Yes, And After A Lifelong Abhorrence Of That Bleak King Who
Founded The Escorial, I Will Own That I Am, Through Pity, Beginning To
Feel An Affection For Philip II.; Perhaps I Was Finally Wrought Upon By
Hearing Him So Endearingly Called Philly By Our Guide.
Yet I will not say but I was glad to get out of the Escorial alive; and
that I welcomed even the sulkiness of the landlord of the hotel where
our guide took us for lunch.
To this day I do not know why that landlord
should have been so sour; his lunch was bad, but I paid his price
without murmuring; and still at parting he could scarcely restrain his
rage; the Escorial might have entered into his soul. On the way to his
hotel the street was empty, but the house bubbled over with children who
gaped giggling at his guests from the kitchen door, and were then
apparently silenced with food, behind it. There were a great many flies
in the hotel, and if I could remember its name I would warn the public
against it.
After lunch our guide lapsed again to our conductor and reappeared with
his motor-bus and took us to the station, where he overcame the scruples
of the lady in the ticket-office concerning our wish to return to Madrid
by the Sud-Express instead of the ordinary train. The trouble was about
the supplementary fare which we easily paid on board; in fact, there is
never any difficulty in paying a supplementary fare in Spain; the
authorities meet you quite half-way.
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