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diff --git a/old/jbgud10.txt b/old/jbgud10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4c1693 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jbgud10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1404 @@ +Project Gutenberg's John Bull on the Guadalquivir, by Anthony Trollope +#13 in our series by Anthony Trollope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.05/20/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1864 Chapman and Hall edition. + + + + + +JOHN BULL ON THE GUADALQUIVIR. +from "Tales from all Countries" + +by Anthony Trollope + + + + +I am an Englishman, living, as all Englishman should do, in England, +and my wife would not, I think, be well pleased were any one to +insinuate that she were other than an Englishwoman; but in the +circumstances of my marriage I became connected with the south of +Spain, and the narrative which I am to tell requires that I should +refer to some of those details. + +The Pomfrets and Daguilars have long been in trade together in this +country, and one of the partners has usually resided at Seville for +the sake of the works which the firm there possesses. My father, +James Pomfret, lived there for ten years before his marriage; and +since that and up to the present period, old Mr. Daguilar has always +been on the spot. He was, I believe, born in Spain, but he came very +early to England; he married an English wife, and his sons had been +educated exclusively in England. His only daughter, Maria Daguilar, +did not pass so large a proportion of her early life in this country, +but she came to us for a visit at the age of seventeen, and when she +returned I made up my mind that I most assuredly would go after her. +So I did, and she is now sitting on the other side of the fireplace +with a legion of small linen habiliments in a huge basket by her +side. + +I felt, at the first, that there was something lacking to make my cup +of love perfectly delightful. It was very sweet, but there was +wanting that flower of romance which is generally added to the +heavenly draught by a slight admixture of opposition. I feared that +the path of my true love would run too smooth. When Maria came to +our house, my mother and elder sister seemed to be quite willing that +I should be continually alone with her; and she had not been there +ten days before my father, by chance, remarked that there was nothing +old Mr. Daguilar valued so highly as a thorough feeling of intimate +alliance between the two families which had been so long connected in +trade. I was never told that Maria was to be my wife, but I felt +that the same thing was done without words; and when, after six weeks +of somewhat elaborate attendance upon her, I asked her to be Mrs. +John Pomfret, I had no more fear of a refusal, or even of hesitation +on her part, than I now have when I suggest to my partner some +commercial transaction of undoubted advantage. + +But Maria, even at that age, had about her a quiet sustained decision +of character quite unlike anything I had seen in English girls. I +used to hear, and do still hear, how much more flippant is the +education of girls in France and Spain than in England; and I know +that this is shown to be the result of many causes--the Roman +Catholic religion being, perhaps, chief offender; but, nevertheless, +I rarely see in one of our own young women the same power of a self- +sustained demeanour as I meet on the Continent. It goes no deeper +than the demeanour, people say. I can only answer that I have not +found that shallowness in my own wife. + +Miss Daguilar replied to me that she was not prepared with an answer; +she had only known me six weeks, and wanted more time to think about +it; besides, there was one in her own country with whom she would +wish to consult. I knew she had no mother; and as for consulting old +Mr. Daguilar on such a subject, that idea, I knew, could not have +troubled her. Besides, as I afterwards learned, Mr. Daguilar had +already proposed the marriage to his partner exactly as he would have +proposed a division of assets. My mother declared that Maria was a +foolish chit--in which by-the-bye she showed her entire ignorance of +Miss Daguilar's character; my eldest sister begged that no constraint +might he put on the young lady's inclinations--which provoked me to +assert that the young lady's inclinations were by no means opposed to +my own; and my father, in the coolest manner suggested that the +matter might stand over for twelve months, and that I might then go +to Seville, and see about it! Stand over for twelve months! Would +not Maria, long before that time, have been snapped up and carried +off by one of those inordinately rich Spanish grandees who are still +to be met with occasionally in Andalucia? + +My father's dictum, however, had gone forth; and Maria, in the +calmest voice, protested that she thought it very wise. I should be +less of a boy by that time, she said, smiling on me, but driving +wedges between every fibre of my body as she spoke. "Be it so," I +said, proudly. "At any rate, I am not so much of a boy that I shall +forget you." "And, John, you still have the trade to learn," she +added, with her deliciously foreign intonation--speaking very slowly, +but with perfect pronunciation. The trade to learn! However, I said +not a word, but stalked out of the room, meaning to see her no more +before she went. But I could not resist attending on her in the hall +as she started; and, when she took leave of us, she put her face up +to be kissed by me, as she did by my father, and seemed to receive as +much emotion from one embrace as from the other. "He'll go out by +the packet of the 1st April," said my father, speaking of me as +though I were a bale of goods. "Ah! that will be so nice," said +Maria, settling her dress in the carriage; "the oranges will be ripe +for him then!" + +On the 17th April I did sail, and felt still very like a bale of +goods. I had received one letter from her, in which she merely +stated that her papa would have a room ready for me on my arrival; +and, in answer to that, I had sent an epistle somewhat longer, and, +as I then thought, a little more to the purpose. Her turn of mind +was more practical than mine, and I must confess my belief that she +did not appreciate my poetry. + +I landed at Cadiz, and was there joined by an old family friend, one +of the very best fellows that ever lived. He was to accompany me up +as far as Seville; and, as he had lived for a year or two at Xeres, +was supposed to be more Spanish almost than a Spaniard. His name was +Johnson, and he was in the wine trade; and whether for travelling or +whether for staying at home--whether for paying you a visit in your +own house, or whether for entertaining you in his--there never was +(and I am prepared to maintain there never will be) a stancher +friend, choicer companion, or a safer guide than Thomas Johnson. +Words cannot produce a eulogium sufficient for his merits. But, as I +have since learned, he was not quite so Spanish as I had imagined. +Three years among the bodegas of Xeres had taught him, no doubt, to +appreciate the exact twang of a good, dry sherry; but not, as I now +conceive, the exactest flavour of the true Spanish character. I was +very lucky, however, in meeting such a friend, and now reckon him as +one of the stanchest allies of the house of Pomfret, Daguilar, and +Pomfret. + +He met me at Cadiz, took me about the town, which appeared to me to +be of no very great interest;--though the young ladies were all very +well. But, in this respect, I was then a Stoic, till such time as I +might be able to throw myself at the feet of her whom I was ready to +proclaim the most lovely of all the Dulcineas of Andalucia. He +carried me up by boat and railway to Xeres; gave me a most terrific +headache, by dragging me out into the glare of the sun, after I had +tasted some half a dozen different wines, and went through all the +ordinary hospitalities. On the next day we returned to Puerto, and +from thence getting across to St. Lucar and Bonanza, found ourselves +on the banks of the Guadalquivir, and took our places in the boat for +Seville. I need say but little to my readers respecting that far- +famed river. Thirty years ago we in England generally believed that +on its banks was to be found a pure elysium of pastoral beauty; that +picturesque shepherds and lovely maidens here fed their flocks in +fields of asphodel; that the limpid stream ran cool and crystal over +bright stones and beneath perennial shade; and that every thing on +the Guadalquivir was as lovely and as poetical as its name. Now, it +is pretty widely known that no uglier river oozes down to its bourn +in the sea through unwholesome banks of low mud. It is brown and +dirty; ungifted by any scenic advantage; margined for miles upon +miles by huge, flat, expansive fields, in which cattle are reared,-- +the bulls wanted for the bullfights among other; and birds of prey +sit constant on the shore, watching for the carcases of such as die. +Such are the charms of the golden Guadalquivir. + +At first we were very dull on board that steamer. I never found +myself in a position in which there was less to do. There was a +nasty smell about the little boat which made me almost ill; every +turn in the river was so exactly like the last, that we might have +been standing still; there was no amusement except eating, and that, +when once done, was not of a kind to make an early repetition +desirable. Even Johnson was becoming dull, and I began to doubt +whether I was so desirous as I once had been to travel the length and +breadth of all Spain. But about noon a little incident occurred +which did for a time remove some of our tedium. The boat had stopped +to take in passengers on the river; and, among others, a man had come +on board dressed in a fashion that, to my eyes, was equally strange +and picturesque. Indeed, his appearance was so singular, that I +could not but regard him with care, though I felt at first averse to +stare at a fellow-passenger on account of his clothes. He was a man +of about fifty, but as active apparently as though not more than +twenty five; he was of low stature, but of admirable make; his hair +was just becoming grizzled, but was short and crisp and well cared +for; his face was prepossessing, having a look of good humour added +to courtesy, and there was a pleasant, soft smile round his mouth +which ingratiated one at the first sight. But it was his dress +rather than his person which attracted attention. He wore the +ordinary Andalucian cap--of which such hideous parodies are now +making themselves common in England--but was not contented with the +usual ornament of the double tuft. The cap was small, and jaunty; +trimmed with silk velvet--as is common here with men careful to adorn +their persons; but this man's cap was finished off with a jewelled +button and golden filigree work. He was dressed in a short jacket +with a stand up collar; and that also was covered with golden buttons +and with golden button-holes. It was all gilt down the front, and +all lace down the back. The rows of buttons were double; and those +of the more backward row hung down in heavy pendules. His waistcoat +was of coloured silk--very pretty to look at; and ornamented with a +small sash, through which gold threads were worked. All the buttons +of his breeches also were of gold; and there were gold tags to all +the button-holes. His stockings were of the finest silk, and clocked +with gold from the knee to the ankle. + +Dress any Englishman in such a garb and he will at once give you the +idea of a hog in armour. In the first place he will lack the proper +spirit to carry it off, and in the next place the motion of his limbs +will disgrace the ornaments they bear. "And so best," most +Englishmen will say. Very likely; and, therefore, let no Englishman +try it. But my Spaniard did not look at like a hog in armour. He +walked slowly down the plank into the boat, whistling lowly but very +clearly a few bars from a opera tune. It was plain to see that he +was master of himself, of his ornaments, and of his limbs. He had no +appearance of thinking that men were looking at him, or of feeling +that he was beauteous in his attire;--nothing could be more natural +than his foot-fall, or the quiet glance of his cheery gray eye. He +walked up to the captain, who held the helm, and lightly raised his +hand to his cap. The captain, taking one hand from the wheel, did +the same, and then the stranger, turning his back to the stern of the +vessel, and fronting down the river with his face, continued to +whistle slowly, clearly, and in excellent time. Grand as were his +clothes they were no burden on his mind. + +"What is he?" said I, going up to my friend Johnson with a whisper. + +"Well, I've been looking at him," said Johnson--which was true +enough; "he's a -- an uncommonly good-looking fellow, isn't he?" + +"Particularly so," said I; "and got up quite irrespective of expense. +Is he a--a--a gentleman, now, do you think?" + +"Well, those things are so different in Spain that it's almost +impossible to make an Englishman understand them. One learns to know +all this sort of people by being with them in the country, but one +can't explain." + +"No; exactly. Are they real gold?" + +"Yes, yes; I dare say they are. They sometimes have them silver +gilt." + +"It is quite a common thing, then, isn't it?" asked I. + +"Well, not exactly; that--Ah! yes; I see! of course. He is a +torero." + +"A what?" + +"A mayo. I will explain it all to you. You will see them about in +all places, and you will get used to them." + +"But I haven't seen one other as yet." + +"No, and they are not all so gay as this, nor so new in their finery, +you know." + +"And what is a torero?" + +"Well, a torero is a man engaged in bull-fighting." + +"Oh! he is a matador, is he?" said I, looking at him with more than +all my eyes. + +"No, not exactly that;--not of necessity. He is probably a mayo. A +fellow that dresses himself smart for fairs, and will be seen hanging +about with the bull-fighters. What would be a sporting fellow in +England--only he won't drink and curse like a low man on the turf +there. Come, shall we go and speak to him?" + +"I can't talk to him," said I, diffident of my Spanish. I had +received lessons in England from Maria Daguilar; but six weeks is +little enough for making love, let alone the learning of a foreign +language. + +"Oh! I'll do the talking. You'll find the language easy enough +before long. It soon becomes the same as English to you, when you +live among them." And then Johnson, walking up to the stranger, +accosted him with that good-natured familiarity with which a +thoroughly nice fellow always opens a conversation with his inferior. +Of course I could not understand the words which were exchanged; but +it was clear enough that the "mayo" took the address in good part, +and was inclined to be communicative and social. + +"They are all of pure gold," said Johnson, turning to me after a +minute, making as he spoke a motion with his head to show the +importance of the information. + +"Are they indeed?" said I. "Where on earth did a fellow like that +get them?" Whereupon Johnson again returned to his conversation with +the man. After another minute he raised his hand, and began to +finger the button on the shoulder; and to aid him in doing so, the +man of the bull-ring turned a little on one side. + +"They are wonderfully well made," said Johnson, talking to me, and +still fingering the button. "They are manufactured, he says, at +Osuna, and he tells me that they make them better there than anywhere +else." + +"I wonder what the whole set would cost?" said I. "An enormous deal +of money for a fellow like him, I should think!" + +"Over twelve ounces," said Johnson, having asked the question; "and +that will be more than forty pounds." + +"What an uncommon ass he must be!" said I. + +As Johnson by this time was very closely scrutinising the whole set +of ornaments I thought I might do so also, and going up close to our +friend, I too began to handle the buttons and tags on the other side. +Nothing could have been more good-humoured than he was--so much so +that I was emboldened to hold up his arm that I might see the cut of +his coat, to take off his cap and examine the make, to stuff my +finger in beneath his sash, and at last to kneel down while I +persuaded him to hold up his legs that I might look to the clocking. +The fellow was thorough good-natured, and why should I not indulge my +curiosity? + +"You'll upset him if you don't take care," said Johnson; for I had +got fast hold of him by one ankle, and was determined to finish the +survey completely. + +"Oh, no, I shan't," said I; "a bull-fighting chap can surely stand on +one leg. But what I wonder at is, how on earth he can afford it!" +Whereupon Johnson again began to interrogate him in Spanish. + +"He says he has got no children," said Johnson, having received a +reply, "and that as he has nobody but himself to look after, he is +able to allow himself such little luxuries." + +"Tell him that I say he would be better with a wife and couple of +babies," said I--and Johnson interpreted. + +"He says that he'll think of it some of these days, when he finds +that the supply of fools in the world is becoming short," said +Johnson. + +We had nearly done with him now; but after regaining my feet, I +addressed myself once more to the heavy pendules, which hung down +almost under his arm. I lifted one of these, meaning to feel its +weight between my fingers; but unfortunately I gave a lurch, probably +through the motion of the boat, and still holding by the button, tore +it almost off from our friend's coat. + +"Oh, I am so sorry," I said, in broad English. + +"It do not matter at all," he said, bowing, and speaking with equal +plainness. And then, taking a knife from his pocket, he cut the +pendule off, leaving a bit of torn cloth on the side of his jacket. + +"Upon my word, I am quite unhappy," said I; "but I always am so +awkward." Whereupon he bowed low. + +"Couldn't I make it right?" said I, bringing out my purse. + +He lifted his hand, and I saw that it was small and white; he lifted +it and gently put it upon my purse, smiling sweetly as he did so. +"Thank you, no, senor; thank you, no." And then, bowing to us both, +he walked away down into the cabin. + +"Upon my word he is a deuced well-mannered fellow," said I. + +"You shouldn't have offered him money," said Johnson; "a Spaniard +does not like it." + +"Why, I thought you could do nothing without money in this country. +Doesn't every one take bribes?" + +"Ah! yes; that is a different thing; but not the price of a button. +By Jove! he understood English, too. Did you see that?" + +"Yes; and I called him an ass! I hope he doesn't mind it." + +"Oh! no; he won't think anything about it," said Johnson. "That sort +of fellows don't. I dare say we shall see him in the bull-ring next +Sunday, and then we'll make all right with a glass of lemonade." + +And so our adventure ended with the man of the gold ornaments. I was +sorry that I had spoken English before him so heedlessly, and +resolved that I would never be guilty of such gaucherie again. But, +then, who would think that a Spanish bull-fighter would talk a +foreign language? I was sorry, also, that I had torn his coat; it +had looked so awkward; and sorry again that I had offered the man +money. Altogether I was a little ashamed of myself; but I had too +much to look forward to at Seville to allow any heaviness to remain +long at my heart; and before I had arrived at the marvellous city I +had forgotten both him and his buttons. + +Nothing could be nicer than the way in which I was welcomed at Mr. +Daguilar's house, or more kind--I may almost say affectionate--than +Maria's manner to me. But it was too affectionate; and I am not sure +that I should not have liked my reception better had she been more +diffident in her tone, and less inclined to greet me with open +warmth. As it was, she again gave me her cheek to kiss, in her +father's presence, and called me dear John, and asked me specially +after some rabbits which I had kept at home merely for a younger +sister; and then it seemed as though she were in no way embarrassed +by the peculiar circumstances of our position. Twelve months since I +had asked her to be my wife, and now she was to give me an answer; +and yet she was as assured in her gait, and as serenely joyous in her +tone, as though I were a brother just returned from college. It +could not be that she meant to refuse me, or she would not smile on +me and be so loving; but I could almost have found it in my heart to +wish that she would. "It is quite possible," said I to myself, "that +I may not be found so ready for this family bargain. A love that is +to be had like a bale of goods is not exactly the love to suit my +taste." But then, when I met her again in the morning I could no +more have quarrelled with her than I could have flown. + +I was inexpressibly charmed with the whole city, and especially with +the house in which Mr. Daguilar lived. It opened from the corner of +a narrow, unfrequented street--a corner like an elbow--and, as seen +from the exterior, there was nothing prepossessing to recommend it; +but the outer door led by a short hall or passage to an inner door or +grille, made of open ornamental iron-work, and through that we +entered a court, or patio, as they I called it. Nothing could be +more lovely or deliciously cool than was this small court. The +building on each side was covered by trellis-work; and beautiful +creepers, vines, and parasite flowers, now in the full magnificence +of the early summer, grew up and clustered round the windows. Every +inch of wall was covered, so that none of the glaring whitewash +wounded the eye. In the four corners of the patio were four large +orange-trees, covered with fruit. I would not say a word in special +praise of these, remembering that childish promise she had made on my +behalf. In the middle of the court there was a fountain, and round +about on the marble floor there were chairs, and here and there a +small table, as though the space were really a portion of the house. +It was here that we used to take our cup of coffee and smoke our +cigarettes, I and old Mr. Daguilar, while Maria sat by, not only +approving, but occasionally rolling for me the thin paper round the +fragrant weed with her taper fingers. Beyond the patio was an open +passage or gallery, filled also with flowers in pots; and then, +beyond this, one entered the drawing-room of the house. It was by no +means a princely palace or mansion, fit for the owner of untold +wealth. The rooms were not over large nor very numerous; but the +most had been made of a small space, and everything had been done to +relieve the heat of an almost tropical sun. + +"It is pretty, is it not?" she said, as she took me through it. + +"Very pretty," I said. "I wish we could live in such houses." + +"Oh, they would not do at all for dear old fat, cold, cozy England. +You are quite different, you know, in everything from us in the +south; more phlegmatic, but then so much steadier. The men and the +houses are all the same." + +I can hardly tell why, but even this wounded me. It seemed to me as +though she were inclined to put into one and the same category things +English, dull, useful, and solid; and that she was disposed to show a +sufficient appreciation for such necessaries of life, though she +herself had another and inner sense--a sense keenly alive to the +poetry of her own southern chime; and that I, as being English, was +to have no participation in this latter charm. An English husband +might do very well, the interests of the firm might make such an +arrangement desirable, such a mariage de convenance--so I argued to +myself--might be quite compatible with--with heaven only knows what +delights of superterrestial romance, from which I, as being an +English thick-headed lump of useful coarse mortality, was to be +altogether debarred. She had spoken to me of oranges, and having +finished the survey of the house, she offered me some sweet little +cakes. It could not be that of such things were the thoughts which +lay undivulged beneath the clear waters of those deep black eyes-- +undivulged to me, though no one else could have so good a right to +read those thoughts! It could not be that that noble brow gave index +of a mind intent on the trade of which she spoke so often! Words of +other sort than any that had been vouchsafed to me must fall at times +from the rich curves of that perfect month. + +So felt I then, pining for something to make me unhappy. Ah, me! I +know all about it now, and am content. But I wish that some learned +pundit would give us a good definition of romance, would describe in +words that feeling with which our hearts are so pestered when we are +young, which makes us sigh for we know not what, and forbids us to be +contented with what God sends us. We invest female beauty with +impossible attributes, and are angry because our women have not the +spiritualised souls of angels, anxious as we are that they should +also be human in the flesh. A man looks at her he would love as at a +distant landscape in a mountainous land. The peaks are glorious with +more than the beauty of earth and rock and vegetation. He dreams of +some mysterious grandeur of design which tempts him on under the hot +sun, and over the sharp rock, till he has reached the mountain goal +which he had set before him. But when there, he finds that the +beauty is well-nigh gone, and as for that delicious mystery on which +his soul had fed, it has vanished for ever. + +I know all about it now, and am, as I said, content. Beneath those +deep black eyes there lay a well of love, good, honest, homely love, +love of father and husband and children that were to come--of that +love which loves to see the loved ones prospering in honesty. That +noble brow--for it is noble; I am unchanged in that opinion, and will +go unchanged to my grave--covers thoughts as to the welfare of many, +and an intellect fitted to the management of a household, of +servants, namely, and children, and perchance a husband. That mouth +can speak words of wisdom, of very useful wisdom--though of poetry it +has latterly uttered little that was original. Poetry and romance! +They are splendid mountain views seen in the distance. So let men be +content to see them, and not attempt to tread upon the fallacious +heather of the mystic hills. + +In the first week of my sojourn in Seville I spoke no word of overt +love to Maria, thinking, as I confess, to induce her thereby to alter +her mode of conduct to myself. "She knows that I have come here to +make love to her--to repeat my offer; and she will at any rate be +chagrined if I am slow to do so." But it had no effect. At home my +mother was rather particular about her table, and Maria's greatest +efforts seemed to be used in giving me as nice dinners as we gave +her. In those days I did not care a straw about my dinner, and so I +took an opportunity of telling her. "Dear me," said she, looking at +me almost with grief, "do you not? What a pity! And do you not like +music either." "Oh, yes, I adore it," I replied. I felt sure at the +time that had I been born in her own sunny clime, she would never +have talked to me about eating. But that was my mistake. + +I used to walk out with her about the city, seeing all that is there +of beauty and magnificence. And in what city is there more that is +worth the seeing? At first this was very delightful to me, for I +felt that I was blessed with a privilege that would not be granted to +any other man. But its value soon fell in my eyes, for others would +accost her, and walk on the other side, talking to her in Spanish, as +though I hardly existed, or were a servant there for her protection. +And I was not allowed to take her arm, and thus to appropriate her, +as I should have done in England. "No, John," she said, with the +sweetest, prettiest smile, "we don't do that here; only when people +are married." And she made this allusion to married life out, +openly, with no slightest tremor on her tongue. + +"Oh, I beg pardon," said I, drawing back my hand, and feeling angry +with myself for not being fully acquainted with all the customs of a +foreign country. + +"You need not beg pardon," said she; "when we were in England we +always walked so. It is just a custom, you know." And then I saw +her drop her large dark eyes to the ground, and bow gracefully in +answer to some salute. + +I looked round, and saw that we had been joined by a young cavalier,- +-a Spanish nobleman, as I saw at once; a man with jet black hair, and +a straight nose, and a black moustache, and patent leather boots, +very slim and very tall, and--though I would not confess it then-- +uncommonly handsome. I myself am inclined to be stout, my hair is +light, my nose broad, I have no hair on my upper lip, and my whiskers +are rough and uneven. "I could punch your head though, my fine +fellow," said I to myself, when I saw that he placed himself at +Maria's side, "and think very little of the achievement." + +The wretch went on with us round the plaza for some quarter of an +hour talking Spanish with the greatest fluency, and she was every +whit as fluent. Of course I could not understand a word that they +said. Of all positions that a man can occupy, I think that that is +about the most uncomfortable; and I cannot say that, even up to this +day, I have quite forgiven her for that quarter of an hour. + +"I shall go in," said I, unable to bear my feelings, and preparing to +leave her. "The heat is unendurable." + +"Oh dear, John, why did you not speak before?" she answered. "You +cannot leave me here, you know, as I am in your charge; but I will go +with you almost directly." And then she finished her conversation +with the Spaniard, speaking with an animation she had never displayed +in her conversations with me. + +It had been agreed between us for two or three days before this, that +we were to rise early on the following morning for the sake of +ascending the tower of the cathedral, and visiting the Giralda, as +the iron figure is called, which turns upon a pivot on the extreme +summit. We had often wandered together up and down the long dark +gloomy aisle of the stupendous building, and had, together, seen its +treasury of art; but as yet we had not performed the task which has +to be achieved by all visitors to Seville; and in order that we might +have a clear view over the surrounding country, and not be tormented +by the heat of an advanced sun, we had settled that we would ascend +the Giralda before breakfast. + +And now, as I walked away from the plaza towards Mr. Daguilar's +house, with Maria by my side, I made up my mind that I would settle +my business during this visit to the cathedral. Yes, and I would so +manage the settlement that there should be no doubt left as to my +intentions and my own ideas. I would not be guilty of shilly-shally +conduct; I would tell her frankly what I felt and what I thought, and +would make her understand that I did not desire her hand if I could +not have her heart. I did not value the kindness of her manner, +seeing that that kindness sprung from indifference rather than +passion; and so I would declare to her. And I would ask her, also, +who was this young man with whom she was intimate--for whom all her +volubility and energy of tone seemed to be employed? She had told me +once that it behoved her to consult a friend in Seville as to the +expediency of her marriage with me. Was this the friend whom she had +wished to consult? If so, she need not trouble herself. Under such +circumstances I should decline the connection! And I resolved that I +would find out how this might be. A man who proposes to take a woman +to his bosom as his wife, has a right to ask for information--ay, and +to receive it too. It flashed upon my mind at this moment that Donna +Maria was well enough inclined to come to me as my wife, but --. I +could hardly define the "buts" to myself, for there were three or +four of them. Why did she always speak to me in a tone of childish +affection, as though I were a schoolboy home for the holidays? I +would have all this out with her on the tower on the following +morning, standing under the Giralda. + +On that morning we met together in the patio, soon after five +o'clock, and started for the cathedral. She looked beautiful, with +her black mantilla over her head, and with black gloves on, and her +black morning silk dress--beautiful, composed, and at her ease, as +though she were well satisfied to undertake this early morning walk +from feelings of good nature--sustained, probably, by some under- +current of a deeper sentiment. Well; I would know all about it +before I returned to her father's house. + +There hardly stands, as I think, on the earth, a building more +remarkable than the cathedral of Seville, and hardly one more grand. +Its enormous size; its gloom and darkness; the richness of +ornamentation in the details, contrasted with the severe simplicity +of the larger outlines; the variety of its architecture; the glory of +its paintings; and the wondrous splendour of its metallic decoration, +its altar-friezes, screens, rails, gates, and the like, render it, to +my mind, the first in interest among churches. It has not the +coloured glass of Chartres, or the marble glory of Milan, or such a +forest of aisles as Antwerp, or so perfect a hue in stone as +Westminster, nor in mixed beauty of form and colour does it possess +anything equal to the choir of Cologne; but, for combined +magnificence and awe-compelling grandeur, I regard it as superior to +all other ecclesiastical edifices. + +It is its deep gloom with which the stranger is so greatly struck on +his first entrance. In a region so hot as the south of Spain, a cool +interior is a main object with the architect, and this it has been +necessary to effect by the exclusion of light; consequently the +church is dark, mysterious, and almost cold. On the morning in +question, as we entered, it seemed to be filled with gloom, and the +distant sound of a slow footstep here and there beyond the transept +inspired one almost with awe. Maria, when she first met me, had +begun to talk with her usual smile, offering me coffee and a biscuit +before I started. "I never eat biscuit," I said, with almost a +severe tone, as I turned from her. That dark, horrid man of the +plaza--would she have offered him a cake had she been going to walk +with him in the gloom of the morning? After that little had been +spoken between us. She walked by my side with her accustomed smile; +but she had, as I flattered myself, begun to learn that I was not to +he won by a meaningless good nature. "We are lucky in our morning +for the view!" that was all she said, speaking with that peculiarly +clear, but slow pronunciation which she had assumed in learning our +language. + +We entered the cathedral, and, walking the whole length of the aisle, +left it again at the porter's porch at the farther end. Here we +passed through a low door on to the stone flight of steps, and at +once began to ascend. "There are a party of your countrymen up +before us," said Maria; "the porter says that they went through the +lodge half an hour since." "I hope they will return before we are on +the top," said I, bethinking myself of the task that was before me. +And indeed my heart was hardly at ease within me, for that which I +had to say would require all the spirit of which I was master. + +The ascent to the Giralda is very long and very fatiguing; and we had +to pause on the various landings and in the singular belfry in order +that Miss Daguilar might recruit her strength and breath. As we +rested on one of these occasions, in a gallery which runs round the +tower below the belfry, we heard a great noise of shouting, and a +clattering of sticks among the bells. "It is the party of your +countrymen who went up before us," said she. "What a pity that +Englishmen should always make so much noise!" And then she spoke in +Spanish to the custodian of the bells, who is usually to be found in +a little cabin up there within the tower. "He says that they went up +shouting like demons," continued Maria; and it seemed to me that she +looked as though I ought to be ashamed of the name of an Englishman. +"They may not be so solemn in their demeanour as Spaniards," I +answered; "but, for all that, there may be quite as much in them." + +We then again began to mount, and before we had ascended much farther +we passed my three countrymen. They were young men, with gray coats +and gray trousers, with slouched hats, and without gloves. They had +fair faces and fair hair, and swung big sticks in their hands, with +crooked handles. They laughed and talked loud, and, when we met +them, seemed to be racing with each other; but nevertheless they were +gentlemen. No one who knows by sight what an English gentleman is, +could have doubted that; but I did acknowledge to myself that they +should have remembered that the edifice they were treading was a +church, and that the silence they were invading was the cherished +property of a courteous people. + +"They are all just the same as big boys," said Maria. The colour +instantly flew into my face, and I felt that it was my duty to speak +up for my own countrymen. The word "boys" especially wounded my +ears. It was as a boy that she treated me; but, on looking at that +befringed young Spanish Don--who was not, apparently, my elder in +age--she had recognised a man. However, I said nothing further till +I reached the summit. One cannot speak with manly dignity while one +is out of breath on a staircase. + +"There, John," she said, stretching her hands away over the fair +plain of the Guadalquivir, as soon as we stood against the parapet; +"is not that lovely?" + +I would not deign to notice this. "Maria," I said, "I think that you +are too hard upon my countrymen?" + +"Too hard! no; for I love them. They are so good and industrious; +and come home to their wives, and take care of their children. But +why do they make themselves so--so--what the French call gauche?" + +"Good and industrious, and come home to their wives!" thought I. "I +believe you hardly understand us as yet," I answered. "Our domestic +virtues are not always so very prominent; but, I believe, we know how +to conduct ourselves as gentlemen: at any rate, as well as +Spaniards." I was very angry--not at the faults, but at the good +qualities imputed to us. + +"In affairs of business, yes," said Maria, with a look of firm +confidence in her own opinion--that look of confidence which she has +never lost, and I pray that she may never lose it while I remain with +her--"but in the little intercourses of the world, no! A Spaniard +never forgets what is personally due either to himself or his +neighbours. If he is eating an onion, he eats it as an onion should +be eaten." + +"In such matters as that he is very grand, no doubt," said I, +angrily. + +"And why should you not eat an onion properly, John? Now, I heard a +story yesterday from Don--about two Englishmen, which annoyed me very +much." I did not exactly catch the name of the Don in question but I +felt through every nerve in my body that it was the man who had been +talking to her on the plaza. + +"And what have they done?" said I. "But it is the same everywhere. +We are always abused; but, nevertheless, no people are so welcome. +At any rate, we pay for the mischief we do." I was angry with myself +the moment the words were out of my mouth, for, after all, there is +no feeling more mean than that pocket-confidence with which an +Englishman sometimes swaggers. + +"There was no mischief done in this case," she answered. "It was +simply that two men have made themselves ridiculous for ever. The +story is all about Seville, and, of course, it annoys me that they +should be Englishmen." + +"And what did they do?" + +"The Marquis D'Almavivas was coming up to Seville in the boat, and +they behaved to him in the most outrageous manner. He is here now +and is going to give a series of fetes. Of course he will not ask a +single Englishman." + +"We shall manage to live even though the Marquis D'Almavivas may +frown upon us," said I, proudly. + +"He is the richest, and also the best of our noblemen," continued +Maria; "and I never heard of anything so absurd as what they did to +him. It made me blush when Don -- told me." Don Tomas, I thought +she said. + +"If he be the best of your noblemen, how comes it that he is angry +because he has met two vulgar men? It is not to be supposed that +every Englishman is a gentleman." + +"Angry! Oh, no! he was not angry; he enjoyed the joke too much for +that. He got completely the best of them, though they did not know +it; poor fools! How would your Lord John Russell behave if two +Spaniards in an English railway carriage were to pull him about and +tear his clothes?" + +"He would give them in charge to a policeman, of course," said I, +speaking of such a matter with the contempt it deserved. + +"If that were done here your ambassador would be demanding national +explanations. But Almavivas did much better;--he laughed at them +without letting them know it." + +"But do you mean that they took hold of him violently, without any +provocation? They must have been drunk." + +"Oh, no, they were sober enough. I did not see it, so I do not quite +know exactly how it was, but I understand that they committed +themselves most absurdly, absolutely took hold of his coat and tore +it, and--; but they did such ridiculous things that I cannot tell +you." And yet Don Tomas, if that was the man's name, had been able +to tell her, and she had been able to listen to him. + +"'What made them take hold of the marquis?" said I. + +"Curiosity, I suppose," she answered. "He dresses somewhat +fancifully, and they could not understand that any one should wear +garments different from their own." But even then the blow did not +strike home upon me. + +"Is it not pretty to look down upon the quiet town?" she said, coming +close up to me, so that the skirt of her dress pressed me, and her +elbow touched my arm. Now was the moment I should have asked her how +her heart stood towards me; but I was sore and uncomfortable, and my +destiny was before me. She was willing enough to let these English +faults pass without further notice, but I would not allow the subject +I drop. + +"I will find out who these men were," said I, "and learn the truth of +it. When did it occur?" + +"Last Thursday, I think he said." + +"Why, that was the day we came up in the boat, Johnson and myself. +There was no marquis there then, and we were the only Englishmen on +board." + +"It was on Thursday, certainly, because it was well known in Seville +that he arrived on that day. You must have remarked him because he +talks English perfectly--though by-the-bye, these men would go on +chattering before him about himself as though it were impossible that +a Spaniard should know their language. They are ignorant of Spanish, +and they cannot bring themselves to believe that any one should be +better educated than themselves." + +Now the blow had fallen, and I straightway appreciated the necessity +of returning immediately to Clapham where my family resided, and +giving up for ever all idea of Spanish connections. I had resolved +to assert the full strength of my manhood on that tower, and now +words had been spoken which left me weak as a child. I felt that I +was shivering, and did not dare to pronounce the truth which must be +made known. As to speaking of love, and signifying my pleasure that +Don Tomas should for the future be kept at a distance, any such +effort was quite beyond me. Had Don Tomas been there, he might have +walked off with her from before my face without a struggle on my +part. "Now I remember about it," she continued, "I think he must +have been in the boat on Thursday." + +"And now that I remember," I replied, turning away to hide my +embarrassment, "he was there. Your friend down below in the plaza +seems to have made out a grand story. No doubt he is not fond of the +English. There was such a man there, and I did take hold--" + +"Oh, John, was it you?" + +"Yes, Donna Maria, it was I; and if Lord John Russell were to dress +himself in the same way--" But I had no time to complete my +description of what might occur under so extravagantly impossible a +combination of circumstances, for as I was yet speaking, the little +door leading out on to the leads of the tower was opened and my +friend, the mayo of the boat, still bearing gewgaws on his back, +stepped up on to the platform. My eye instantly perceived that the +one pendule was still missing from his jacket. He did not come +alone, but three other gentlemen followed him, who, however, had no +peculiarities in their dress. He saw me at once and bowed and +smiled; and then observing Donna Maria, he lifted his cap from his +head, and addressing himself to her in Spanish, began to converse +with her as though she were an old friend. + +"Senor," said Maria, after the first words of greeting had been +spoken between them; "you must permit me to present to you my +father's most particular friend, and my own,--Mr. Pomfret; John, this +is the Marquis D'Almavivas." + +I cannot now describe the grace with which this introduction was +effected, or the beauty of her face as she uttered the word. There +was a boldness about her as though she had said, "I know it all--the +whole story. But, in spite of that you must take him on my +representation, and be gracious to him in spite of what he has done. +You must be content to do that; or in quarrelling with him you must +quarrel with me also." And it was done at the spur of the moment-- +without delay. She, who not five minutes since had been loudly +condemning the unknown Englishman for his rudeness, had already +pardoned him, now that he was known to be her friend; and had +determined that he should be pardoned by others also or that she +would share his disgrace. I recognised the nobleness of this at the +moment; but, nevertheless, I was so sore that I would almost have +preferred that she should have disowned me. + +The marquis immediately lifted his cap with his left hand while he +gave me his right. "I have already had the pleasure of meeting this +gentleman," he said; "we had some conversation in the boat together." + +"Yes," said I, pointing to his rent, "and you still bear the marks of +our encounter." + +"Was it not delightful, Donna Maria," he continued, turning to her; +"your friend's friend took me for a torero?" + +"And it served you properly, senor," said Donna Maria, laughing, "you +have no right to go about with all those rich ornaments upon you." + +"Oh! quite properly; indeed, I make no complaint; and I must beg your +friend to understand, and his friend also, how grateful I am for +their solicitude as to my pecuniary welfare. They were inclined to +be severe on me for being so extravagant in such trifles. I was +obliged to explain that I had no wife at home kept without her proper +allowance of dresses, in order that I might be gay." + +"They are foreigners, and you should forgive their error," said she. + +"And in token that I do so," said the marquis, "I shall beg your +friend to accept the little ornament which attracted his attention." +And so saying, he pulled the identical button out of his pocket, and +gracefully proffered it to me. + +"I shall carry it about with me always," said I, accepting it, "as a +memento of humiliation. When I look at it, I shall ever remember the +folly of an Englishman and the courtesy of a Spaniard;" and as I made +the speech I could not but reflect whether it might, under any +circumstances, be possible that Lord John Russell should be induced +to give a button off his coat to a Spaniard. + +There were other civil speeches made, and before we left the tower +the marquis had asked me to his parties, and exacted from me an +unwilling promise that I would attend them. "The senora," he said, +bowing again to Maria, "would, he was sure, grace them. She had done +so on the previous year; and as I had accepted his little present I +was bound to acknowledge him as my friend." All this was very +pretty, and of course I said that I would go, but I had not at that +time the slightest intention of doing so. Maria had behaved +admirably; she had covered my confusion, and shown herself not +ashamed to own me, delinquent as I was; but, not the less, had she +expressed her opinion, in language terribly strong, of the +awkwardness of which I had been guilty, and had shown almost an +aversion to my English character. I should leave Seville as quickly +as I could, and should certainly not again put myself in the way of +the Marquis D'Almavivas. Indeed, I dreaded the moment that I should +be first alone with her, and should find myself forced to say +something indicative of my feelings--to hear something also +indicative of her feelings. I had come out this morning resolved to +demand my rights and to exercise them--and now my only wish was to +man away. I hated the marquis, and longed to be alone that I might +cast his button from me. To think that a man should be so ruined by +such a trifle! + +We descended that prodigious flight without a word upon the subject, +and almost without a word at all. She had carried herself well in +the presence of Almavivas, and had been too proud to seem ashamed of +her companion; but now, as I could well see, her feelings of disgust +and contempt had returned. When I begged her not to hurry herself, +she would hardly answer me; and when she did speak, her voice was +constrained and unlike herself. And yet how beautiful she was! +Well, my dream of Spanish love must be over. But I was sure of this; +that having known her, and given her my heart, I could never +afterwards share it with another. + +We came out at last on the dark, gloomy aisle of the cathedral, and +walked together without a word up along the side of the choir, till +we came to the transept. There was not a soul near us, and not a +sound was to be heard but the distant, low pattering of a mass, then +in course of celebration at some far-off chapel in the cathedral. +When we got to the transept Maria turned a little, as though she was +going to the transept door, and then stopped herself. She stood +still; and when I stood also, she made two steps towards me, and put +her hand on my arm. "Oh, John!" she said. + +"'Well," said I; "after all it does not signify. You can make a joke +of it when my back is turned." + +"Dearest John!"--she had never spoken to me in that way before--"you +must not be angry with me. It is better that we should explain to +each other, is it not?" + +"Oh, much better. I am very glad you heard of it at once. I do not +look at it quite in the same light that you do; but nevertheless--" + +"What do you mean? But I know you are angry with me. And yet you +cannot think that I intended those words for you. Of course I know +now that there was nothing rude in what passed." + +"Oh, but there was." + +"No, I am sure there was not. You could not be rude though you are +so free hearted. I see it all now, and so does the marquis. You +will like him so much when you come to know him. Tell me that you +won't be cross with me for what I have said. Sometimes I think that +I have displeased you, and yet my whole wish has been to welcome you +to Seville, and to make you comfortable as an old friend. Promise me +that you will not be cross with me." + +Cross with her! I certainly had no intention of being cross, but I +had begun to think that she would not care what my humour might be. +"Maria," I said, taking hold of her hand. + +"No, John, do not do that. It is in the church, you know." + +"Maria, will you answer me a question?" + +"Yes," she said, very slowly, looking dawn upon the stone slabs +beneath our feet. + +"Do you love me?" + +"Love you!" + +"Yes, do you love me? You were to give me an answer here, in +Seville, and now I ask for it. I have almost taught myself to think +that it is needless to ask; and now this horrid mischance--" + +"What do you mean?" said she, speaking very quickly. + +"Why this miserable blunder about the marquis's button! After that I +suppose--" + +"The marquis! Oh, John, is that to make a difference between you and +me?--a little joke like that?" + +"But does it not?" + +"Make a change between us!--such a thing as that! Oh, John!" + +"But tell me, Maria, what am I to hope? If you will say that you can +love me, I shall care nothing for the marquis. In that case I can +bear to be laughed at." + +"Who will dare to laugh at you? Not the marquis, whom I am sure you +will like." + +"Your friend in this plaza, who told you of all this." + +"What, poor Tomas!" + +"I do not know about his being poor. I mean the gentleman who was +with you last night." + +"Yes, Tomas. You do not know who he is?" + +"Not in the least." + +"How droll! He is your own clerk--partly your own, now that you are +one of the firm. And, John, I mean to make you do something for him; +he is such a good fellow; and last year he married a young girl whom +I love--oh, almost like a sister." + +Do something for him! Of course I would. I promised, then and +there, that I would raise his salary to any conceivable amount that a +Spanish clerk could desire; which promise I have since kept, if not +absolutely to the letter, at any rate, to an extent which has been +considered satisfactory by the gentleman's wife. + +"But, Maria--dearest Maria--" + +"Remember, John, we are in the church; and poor papa will be waiting +breakfast." + +I need hardly continue the story further. It will be known to all +that my love-suit throve in spite of my unfortunate raid on the +button of the Marquis D'Almavivas, at whose series of fetes through +that month I was, I may boast, an honoured guest. I have since that +had the pleasure of entertaining him in my own poor house in England, +and one of our boys bears his Christian name. + +From that day in which I ascended the Giralda to this present day in +which I write, I have never once had occasion to complain of a +deficiency of romance either in Maria Daguilar or in Maria Pomfret. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's John Bull on the Guadalquivir, by Anthony Trollope + diff --git a/old/jbgud10.zip b/old/jbgud10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b33698 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jbgud10.zip |