|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 59
"But no such good fare was likely to befall him. In vain he essayed
those powers of pleasing which he had found so irresistible with
country curates and country lasses. Never had he touched his guitar
with such skill; never had he poured forth more soul-moving
ditties, but he had no longer a country curate or country lass to
deal with. The worthy priest evidently did not relish music, and
the modest damsel never raised her eyes from the ground. They
remained but a short time at the fountain; the good padre hastened
their return to Granada. The damsel gave the student one shy glance
in retiring; but it plucked the heart out of his bosom!
"He inquired about them after they had gone. Padre Tom�s was one
of the saints of Granada, a model of regularity; punctual in his
hour of rising; his hour of taking a paseo for an appetite; his
hours of eating; his hour of taking his siesta; his hour of playing
his game of tresillo, of an evening, with some of the dames of the
cathedral circle; his hour of supping, and his hour of retiring to
rest, to gather fresh strength for another day's round of similar
duties. He had an easy sleek mule for his riding; a matronly
housekeeper skilled in preparing tidbits for his table; and the
pet-lamb, to smooth his pillow at night and bring him his chocolate
in the morning.
"Adieu now to the gay, thoughtless life of the student; the
side-glance of a bright eye had been the undoing of him. Day and
night he could not get the image of this most modest damsel out of
his mind. He sought the mansion of the padre. Alas! it was above
the class of houses accessible to a strolling student like himself.
The worthy padre had no sympathy with him; he had never been
_Estudiante sopista_, obliged to sing for his supper. He blockaded
the house by day, catching a glance of the damsel now and then as
she appeared at a casement; but these glances only fed his flame
without encouraging his hope. He serenaded her balcony at night,
and at one time was flattered by the appearance of something white
at a window. Alas, it was only the night-cap of the padre.
"Never was lover more devoted; never damsel more shy: the poor
student was reduced to despair. At length arrived the eve of St.
John, when the lower classes of Granada swarm into the country,
dance away the afternoon, and pass midsummer's night on the banks
of the Darro and the Xenil. Happy are they who on this eventful
night can wash their faces in those waters just as the cathedral
bell tells midnight; for at that precise moment they have a
beautifying power. The student, having nothing to do, suffered
himself to be carried away by the holiday-seeking throng until he
found himself in the narrow valley of the Darro, below the lofty
hill and ruddy towers of the Alhambra. The dry bed of the river;
the rocks which border it; the terraced gardens which overhang it,
were alive with variegated groups, dancing under the vines and
fig-trees to the sound of the guitar and castanets.
"The student remained for some time in doleful dumps, leaning
against one of the huge misshapen stone pomegranates which adorn
the ends of the little bridge over the Darro. He cast a wistful
glance upon the merry scene, where every cavalier had his dame; or,
to speak more appropriately, every Jack his Jill; sighed at his
own solitary state, a victim to the black eye of the most
unapproachable of damsels, and repined at his ragged garb, which
seemed to shut the gate of hope against him.
"By degrees his attention was attracted to a neighbor equally
solitary with himself. This was a tall soldier, of a stern aspect
and grizzled beard, who seemed posted as a sentry at the opposite
pomegranate. His face was bronzed by time; he was arrayed in
ancient Spanish armor, with buckler and lance, and stood immovable
as a statue. What surprised the student was, that though thus
strangely equipped, he was totally unnoticed by the passing throng,
albeit that many almost brushed against him.
"'This is a city of old time peculiarities,' thought the student,
'and doubtless this is one of them with which the inhabitants are
too familiar to be surprised.' His own curiosity, however, was
awakened, and being of a social disposition, he accosted the
soldier.
"'A rare old suit of armor that which you wear, comrade. May I ask
what corps you belong to?'
"The soldier gasped out a reply from a pair of jaws which seemed to
have rusted on their hinges.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|