"The cavalier, as an honourable man, made up his mind on the instant to renounce all pretensions to the widow. He therefore immediately left the apartment; and meeting the servant at the door: 'Ambrose,' said he, 'stay! your mistress prays you to indulge her with a brief repose.'
"Two doors beyond the house of this cavalier, I perceive an original of a husband, who is sleeping tranquilly,—lulled to rest by reproaches with which his wife is upbraiding him for having passed the entire day from home. She would be still more bitter against her spouse, did she know how he had spent his day." "It has been most probably occupied in some amorous adventure?" said Zambullo. "You have guessed it," replied Asmodeus; "and shall hear the detail.
"The man is a tradesman, named Patricio: he is one of those wedded libertines who live without care, as though they had neither wife nor children: the partner of this fellow, nevertheless, is pretty, amiable, and virtuous; and he has two daughters and one son, all three still in their infancy. He left his family this morning, careless if they had bread to eat, which is not unfrequently the case, and directed his steps toward the great square, attracted thither by the preparations which Were making for the bull-fight of to-day. The scaffolds were already erected around the place, and already the more curious in these matters began to take their places.
"While gazing at the company, examining first one and then another, he observed a lady finely made and very neatly dressed, who discovered, as she descended from the scaffold, a well-turned leg and foot; and their effect was heightened by rose-tinted silken stockings, and garters of silver lace, the ends of which hung down to her ankles: it was enough to have tempted a saint, and our excitable citizen was almost out of his wits at the sight. He advanced towards the lady, who was accompanied by another whose air sufficiently disclosed that they were both damsels of easy virtue. 'Ladies,' said he, accosting them, 'can I be of service to you? you have only to command me, and it will be my happiness to obey.' 'Signor cavalier,' replied the nymph with the rose-coloured stockings, 'you appear so obliging, that we will take advantage of your kindness: we have already taken our places, but are leaving them to go to breakfast, as we were unwise enough to leave home this morning without first taking our chocolate. Since you are so gallant as to offer your services, may we trouble you to escort us to some hotel, where we may eat a morsel of something? but we must beg you will select as retired a place as possible, for ladies, as you know, cannot be too careful of their reputation.'
"At these words, Patricio, becoming even more civil and polite than the occasion demanded, took the princesses to a tavern in the neighbourhood, and ordered breakfast. 'What would you like to have, sir?' inquired the host. 'I have the remains of a magnificent dinner, which took place here yesterday: there are larded fowls, partridges from Léon, pigeons from Old Castile, and the best part of a ham from Estremadura.' 'More than enough, mine host!' exclaimed the conductor of the two vestals. 'Ladies, it is for you to choose;—what would you prefer?' 'Whatever you please,' replied they: 'your choice shall be ours.' Thereupon the citizen ordered a brace of partridges and a couple of cold fowls, to be served in a private room, as the ladies were too modest to think of eating in public.
"They were immediately conducted to a small chamber, and in a few minutes the host appeared with the chosen dishes, some bread, and some wine. Our Lucretias fell to eating with most unfashionable appetites, and the fowls rapidly disappeared; while the simpleton, who was to pay, was occupied in ogling his Luisita,—the name of the lady who had taken his fancy,—in admiring the whiteness of her hand, upon which glittered an enormous ring she had gained by her profession,—and, unable to eat for joy of his good fortune, in lavishing upon the lady all the tender epithets, such as his star or his sun, that his imagination could invent. On inquiring of his goddess if she were married, she told him she was not, but was living under the protection of her brother;—had she added,—by descent from our father Adam, she would not have been far from the truth.
"Good eating is nothing without good drinking; so the two harpies, having each demolished a fowl, washed them down with a proportionate quantity of wine; and, consequently, the two flagons which had been placed upon the table were soon exhausted. That they might be more speedily replenished, our gallant left the room with the empty vessels; and he had no sooner closed the door than Jacintha, Luisita's companion, clawed hold of the two partridges, which were yet untouched, and put them in a spacious pocket which her gown conveniently afforded. Our Adonis, on returning from his chase of the wine, and remarking that the eatables had vanished, was anxious to know if his Venus had eaten enough. 'Why,' said she, 'if the pigeons of which the host has spoken be very good, perhaps I might be tempted to taste them; or else a morsel of the ham of Estremadura will do.' These words were no sooner uttered than away went Patricio again in search of provender, and quickly returned, followed by three of the loving birds and a substantial dish of the ham. The two vultures pounced on their prey like lightning; and as the witless citizen was obliged a third time to leave the room for bread, they sent a pair of the pigeons to keep company with the imprisoned partridges.
"After the repast, which ended with a dessert composed of all the fruits the season afforded, the amorous Patricio began to press Luisita for that payment in kind which he expected from her gratitude. The lady, however, was resolved to look upon it as a treat; but at the same time indulged him with the hopes of a return, telling him there was a time for all things, and that a tavern was not a fitting place in which to testify, without reserve, her satisfaction for all his kindness. Then, hearing the clock strike one, she assumed an uneasy air, and said to her companion: 'Ah! my dear Jacintha, how unfortunate! We shall be too late to find a place to see the bull-fight.' 'Excuse me,' replied Jacintha; 'this gentleman has only to conduct us where he so politely accosted us, and never fear for our finding a place.'