IX
Everywhere About The Cathedral Beggars Lay In Wait, And The Neighboring
Streets Were Lively With Bargains Of Prickly Pears
Spread open on the
ground by old women who did not care whether any one bought or not.
There were
Also bargains in palmistry; and at one place a delightful
humorist was selling clothing at auction. He allured the bidders by
having his left hand dressed as a puppet and holding a sparkling
dialogue with it; when it did not respond to his liking he beat it with
his right hand, and every now and then he rang a little bell. He had a
pleased crowd about him in the sunny square; but it seemed to me that
all the newer part of Granada was lively with commerce in ample,
tram-trodden streets which gave the shops, larger than any we had seen
out of Madrid, a chance uncommon in the narrow ways of other Spanish
cities. Yet when I went to get money on my letter of credit, I found the
bank withdrawn from the modernity in a seclusion reached through a
lovely _patio._ We were seated in old-fashioned welcome, such as used
to honor a banker's customers in Venice, and all comers bowed and bade
us good day. The bankers had no such question of the different
signatures as vexed those of Valladolid, and after no more delay than
due ceremony demanded, I went away with both my money and my letter,
courteously seen to the door.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 330 of 376
Words from 90770 to 91019
of 103320
