"Then you'll have to be satisfied with the desire of hearing it, for this is not the place to relate adventures in which my lord came off very badly."
This refusal of Guillen, as may be supposed, whetted the curiosity of his companions, who, one on each side of him, edged themselves on, along the bar on which they sat, until they were in contact with him.
"Relate the adventure to us, Guillen, for I bet it is worth hearing," said one of his friends.
"I shall tell it, just to please you; but if Don Suero, my master, knew that I related this adventure, I should soon be in a condition to relate no more of them, but like my companions, the other servants of the count, who remained at the Inn of the Moor with holes in their hearts, made by the lance of that terrible squire of Don Rodrigo, named Fernan."
"Cease your nonsense, friend Guillen, and go on with your story."
"I shall do so at once."
And Guillen related to his friends the carrying off of Beatrice, almost exactly as the reader already knows it.
"And is it possible that the Count of Carrion commits such outrages?" asked one of the listeners.
"Very little surprises you, my friend," replied Guillen, still in a low voice, and looking about cautiously to see if he could be overheard by any of those who were standing about, waiting to see the wedding party come forth from the church. "Your astonishment would be greater," he continued, "if you only knew the circumstances of the carrying off of another girl by Don Suero, some time before his attempt on Beatrice."
Illan and Garcia, for such were the names of the other pages, squeezed themselves more closely, if such were possible, against Guillen, bending their necks and bringing their ears close to his mouth. Seeing, however, that the servant of Don Suero did not satisfy their curiosity with the promptitude they desired, they abandoned gestures in order to question him with words.