Been collected from us
remains one of those mysteries which I should once have liked to keep
all Spain.
We had to go quite outside of the station grounds to get a cab for our
hotel, but from this blow to our dignity I recovered a little later in
the day, when the king, attended by as small a troop of cavalry as I
suppose a king ever has with him, came driving by in the street where I
was walking. As he sat in his open carriage he looked very amiable, and
handsomer than most of the pictures make him. He seemed to be gazing at
me, and when he bowed I could do no less than return his salutation. As
I glanced round to see if people near me were impressed by our exchange
of civilities, I perceived an elderly officer next me. He was smiling as
I was, and I think he was in the delusion that the king's bow, which I
had so promptly returned, was intended for him.
VIII
CORDOVA AND THE WAY THERE
I should be sorry if I could believe that Cordova experienced the
disappointment in us, which I must own we felt in her; but our
disappointment was unquestionable, and I will at once offer it to the
reader as an inducement for him to go to Cordova with less lively
expectations than ours.
