I Do
Not Know That We Were Either Surprised Or Pained To Find That Our
Chilian Friends Should Have Got Seats In The Same Car Without Anything
Of Our Diplomacy, By The Simple Process Of Showing Their Tickets.
I
think our little interpreter was worth everything he cost, and more.
I
would not have lost a moment of his company as he stood on the platform
with me, adding one artless invention to another for my pleasure, and
successively extracting peseta after peseta from me till he had made up
the sum which he had doubtless idealized as a just reward for his
half-day's service when he first told me that it should be what I
pleased. We parted with the affection of fellow-citizens in a strange
monarchical country, his English growing less and less as the train
delayed, and his eyes watering more and more as with tears of
com-patriotic affection. At the moment I could have envied that German
princess her ability to make sure of his future companionship at the low
cost of fifty pesetas a day; and even now, when my affection has had
time to wane, I cannot do less than commend him to any future visitor at
Burgos, as in the last degree amiable, and abounding in surprises of
intelligence and unexpected feats of reliability.
IV
THE VARIETY OF VALLADOLID
When you leave Burgos at 3.29 of a passably sunny afternoon you are not
at once aware of the moral difference between the terms of your approach
and those of your departure.
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