got on without him. He adapted the
Spanish names of things to our English understanding by shortening them;
a _patio_ became a _pat',_ and an old master an old mast'; and an
endearing quality was imparted to the grim memory of Philip II. by the
diminutive of Philly. We accepted this, but even to have Charles V.
brought nearer our hearts as Charley Fif, we could not bear to have our
guide exposed to the mockery of less considerate travelers. I instructed
him that the emperor's name was Charles, and that only boys and very
familiar friends of that name were called Charley among us. He thanked
me, and at once spoke again of Charley Fif; which I afterward found was
the universally accepted style of the great emperor among the guides of
Spain. In vain I tried to persuade them out of it at Cordova, at
Seville, at Granada, and wherever else they had to speak of an emperor
whose memory really seems to pervade the whole land.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 174 of 376
Words from 47631 to 47902
of 103320
