ABBREVIATIONS

a. and s.adjective and substantive (noun) fig.figurative
adj.adjectiveFr.French
adv.adverbItal.Italian
cf.confer, compareLat.Latin
conj.conjunctionm.masculine
dim.diminutivepl.plural
Eng.Englishq.v.quod vide, which see
f.femininepron.pronoun
fam.familiarreflex.reflexive
s.substantive noun

Forms like del, al, alargue (from alargar), ahorque (ahorcar), rece (rezar) are not given as titles in the vocabulary. The student will need to know the irregular verbs at sight: puse, vino, puesto, dije, dicho, hecho, etc.

Gender indications are omitted as follows;

m. omitted:names of males
masculine nouns in -o
agent nouns in -or, -nte
f. omitted:names of females
feminine nouns in -a, -ión, -dad, -tud, -ez

NOTES:

  1. [1] la Real Academia Española, the Spanish Royal Academy, the national authority in language and literature. The Academy issued, in 1914, the 14th edition of its dictionary.
  2. [2] la vecina corte, or la villa y corte, means 'Madrid'.
  3. [3] con vivas instancias, with hearty urging. Cf. the kindred sense in "instant (urgent) in prayer".
  4. [4] Veneno, as a nickname, like "Hothead" or "Fire-eater", easily enraged.
  5. [5] 1848: Isabel II being queen. She was dethroned in 1868.
  6. [6] la República: it was twenty-five years later that Spain became a republic, and then relapsed in one year.
  7. [7] Ataulfo, Visigoth king; with Alaric, he overran Italy; died assassinated 415 A.D.
  8. [8] Pelayo, called "first king of the Spaniards". Died about 737.
  9. [9] Trastamara became king as Henry II. Died 1379.
  10. [10] Isabel II: 1830-1904; queen at three; niece of Don Carlos, who always opposed her.
  11. [11] Narváez: 1800-1868; general and statesman of great energy.
  12. [12] acontecimientos, happenings. Let the student note the ending -imiento, so common with -er and -ir verb stems.
  13. [13] vivían: the student must learn to recognize the subject far after the verb, constantly in this text, and commonly.
  14. [14] piadosas: any adjective may precede its noun in a complimentary way.
  15. [15] éranse que se eran, there were so there were: children's style; que, in such clauses as this, is frequently to be ignored in translation, or else is to be rendered by and. The verb ser rarely takes a reflexive.
  16. [16] salido en todo a su padre, had turned out to look like her father: salirse a, in the sense of parecerse a, to look like.
  17. [17] doméstica, servant: this poor girl is abused throughout the story.
  18. [18] hasta cierto punto, to a certain extent: not used here seriously, but rather trivially. The author often drops into a coterie style.
  19. [19] con faldas, with skirts on: facetious. Cf. hígado con pies y sombrero, 'a liver with feet and hat'. Niña de la Bola, p. 126. Such often in Alarcón.
  20. [20] Facilísimo: Felicísimo in the 10th edition.
  21. [21] dejara de, should fail to: preposition echoes the prefix.
  22. [22] prendarse de, be taken with: a common construction.
  23. [23] luego que fijase en ella la atención, as soon as he observed her; literally, as soon as he fixed his attention on her. Cf. parar atención en, parar mientes en.
  24. [24] Preste Juan, Prester John: anglicized form of the name of a medieval king in Asia, whom missionaries reported as converted. About the name grew up fanciful and extravagant stories.
  25. [25] hasta que, till that [we form an opinion]: note the que for the preposition to lean on; so, following note.
  26. [26] de que, of [the fact] that: the preposition needs que.
  27. [27] Dijérase, It might be said: Alarcón very often puts the pronoun as an enclitic, at the end of the verb.
  28. [28] pagada, paid, satisfied, then self-satisfied. Cf. pagarse de meras palabras, be satisfied with mere words, Bello-Cuervo, Gramática, p. 1.
  29. [29] esas calles de Dios: say these blessed streets.
  30. [30] detengamos en: cf. second note 6, 7.
  31. [31] disparaban, were firing: other words in the text for shoot are tirar, fusilar, hacer fuego, hacer descarga.
  32. [32] de modo... que, so that: the student will note how the sense decides for indicative (as here) or subjunctive.
  33. [33] dar en = dar golpes en, strike on: dar and echar, verbs very short and very common, are used for many other verbs, just as English uses get and make for other verbs: get hurt, make a train, make a dollar, etc.
  34. [34] pellejo, hide: properly of animals; shows the author's scorn for the poor servant.
  35. [35] Galicia: not the Galicia we heard of so often in the first year of the Great War, and later, but the Galicia that forms the northwest corner of Spain.
  36. [36] desoyendo (des-oír), as though not hearing, i.e. disregarding; so later, desatender and desentendiendo, ignoring. Cf. our ignore, with a special meaning not felt in ignorant. Nadie se dio por entendido, Nobody let on.
  37. [37] daban a, opened on: cf. note 8, 7 for dar.
  38. [38] haciendo fuego: six or eight verbs replace estar and go with -ndo forms; so continuar here, and seguir often in the text.
  39. [39] medio, half: one of the adverbs without the ending -mente.
  40. [40] por considerarlo = porque lo consideraban, because they regarded him as.
  41. [41] echaban a, began: echar a has become almost an auxiliary verb with infinitives, and serves for several other verbs.
  42. [42] Quedó, Remained, was [left]: subject follows, as often. For another use of quedar, cf. quedamos en lo dicho, we will leave it that way, or it's agreed as said (Alarcón in Buenaventura, p. 5).
  43. [43] en medio: as usual without el.
  44. [44] piadosas: here the adjective follows, for emphasis.
  45. [45] informe, unshapely: complimentary or derogatory sense puts the adjective before its noun.
  46. [46] conocer, perceive: shows here the typical (inceptive) meaning of verbs in -cer.
  47. [47] balazo, a shot, literally, a blow with a bullet (bala + -azo): lately in Kansas City, a woman entered a saloon (where her husband got drunk), seized a chair (silla) and damaged the place "a sillazos", as the Spanish weekly Cosmopolita reported.
  48. [48] atravesada, pierced; fracturada, broken: the past participle must show gender and number, except with haber.
  49. [49] reparando en, noticing: the idea is first stop: so pararse, posarse; cf. also the noun reparos, remarks, objections, where one stops or hesitates.
  50. [50] primero is one of the few adverbs without -mente.
  51. [51] volver a (tornar a): again is often expressed as here without an adverb, otra vez, de nuevo, etc.
  52. [52] muy altas: note adjective for English adverb, as often.
  53. [53] dejásemos morir and (15,4) déjame ir: dejar, to leave, allow, let, becomes an auxiliary verb like may, can, etc., so takes the infinitive: déjalo dormir, hacérmelo ver in Alarcón's Sombrero, and so often. Also deja que te dé un abrazo, let me give you a hug. Like dejar, its opposite impedir is construed: me impedía desahogar, kept me from soothing [my soul in yours].
  54. [54] se diría, would be said: the reflexive form is commoner than the passive. The little bootblacks in Buenos Aires, instead of saying "Shine, Mister?" say: ¿Quiere el señor servirse? Cf. the striking case quoted by Bello, §908: Llevose el cadáver al templo.
  55. [55] dichosas, literally, happy, but meaning unhappy, awful, accursed. This story is full of the disguised (encubierto) oath, or euphemism, as well as of real oaths: say here these blessed wars. Cf. the use of santa, 85, 2.
  56. [56] no vas, you are not going: the indicative either present or future (cf. the future in the ten commandments) is strong for the imperative. But notice that here, and through the story, Angustias has her own way.
  57. [57] de qué poco: de because with servir, how little use are your bandages.
  58. [58] tu... marido, thy husband: in plays and novels the author must make sure the reader or hearer gets the point; hence the insistence here upon the two relationships of the one man.
  59. [59] no habría... si... hubiese: in this text there are many substitutes for this typical or chief form of the condition [si-clause] and conclusion [habría here].
  60. [60] medio (or mitad in the sense of medio) seldom has the article.
  61. [61] haya: even such words as creer, ver, saber, verbs that usually have que and the indicative, will take the subjunctive after a negative word or sense.
  62. [62] hermosa: adjective here for our adverb, as usual with ir, venir, etc. So to a waiter: mi sopa, y ligero [bring] my soup and [bring it] quick.
  63. [63] viera, saw: here Latin viderat, had seen, with indicative sense survives, as in Portuguese. Common in Spanish along the border of Portugal.
  64. [64] ¡No diéronle! and (18, 7) ¡Diéronle!—exclamó con su gramática de Mondoñedo; but Alarcón himself doesn't need to scold Mondoñedo; post-placed pronouns are frequent in Alarcón's own style. The order with the negative is especially noteworthy.
  65. [65] medio: This form serves as noun, adjective, or adverb. In line 11 it is adverbial, whereas in line 12 it is substantive.
  66. [66] seguida del, followed by: a true passive.
  67. [67] sin que... se enterase nadie, without that any one noticed or knew, without any one's noticing.
  68. [68] de que, of [the fact] that; so hasta que, till; but según regularly without que.
  69. [69] justificola: this order with la at the end is almost a mannerism with Alarcón. Inconsistently, the Academy leaves the marked accent here, but marks the preterit in díjole, as it does all verb forms whose accented syllable, by reason of the post-placing of pronouns, comes to occupy proparoxytonic or anteproparoxytonic position: toma, tómalo, tómatelo; tomar, tomarlo, tomárselo; tomando, tomándolo, tomándoselo, etc.
  70. [70] fractura = rotura.
  71. [71] vicio de Pero Grullo: a perogrullada is an explanation of something already clear, a definition of self-evident facts, and repeats the thought in other words without adding anything much. You might as well kill a fellow as scare him to death is a perogrullada. For a whole set of perogrulladas, see Goldsmith's Madam Blaise. Hamlet's Words, words, words is of the same nature, and many times in Hamlet besides: cf. There isn't in all Denmark an infamous man who isn't a great villain, Hamlet I. 3. If the king likes not the comedy, why then he likes it not, perdy, Hamlet III. 2. Or take the phrase attributed to Lincoln: If people like that sort of a thing that is about the sort of a thing they will like. There is also the proverbial phrase in Spanish: Es una verdad de Perogrullo (or Pero Grullo), que a la mano cerrada llamaba puño. Cf. Luis Montoto y Rautenstrauch: Personajes, personas y personillas, etc., Sevilla, 1912, vol. II, pp. 304-5.
  72. [72] quebrantarle: the third word for break.
  73. [73] por conocer, because he knew.
  74. [74] quedó en, agreed: cf. English they left it that way; and German dabei blieb es, so it was settled. The verb quedar means remain, but in the phrase quedar en gets the meaning agree, much as the English words settle [a matter], rest [the case], developed a sense of conclusion or agreement.
  75. [75] por si, for fear that = por si acaso.
  76. [76] al + infinitive, at nightfall: good example of temporal use of this construction.
  77. [77] Serían las tres de la madrugada, It must have been about three A.M.: cf. Yo tendría diez años, I was about ten years old. This form in -ría (conditional) is made up of the infinitive of the verb and the endings of había, and so corresponds in meaning to the use of the future in such a case as ¿Qué hora será? What time do you suppose it is?
  78. [78] sinventura, one without luck; so una sinvergüenza, a shameless girl; un sinnúmero, a host of, a lot of; so humorously el sin-hueso, the tongue. sin ventura: printed separately in the 10th edition.
  79. [79] dichosísima: like dichosa before: blessed (i.e. confounded).
  80. [80] roncaba, si había que roncar, snored if ever there was snoring: cf. nevaba si había que nevar, it snowed if it ever did, in Alarcón's story Moros y Cristianos; Guillermo y Julia reían si había que reír, William and Julia laughed if ever any one did, La Pródiga, p. 193.
  81. [81] por no haber, because she had not.
  82. [82] occipucio, occiput: Alarcón often playfully throws in an odd or big word, or even slang.
  83. [83] habían cruzado, had exchanged: the mother and daughter were discussing the unconscious man. Could observaciones be the subject here?
  84. [84] que declarasen, such as might declare: an example of the subjunctive of characteristic; or in a relative clause with an indefinite antecedent.
  85. [85] asegurando: segurando in the 10th edition.
  86. [86] sentado muy mal, had offended: by the manner of it quite as much as by the word itself, for such words are common.
  87. [87] Guía de Forasteros, Strangers' Guide or Directory (giving names and titles, like our Red Books and Blue Books).
  88. [88] caiga que caiga, come what may; and later quiera o no quiera, whether or no: subjunctives, used optatively or imperatively.
  89. [89] Dejémosle: the pronouns -le and -me are unnecessary, but add a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the following verb.
  90. [90] permíteme: the pronouns -le and -me are unnecessary, but add a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the following verb.
  91. [91] Convenio de Vergara, Treaty of Vergara, i.e. the terms of agreement between General Espartero for the queen, and General Maroto for the Carlists.
  92. [92] Tiene and (21) ha in this same sentence: what is the difference?
  93. [93] teniendo... habiendo: let the student note the distinct meanings.
  94. [94] que maldito..., accursed, condemned: translate, and blamed if I deserve them.
  95. [95] nos agradezca cosa alguna, that you thank us for anything: the construction is nos dative, and cosa alguna accusative, and the subjunctive in a subordinate clause dependent upon necesitamos.
  96. [96] convenido, signer, party to: sense of convenirse, fall in with, adjust oneself.
  97. [97] des cuerda: the figure is of winding an old-style clock.
  98. [98] a que me traten con bondad, to their treating me with kindness: Alarcón admired the Spanish general O'Donnell greatly, and seems to have taken him as the prototype of Captain Veneno. Alarcón was with O'Donnell in Africa, and wrote, in the Diario de un testigo, in detail of O'Donnell's frank, abrupt, even harsh bearing. The wound in the head was possibly suggested also by a great scar on an Arab's head, of which Alarcón tells in the Diario.
  99. [99] He dicho, I have done, or I have spoken: at the end of a speech, like amen at the end of a prayer; it is the dixi of the Roman orators.
  100. [100] ¡Jesús...! all the characters of this story use oaths and asseverations, except the servant girl. Translate here: Heavens!
  101. [101] condolido: this verb 'pity' repeated becomes comical; poor rhetoric. Like Ormulum's Alls iff þu drunnke waterrdrinnch, As if thou drankest a waterdrink.
  102. [102] entre las tres, we three, where entre is losing its prepositional force, as it has in entrambos, entre usted y yo. Rubén Darío says (Autobiografía, p. 61): Entre él y otros amigos me arreglaron mi viaje a Chile, He and other friends provided (money) for my trip to Chile. Entre ellos y los soldados... lo cogieron, they and the soldiers caught him.
  103. [103] ¡vaya si pesa...! my but you are heavy! cf. ¡Vaya que susto me has dado! Oh, what a scare you gave me! Una carta de tu tío, y ¡vaya si es gorda! A letter from your uncle, and my but it's big! Alarcón in Moros y Cristianos. ¡Vaya si me lo llevaré! Surely I'll take it (the secret) to the grave with me! Moros y Cristianos. Novelas Cortas, Giese ed., p. 109.
  104. [104] amostazarse: from mostaza, mustard: cf. pepper, ginger, in familiar parlance.
  105. [105] tiráronle un tiro, they shot her a shot: cf. English "killed him dead"; poor rhetoric again.
  106. [106] perdone: asking him to pardon her for frightening her mother, seems far-fetched, a false note; but it does inform the captain of the facts in the case; que is omitted here as often with words like suplicar, pedir, rogar, etc.
  107. [107] os: this second person plural is not always familiar.
  108. [108] hazmerreír, make-me-laugh, laughing-stock; a whole sentence become a word, like hand-me-down for ready-made and like Hoosier (if from "Who-is-yer") and forget-me-not. Spanish has also corre-ve-i-dile, tattle-tale; va-i-ven, pendulum motion; gana-pierde, give-away (at checkers).
  109. [109] faltaba = faltaría: a common idiomatic use of the imperfect indicative for the conditional.
  110. [110] mismo: in mañana mismo, ahora mismo, the adverb is used as a neuter noun.
  111. [111] después de acostada, after you are in bed: very common usage; no suppressed word need be assumed. The form has become idiomatic. Cf. the English usage of certain localities: he wants in, he wants out, for he wants to get in, he wants to get out, where we no longer think of the omitted verb.
  112. [112] tila con flor de azahar, lime tea and orange flower, a soothing concoction for the nerves.
  113. [113] aunque Dios no quiera, even though God be unwilling: an allusion to the usual phrase "God willing", Deo volente. Lorenzo Dow said: "I shall preach, God willing; no, I will anyway".
  114. [114] Angustias: he hasn't heard her name yet; not in the story.
  115. [115] número...: the dots, puntos suspensivos, are read as tal, so-and-so.
  116. [116] Veneno, Venom: about like Spitfire, if it were for a woman.
  117. [117] el enviar, the sending: infinitives and past participles are an abundant source of nouns in Spanish.
  118. [118] Buenos días, Good day: much more usual at meeting or passing, and by day, than at leaving and at night, although it was of course, by this time, about four o'clock in the morning.
  119. [119] de demonio, devilish: this is the nearest Rosa comes to oaths. In the Diario, Alarcón speaks of the mil votos y ternos, thousand oaths and curses, of the soldiers.
  120. [120] de punta, on end: a fine example of de used to make an adverb; we use of similarly for time (of a morning, of Sundays); Spanish uses de for adverbs of time, place, or manner. Six of the clock, of necessity, born of woman, of a truth, said of old, live of milk alone, all of a sudden, in English are of a vanishing type.
  121. [121] cervata: usually only masculine cervato, but Rosa follows the general principle. Her háceme temblar is rather provincial for me hace.
  122. [122] como el dolor, as well as sorrow: our style would be rather sorrow as well as happiness. It is notable how often the order is reversed in Spanish, e.g. antes como después, before as afterwards, tarde o temprano, late or soon (i.e. sooner or later).
  123. [123] hallábase: Alarcón, as well as Rosa, puts the pronoun last.
  124. [124] A éste le había dado... por callar, He had taken to silence, he didn't feel like talking: dar (impersonal) for some other verb as often; cf. le dio por ahí, he (or she) took to that.
  125. [125] Cristo: a strong oath. Usually Cristo is covered by some innocent word beginning with the same sound, as we shall often see. Captain Veneno later says por Jesucristo vivo, 135, 20.
  126. [126] balazo de la frente, bullet wound in his forehead: in the Diario I, 168, Alarcón tells of a captive Moor who had a terrible scar in his forehead: nos mostró una larga cicatriz que le atravesaba toda la frente. ¿Cómo no moriste?—La bala se deslizó sobre el hueso,—respondió, He showed us a long scar which crossed his whole forehead. Why didn't it kill you?—The ball glanced on the bone, he answered.
  127. [127] por estar la tibia muy destrozada, because the tibia was shattered. The subject of the infinitive is the post-placed noun tibia.
  128. [128] a solas, alone, privately: as feminine -mente is universal for the adverb ending, and as cosa is so often understood, it has come about that the fashion is to make adverbial expressions with a feminine form: cf. apenas, a duras penas, a ciegas; and even where the feminine is illogical, as in a ojos vistas, a pie juntillas, a ojos cegarritas: two constructions are confused, the adverb from a noun: a ojos, a pie, a la vista, and the adverb from an adjective.
  129. [129] tres Marías: reference to the three Marys at the crucifixion, Matthew 27:56. The phrase has become common with the legend that the three Marys came to Provence together.
  130. [130] ¡cáspita...! and (20) ¡caracoles...!: note the disguised [encubierto] oath, how it starts as though to say Cristo and switches off to ca-something, any word beginning with ca- (canastos, caminos, canales, calles, culebrines, etc.), or even ca alone, or que. The commonest is caramba. In the Diario I, p. 32, and elsewhere several times, Alarcón speaks of the great amount of swearing: Valiéndose de distintas interjecciones y muletillas, usando de diverso género de oratorio, declaman, votan, refieren, arguyan, se insultan, se reconcilian..., Using different interjections and gags, using a varied kind of oratory, they declaim, swear, quote, argue, insult each other, make up.... Cf. our disguised forms for Jesus: By Joe, by George, Gewhiz, Jerusalem, Jehosaphat, Jimminy, and many more.
  131. [131] Y cuenta que = Tenga usted en cuenta que, And remember or just to think; in Don Quixote, haz cuenta que. Cf. the fuller form Hágase V. cuenta de que no nos hemos abrazado todavía, Remember we have not embraced each other yet. Escándalo, p. 151.
  132. [132] calaverada: cf. Aquella calaverada propuesta por la serpiente y aceptada por Eva, That prank proposed by the serpent and accepted by Eve.
  133. [133] velis nolis [Latin], whether or no, willy nilly = Spanish quiera o no quiera. Another form is de buen o mal grado, in La Pródiga.
  134. [134] dejarse cuidar... por, let [some one] take care of him: se is the object of cuidar, then por following mixes the construction. Cf. English I have heard say by somebody, a mixed construction for I have heard said by somebody, and I have heard somebody say.
  135. [135] so pena, under penalty: so pretexto, and so capa, under pretext; so, often pronounced jo, gave way to bajo, which is the common word for under. So [Lat. sub] remains in a few legal or set phrases.
  136. [136] precauciones nasales, nasal precautions: facetious, like the expressions of a baseball reporter with us; it is a style of playfulness common with Alarcón.
  137. [137] alguno after its word = ninguno.
  138. [138] interrumpió: a marked trait of Jorge.
  139. [139] señores: includes señoras; cf. los reyes católicos de España, the Catholic king and queen of Spain, i.e. Ferdinand and Isabel.
  140. [140] la contraria [razón]: Alarcón uses el contrario, lo contrario, in the same sense.
  141. [141] himno de Riego: not so much that he indorsed Riego, as to be mean and pique the marquis. Alarcón would not have a hero too radical. He tells us Jorge had never been a revolutionist (lo que nunca ha hecho ha sido pronunciarse). He tells us of himself that he was anti-royalist only a little while: his democratic impulses (pujos democráticos) were sudden and fleeting (repentinos y fugaces). See Diario I, p. 11.
  142. [142] a quien nadie mandaba echar su cuarto a espadas, whom nobody told to bet his money on spades, i.e. he had no business to get into the fray: the figure is of betting on cards.
  143. [143] podía haber escarmentado, he might have known better.
  144. [144] perito agrónomo, land expert, surveyor: agrónomo is an adjective.
  145. [145] Señoras y señores: addressed to the same ones he called señores before.
  146. [146] partiendo de la base, starting from the basis = taking for granted.
  147. [147] resabios, tricks: note the sense flavor, taste, bad taste, of the stem saber, to taste, smack, flavor, here and in sinsabores, desabrimiento, desabor. Cf. English disgusting [gust, 'taste'].
  148. [148] ahorrar descontentos y sinsabores, to spare the lady annoyances and offenses.
  149. [149] proveer = resolver, deciding.
  150. [150] gran: apocopated, instead of grande as usual whether before masculine or feminine noun.
  151. [151] Bilbao: one would think first of the famous Chilean patriot, Francisco Bilbao, after mention of Riego; but as there was no man Maella corresponding, the two names must refer to the towns. Bilbao was besieged several times, and as late as 1874, in the Carlist wars. The Bilbaínos are sturdy and brave, love liberty, and easily join against the government. The battle of Maella was won by General Cabrera in 1830.
  152. [152] en esto, meantime: like en tanto, en cuanto.
  153. [153] a fuer de = al tenor de, as a.
  154. [154] en sendas butacas, in their respective chairs.
  155. [155] generalato: note -ato and -ado, different forms of the same ending.
  156. [156] condado: note -ato and -ado, different forms of the same ending.
  157. [157] a poco, in a little while, as soon as: cf. al ver, when he saw.
  158. [158] hurgó [from furca, fork; cf. stir, prod]: preterit of hurgar, confused with urgió, urged, from urgir.
  159. [159] derecho... a tener que comer, the right to have something to eat, i.e. right to live, have a pension.
  160. [160] que le asistía, that was present to her or that she had: cf. para sospechar que le asistían razones para no decirlo, to suspect that he had reasons for not telling. Escándalo, p. 44.
  161. [161] pasta de ángeles, the nature of angels: cf. Soy de la madera de Diógenes, I am of the wood (material) of Diogenes. Escándalo, p. 33.
  162. [162] poco asustadizas, not scary: cf. bold, bad man.
  163. [163] crisma, the [anointed or sprinkled] head: familiar even from such a dignified man; el bautismo is used in the same sense. Otelo II, 2.
  164. [164] quítame allá esas pajas, take away those straws: a common phrase for bagatelle, a mere nothing. Don Quixote says, Parte I, cap. XXIX: en dácame esas pajas, in a 'give me those straws' = in no time, in the twinkling of an eye.
  165. [165] como no sea, as it be not = if not, unless.
  166. [166] deseare: must be for deseara or desease. All editions have deseare. It is the only instance in Alarcón along with a form in -ría.
  167. [167] Ya se ve, It is seen = That is plain, the reason is plain.
  168. [168] Apuntole el bozo, His beard started, i.e. At puberty [he was in wars in America].
  169. [169] ha hecho ha sido: note even in verbs the tendency to repeat forms after a relative.
  170. [170] están a la orden de usted, are at your service, at your disposal: an extreme, but very common, formula of politeness; similarly, a Spaniard, in telling a friend where he lives, will not say: Ahí está mi casa, but Ahí tiene usted su casa, There is your house.
  171. [171] de saberlo = si lo supiese, if he knew it: the condition can be supplied in several ways: si lo supiera, a saberlo, sabiéndolo, si lo sabía, or even si sabe. The conclusion (here dimitiría) has fewer forms: dimitiera, dimitía, dimite, and rarely dimitiese. This form in -se is not considered good style.
  172. [172] milloncejos: note the diminutive. English would cover the idea by some adjective: my snug nine million, my cool nine million, my little old nine million.
  173. [173] el general: al in the 10th edition is an error.
  174. [174] dilatadas, deferred: cf. ... con aplausos y vivas, de donde resultó que aquella votación fuese muy dilatada, with applause and shouts, whence it came that the voting was much delayed. Villaseñor, Guillermo, p. 337.
  175. [175] tenga: verbs of all kinds, even decir,at times omit que; but the que is oftenest omitted with such verbs as suplicar, beg, pray, implore.
  176. [176] hasta cierto punto, to a certain extent: here more normal than at 5, 9.
  177. [177] mismísimo: three different sounds of i in this word, according to Professor Olmsted.
  178. [178] demos por terminada, let us consider it ended: so delo por dicho, you needn't tell me, never mind, or I don't care to hear it.
  179. [179] ¡Permítame usted besarle la mano!—¡Y permite... que yo te abrace...! verbs like permitir, dejar, impedir, admit either the infinitive or a que-clause, without difference in meaning.
  180. [180] salgan: salir, seguir [continuar, quedar, venir, andar] follow ir and take -ndo forms after them, like estar.
  181. [181] consentido en: consentir takes en, con, a, and sometimes sobre, with different senses.
  182. [182] que tengas: omitted in 10th edition.
  183. [183] Mejor que mejor, Better and better: so peor que peor, dale que dale, etc., where the much used que is only an emphatic y, and; cf. éranse que se eran, 5, 1.
  184. [184] permitiese: -se and -ra forms are still used in wishes [like exclamations]; cf. Así nos diera Dios grandes políticos, Oh, that God would give us great politicians! Diario II, 272. ¡Diérame Dios el numen de Tasso! Oh, that God would give me Tasso's inspiration! Diario I, 320. ¡O Absalom! ¡Quién diera que hubiera yo muerto en lugar de ti! Oh, that I had died for thee! Bible. In Job 3: 1-9 are many examples in Valera's text: these are changed to present subjunctive in the Mexican edition of 1910. -se forms not so often: ¡Fuese ya mañana y estuviésemos en la batalla! Amadís, in Bello-Cuervo, § 701. ¡Quien me diese que me creyeseis! Oh that you would believe me! Ibid. Cf. also the familiar ¡Acabaras! to a child, Hush up!
  185. [185] Angustias: he omits señorita this time.
  186. [186] la primera vez de su vida, the first time in his life; so in Alarcón often: first tears, first smile, last time in his life, and others.
  187. [187] carne de perro: a compliment about like strong as a horse. The doctor falls into the captain's style.
  188. [188] matasanos, killer of well men: humorous here, but a common type: cf. curaperros, quitasol, parasol, sacamuelas (dentist), perdona-vidas (bully), picaporte. All like our pick-pocket, turnkey, cureall, forget-me-not.
  189. [189] Cuando salga, When I get out: there is hardly a word that occurs oftener with the present subjunctive than cuando.
  190. [190] todo un hombre, a whole man: cf. toda una obra maestra, a real masterpiece; todo un capitán, a real captain.
  191. [191] ¡Cuidado si tiene hígados para remendar cuerpos rotos! It's a caution what a nerve you have for mending broken bodies: cuidado has become a disguised oath (for emphasis) with its k sound; cf. ¡Cuidado si está el chico que da gloria verlo! I'll declare the little fellow is a fine sight. Niño de la Bola, p. 174. Cf. also ¡Cuidado que aquel dichoso año hizo calor! That blessed year was plenty hot enough! Viva el Papa, p. 43. It is a year that I have been grumbling about an overcoat, y cuidado que me hace falta, and gracious how awfully I need it. Núñez. ¡Cuidado que a mí me encantan Horacio y Virgilio y los Gracos y...! I do like H. and V..., though. Valera, Cartas Americanas, p. 92.
  192. [192] había oído citar, had heard some one mention.
  193. [193] al cabecilla, the leader (cabeza): grammar gender and sex go together when speaking of persons: so el cura, el corneta, unos canallas, some scamps.
  194. [194] Era de notar, It was noticeable: cf. es de ver, it is worth seeing.
  195. [195] el pícaro de D. Jorge, that rogue Don Jorge: so English, that dog of a landlord; but Spanish uses a substantivized adjective so, e.g. la necia de mi tía, my silly aunt. Common.
  196. [196] que ha: after a relative the verb could be the first person he, as in older English (e.g. who art in heaven).
  197. [197] por hacer, because it was.
  198. [198] Si fuera, If you were (but you are not) ..., habíamos, we should have to.... Note here and in the following two speeches the condition (si-clause) and the conclusion (with the imperfect indicative or the conditional). Angustias: Si yo fuese hombre, me reiría... seríamos. El Capitán: siendo usted hombre, yo no llegaría... le propondría.... So si fuese = si fuera = si era = siendo = a ser = de ser = si es, all forms the condition might take.
  199. [199] mocosilla, snotnose: Jorge is not trying to be elegant; not an uncommon word. Spanish uses a moco tendido, tragar saliva, and many such phrases that we avoid. Moratín (père) uses the word moco freely. Victor Hugo calls the starry skies God's spittle.
  200. [200] puesta en sus puntos, very correct and proper, as though cut to a pattern.
  201. [201] hago: this is as near as Spanish comes to our do as an auxiliary. Agradecer and sonreír are infinitives in apposition with the phrase lo que yo hago, what I do: say thank you and smile. Cf. ¿Qué hizo?—Lo mismo que su merced: reírse a todo trapo. What did he do?—The same as you: laugh with all his might. Alarcón, La Buenaventura, p. 4.
  202. [202] cocodrilo, crocodile: the eager student can find abundant examples in Spanish (and English, too) where r has changed its position in the word: bergante (brigand), propósito (purpose), corbata (cravat).
  203. [203] respuesta no la: the pronoun is regularly given after a noun (object) standing before the verb; but cf. the rhetorical ¡Rubor me causa hablar..., It makes me blush to speak..., 97, 25.
  204. [204] mismísimos diablos: just a new kind of emphasis, not parlor language even in Spanish, where oaths are so common as to be largely colorless.
  205. [205] Conozco, I see, perceive: an inchoative here.
  206. [206] en mitad for en medio, and so, like medio, it has no article. We meet mitad sordo, mitad artista, half deaf, half artist.
  207. [207] Casino de mi alma, my darling Casino: a parallel English (Irish) expression is Peg o' my heart.
  208. [208] de on account of días: noun needs de before its descriptive infinitive; cf. noches de no dormir.
  209. [209] embozo, covers (at the head): cf. verb embozarse, to wrap up neck and face.
  210. [210] sobre otra (silla), on another (chair): not one leg over the other.
  211. [211] sillón-cama: the adjective element last, as in vagón-cama, bed-wagon, sleeping-car.
  212. [212] enfermos como los sanos, the sick the same as the well: the meaning and order for us is: the well the same as the sick.
  213. [213] confianza y benevolencia que ya le merecía, the confidence and goodwill which she (la señora) had already won from him: verbs that formerly governed various cases have been leveled down to the construction of dar, and take a dative and an accusative (or direct and indirect object); so pagar, comprar, agradecer, oír (oírle las razones, hear his reasons), llamar (llamarle la atención).
  214. [214] la, it: the usual feminine for our indefinite it: let it go; now you've done it.
  215. [215] santa: euphemism again; the whole blessed night.
  216. [216] impenitente: the 10th edition has impertinente.
  217. [217] no... ya, no longer.
  218. [218] doblemos = volvamos, let us turn.
  219. [219] arrepentida, repentant: -ido forms often have -ing sense: dormido, sleeping; colgado, hanging; sufrido, patient; callado, silent. The changed meaning is often only apparent, as in agradecido, grateful; complacido, pleasant. Sometimes the sense is little different between the past and present participles, e.g. hung on the wall or hanging on the wall.
  220. [220] que le he oído cantar, I have heard you sing; hacerme decir, make me say; se dejó fusilar, let himself get shot; notice that in the first, le is the object of oído; in the second, -me is the object of hacer; but in the last, se is the object of fusilar.
  221. [221] caramba: this is the commonest oath = heavens; it expresses surprise or anger in various degrees, and often is virtually colorless.
  222. [222] Peripecia, Sudden Change in the Situation; mudanza repentina de situación, Diccionario de la Academia.
  223. [223] y que, and that: this que is used here after y because the following dependent clause, instead of continuing the infinitive construction sonar (dependent on oyó), is going to introduce a new personal subject.
  224. [224] a estas horas: plural in keeping with a las dos, etc. Common.
  225. [225] oyose al mismo: se here is equivalent to "one" as subject: one heard, etc.
  226. [226] sentirse: from feel the meaning passes to hear.
  227. [227] Conoció, Saw, perceived.
  228. [228] del cuello: al cuello in several editions.
  229. [229] Me he puesto mala: Spanish has no independent word for become, but uses ponerse, hacerse, volverse, ser, and others.
  230. [230] Ya se me va pasando, I am getting over it now.
  231. [231] Llegado que hubo, When (the doctor) had come: hubo as auxiliary instead of había, always in this phrase; the sense of exact time is felt more when time is marked by an adverb; and so hubo, aside from this use with que after the past participle, is seldom found without an adverb apenas, luego que, no bien, or cuando.
  232. [232] angelical: the double ending -ic-al, so common in English, is little used in Spanish.
  233. [233] despierte: subject follows.
  234. [234] ¡Dios querrá dejarme vivir hasta que amanezca...! the future used like an imperative: God grant that I may live till morning.
  235. [235] la chica, the little one = Angustias. Like esta chiquilla, 86, 14.
  236. [236] ¡Estaría escrito! It surely was written: referring to biblical it is written, está escrito. Estaría de Dios, same sense. In La Pródiga: sic fata voluerunt, so the fates decreed, p. 208; and era fatalidad de mi estrella, it was in my stars, p. 227. Cf. Vendrán el día que esté escrito, They will come in due time.
  237. [237] hasta la consumación de los siglos, till the end of time.
  238. [238] de pedirme, [the pleasure] of having you ask me: the whole sentence is poor rhetoric and syntax (the infinitives are confused); but the meaning is What can I do for you then? For it is plain you would not be passing through so much distress to do me the honor of asking me, or having me ask my cousin, for the miserable filth called lucre—for you know how much we both esteem both of you.
  239. [239] tengo... a quien encomendársela: cf. tengo algo que hacer, tengo que ir, and English hath not where to lay his head; tener con quien pelear.
  240. [240] sea, haya, sea, muera: four differently construed subjunctives.
  241. [241] sea, haya, sea, muera: four differently construed subjunctives.
  242. [242] sea, haya, sea, muera: four differently construed subjunctives.
  243. [243] sea, haya, sea, muera: four differently construed subjunctives.
  244. [244] para que me amen = para ser amado: a good example of substitute for the passive. Cf. Escándalo, p. 176: no quiero matarte ni que tú me mates a mí, I don't want to kill you nor to be killed by you: and in La Pródiga, p. 75: No; yo no he nacido para odiar ni ser odiado, I was not born to hate or to be hated.
  245. [245] desde que soy, since I have been: good example of Spanish present tense for our present perfect.
  246. [246] estos primeros besos: but they are not the first. See back one page. Alarcón often uses a phrase like "for the first time in his life".
  247. [247] a quien: direct object of three verbs and indirect object of deber. No wonder that even the grammarians cannot always agree on the cases.
  248. [248] ha muerto: thus commonly when the body is still present; murió would not be natural.
  249. [249] ¡En buena...! In a pretty fix! feminine form, adverbial = buenamente.
  250. [250] de rodillas, on the knees: Spanish de occurs in adverbial expressions of time, place, and manner. English uses the corresponding of in expressions of time (of a morning, of a summer afternoon, all of a sudden); and we do hear such use as fell of a heap; but of old, of a truth, of a child (Mark 10:21), of necessity, etc., are growing quaint.
  251. [251] ¡Llora [tú] ...! Weep...! English loses here the force of the thou form. In Jorge's last speech, he called her Angustias without the usual señorita, but used entre (usted). Afterwards he will go on again with formal usted.
  252. [252] acariciándole el pelo, caressing her hair: the dative of interest, le instead of the possessive adjective.
  253. [253] no pudo menos de significarle aprecio, y gratitud, poniéndole una mano sobre el corazón, she could do no less than show him some appreciation and gratitude by placing her hand on his heart. In one edition we read poniéndose una mano, etc. But this is a manifest error, since despite the frequency of the phrase ponerse la mano sobre el corazón, as a phrase of cogitation or of asseveration, those passages lack the essential element of this passage, which is the showing of appreciation and gratitude by a gentle caress: placing her hand on his heart.
  254. [254] De Potencia a Potencia, Might against Might, or The Final Struggle. Cf. moviéronse ambos campos decididos a perecer o triunfar, y diose la batalla de poder a poder. Nuevo Diccionario, Casa Bouret, México, 1887, p. 969. Salvá translates the expression into Latin summis utrimque viribus.
  255. [255] desiguales muletas, a crutch and a cane.
  256. [256] resoplido, a snort: in keeping: Alarcón speaks of resoplido que da su caballo (Diario I, 79) and de la locomotora, and de un toro cuando fenece, of a dying bull (ibid., p. 10).
  257. [257] Pícaras: Alarcón in the Diario says: ¡pícaro Alah! roguish Allah!
  258. [258] años mil, a thousand years: this order is poetical, and usually occurs with some pleasant word (virtudes mil, gracias mil, vergüenzas mil).
  259. [259] estoy levantado: estoy with an -ado form, felt as a present: I am up, have been up; as often with verbs of motion: está llegado, has arrived.
  260. [260] ¡Reventada...! a coarse word burst for die, like French crever. We sometimes find this usage imitated in English, where an author knows French.
  261. [261] la de Dios es Cristo: allusion to the fierce old religious disputes as to the character of the Trinity.
  262. [262] ¿Se puede entrar? May one enter? May I come in? This use of se is more and more felt as a nominative or subject: se ha dicho, it has been said, felt as one has said. Intransitive verbs started the fashion (or carried it on from the Latin type secutus est): está amándose being se está amando; and thus sound and use of intransitives with se became familiar through the very frequent verbs (intransitive) estar and ir, and spread till se, like que, has many shades of function.
  263. [263] con cinco mil [diablos] de a caballo, with 5000 [devils] on horseback: Jorge is using up oaths. Later he orders Rosa con cinco mil demonios. Alarcón uses con mil santos,: and in La Pródiga, p. 243, when the horse comes back without Julia: ¡Jesús, Jesús, mil veces! It is striking how frequently numbers are used in oaths. In Villaseñor's Guillermo we have 200,000 demonios. Frequently the oath has the addition "mounted on horseback". The numbers occur also in magic and charms and in church literature. Laval quotes:
  264. Ave María,
    santa y sagrada,
    quince mil veces
    seáis alabada.
  265. It is little different from English "No, a thousand times no".
  266. [264] Sentémonos for -mos-nos, as always nowadays.
  267. [265] Batalla Campal, Pitched Battle: this chapter is the longest in the book, and a good short story of itself.
  268. [266] empeñado usted en, (because) you insisted on (sitting up to watch with her): verbs compounded show a tendency to echo the prefix (unless the verb is used for some commoner verb of a different construction, e.g. consentir en or convenir en under the influence of venir en, quedar en): dejar de hablar, to cease from speaking; contar con, count on; insistir en; acostumbrarse a; cumplir con, comply with—cumplir formerly was used much more without con as equivalent to hacer; now it tends to become a special verb with con (cumplir con sus deberes, comply with one's obligations). Before que of the dependent clause the preposition is very exacting. Cf. for use of prepositions, English depart from, agree to, dismiss from, admit to, enter in, etc.
  269. [267] ¡Hombre! Why man alive! As we say Yes, sir, for emphasis, so Spanish uses señor and hombre, at times, to a woman, a child, even to a dog.
  270. [268] me ha = ella me ha: he in four other editions is an error.
  271. [269] cumplido bien, fulfilled well: cumplir omits con usually when it means hacer. Cf. note 113, 8.
  272. [270] lo, that matter [of the gravestone].
  273. [271] ¿Cómo que no? = ¿Cómo puede usted decir que no? How can you say she did not?
  274. [272] ¡Estas chiquillas...! You little girls: as though third person like ustedes.
  275. [273] echándola: echar in one of its many uses: acting as though [very furious].
  276. [274] el que = el hecho que, the fact that: this el makes the whole clause into a substantive (subject or object), and seems like a neuter in its use.
  277. [275] Q. S. G. H. = Que santa gloria haya, May she rest in peace; haya here keeps its old independent force: may she have.
  278. [276] Superioridad: begins with small s in 10th edition.
  279. [277] Dicho esto, This said: the usual order for the absolute construction.
  280. [278] satisfacerlos: this verb preserves the old form of hacer.
  281. [279] apresuramiento, haste: long words in Spanish are often very transparent: here the stem is pres; -amiento (-imiento with -er and -ir verbs) is so uniformly added to verb stems that its force should be clear: 'act or manner or time of'. There are about 1000 such words in -miento: note consentimiento and ofrecimiento, in the same letter.
  282. [280] ¡Habrá judío! Can there be any Jew (so base)! Alarcón was always ready to cast a slur at the Jew. So in his story of El Afrancesado: ¡Por judío! For [his being] a Jew! For the tense, cf. the future in: Una vieja lo cuidaba, sin reparar que era un enemigo... (¡Muchos años de gloria llevará ya la viejecita por aquella buena acción!)... (She must have been a good many years in glory for that good action.) Giese ed., p. 58. Cf. ¿Usted irá...? You are going where? as a more polite form than ¿A dónde va usted? Ibid., p. 61.
  283. [281] ¡A ver! = vamos a ver, Let's see. Often 'Let me see, show me.'
  284. [282] como yo: yo as usual, not mí. Reminds one of Shakespeare, "not gone to tell my lord that I kiss aught but he", Cymbeline II, 3.
  285. [283] zorro viejo, old fox: good naturedly, and not as Jesus called Herod an old fox.
  286. [284] tirando al florete, flourishing [his cane] like a sword; cf. a la oriental, oriental fashion; [hablaba] a lo general antiguo; como Napoleón en las pirámides, like an old-time general; like Napoleon at the [battle of the] pyramids. Diario II, 210.
  287. [285] hace quince días que sostiene usted, for fifteen days you have been supporting. Present as usual after hacer... que, to correspond to our progressive perfect.
  288. [286] culebrinas, cannon: not especially good to swear with, except that it begins with a k sound like Cristo. Cf. canastos, caminos, canales, etc.
  289. [287] ¡Se acabó la conferencia! The interview is over: se acabó is often heard (e.g. at the end of a play): It is all over, it's all gone, etc. This is an idiomatic use of the preterite.
  290. [288] ¡Que valen cuatro cuartos! And they are worth about two cents! This is his gruff way. The house is really well furnished.
  291. [289] ¡Valgan lo que valieren! valga in the 10th edition, and some others. Both forms should be plural. Alarcón's penmanship was not the best, and he had no typewriter, and the printer doesn't always help.
  292. [290] no faltaba más, estando yo en el mundo = no faltaría más.
  293. [291] supo: translate heard or learned, as often in letters.
  294. [292] maravedises = maravedíes = maravedís: three plurals of maravedí.
  295. [293] aunque tenga más orgullo que D. Rodrigo en la horca. Other variants of this proverbial saying are: tener más vanidad q. D. R. en la horca; tener más fantasía q. D. R. e. l. h.; tener más gravedad q. D. R. e. l. h.; and andar más honrado q. D. R. e. l. h. All these phrases are supposed to refer to the bearing maintained by the notorious Marqués de Siete Iglesias, D. Rodrigo Calderón, who was the favorite of Philip III, and who was executed October 21, 1621, after conviction in a trial during which two hundred and thirty accusations for misdeeds were lodged against him. Despite the appropriateness of the phrases as descriptive of his bearing at the execution, the fact remains that the phrase Tiene más fantasía que D. Rodrigo en la horca occurs in a book published in Zaragoza in 1560, cf. Luis Montoto y Rautenstrauch, Personajes, personas y personillas, Sevilla, 1912, vol. III, pp. 25-26. Cf. also Enciclopedia Universal, etc. (Espasa), vol. 10, p. 653.
  296. [294] ¡Caminos, canales y puertos! He repeats her word as people do in quarrels, and adds any word, with sense or without, that comes to his mind. Cf. English "Oh, your way in the world, nonsense!" or "Your way nothing!" or "Your way your granny!" The word demonio in l. 11 has a similar element: "or any old thing".
  297. [295] o un demonio: see preceding note.
  298. [296] ¡Dale que dale! Keep it up! Keep it up! or Go for him! or our colloquial Hit him again (he has no friends), referring of course to the subject under discussion, and not to a person. Cf. McPherson's Spanish translation of Hamlet: Polonius: Still harping on my daughter: ¡Dale con mi hija!—Here the captain gives us another sample of asseverations. He uses many throughout the story.
  299. [297] nadie creería que estaba (or fuese): creer, ver, saber, decir may keep the indicative after a negative. Usage varies.
  300. [298] prefiero: again the captain repeats her word. Cf. note 128, 4.
  301. [299] ésta es la vida, such is life, not this is the life; similarly some soldiers translate C'est la guerre, It is the war, instead of It is war.
  302. [300] nada santo, not at all saintly; not nothing holy.
  303. [301] a sabiendas, fully aware: feminine form like de veras, a solas, a una, las de Caín.
  304. [302] su blanca mano, your white hand: color adjectives follow their nouns, but any adjective used in a (real or pretended) complimentary way may precede.
  305. [303] inquebrantable, unalterable [purpose]; but there is no such thing for him. It is a contest between the wind and the sun.
  306. [304] ni: in questions and exclamations and after negatives, or even implied negatives, as in this case, ni = or as well as nor. Cf. Lazarillo de Tormes, Tractado V: El mayor echador dellas que jamás yo vi, ni ver espero, ni pienso nadie vio, Greatest booster (seller, distributor) of them that I ever saw or hope to see, or anybody ever saw, I think.
  307. [305] lo que me digo: not what I say to myself, but what I am saying. The me is ethical like Shakespeare's He plucked me ope his doublet.
  308. [306] hermanos: translate, brother and sister. Cf. note, 50, 5.
  309. [307] me bañaré en agua de rosas, I shall be bathing in rosewater, i.e. 'and I shall not care a snap of my fingers about it', which of course he does not mean.
  310. [308] ¡Por algo...! For some cause, with good reason.
  311. [309] Ni, Or again, as usual in questions.
  312. [310] rorro: nurse's word for baby, from ro ro repeated like English la la to soothe the little ones, "para arrullar a los niños", Diccionario de la Academia.
  313. [311] Jesucristo: another oath. Note the shortened form Jesu.
  314. [312] dando calabazas: each nation has a humorous term for refusing an offer of marriage. Ours is "to give the mitten". Spanish here says give gourds.
  315. [313] a fin de marcharme: careless rhetoric for a fin de que me marche.
  316. [314] que se jugaba el todo por el todo, that it was win all or lose all, that all was at stake: a phrase often used by Alarcón.
  317. [315] ninguna falta nos haces, we don't need you at all. Cf. ¿Qué falta te hace el dinero? How much do you need money?
  318. [316] se prendó = had been struck: preterit with sense of pluperfect, as often.
  319. [317] ¿Acepta usted?... (144, 1) Pues ¿no he de aceptar? haber de with an infinitive occurs often thus after a present or future tense of the same verb; cf. Si se le podrá ver... ¿Por qué no se le ha de poder ver? (I ask) whether I can see him... Why shouldn't you see him?
  320. [318] ¡Jorge!... ¿Crees tú...? note the bare name for the first time from her, and the "thou" form.
  321. [319] se sintió morir de ventura: reminds us of Gil y Zarate's Guzmán el Bueno I, 4: me siento fallecer de ventura, when doña Sol admits she loves him. In this story there are nine places strikingly like Guzmán and close together.
  322. [320] Etiamsi Omnes: this Latin, literally, "though all (should)", seems to be for etiam sic omnes, 'even so all', or, freely, it is ever thus, or all are alike. The Bible has etsi omnes, 'even though all be offended yet will I never leave thee'; Matthew 26:33: Etsi omnes scandalizati fuerint in te, ego nunquam scandalizabor; and verse 35: Etiamsi oportuerit me mori tecum, non te negabo, 'Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee'. Alarcón often uses biblical phrases playfully, e.g. En verdad os digo often in Diario. The Latin here is erroneous, as it is several times in Alarcón, e.g. tememos abutere patientia vestra for abuti. Mayo, p. 316, ed. Rivadeneyra, 1905.
  323. [321] levitón: as Alarcón called woman faldas, petticoats, so he calls this servant in livery a swallow-tail and a piece of broadcloth.
  324. [322] quitándose: that is at mention of the dead.
  325. [323] Pedro, etc.: say like Jack in his own house. Cf. Diario I, 273, para andar por este país como Pedro por su casa. Pedro is used in several common expressions. Cf. Mucho va de Pedro a Pedro, There is a big difference between one man and another, or No two men are alike.
  326. [324] El capitán has done everything he swore he would never do, and the children are in no danger of the Inclusa.
  327. [325] There isn't in all Denmark an infamous man who isn't a great villain.—Hamlet I. 13.