“What is the matter?” he asked; “is your breast-bone broken? You are like the cats that smash themselves jumping off the roof. What pains our young gentleman? Shall I rub you?”
I arose painfully, and, threatening him with my clenched fist, exclaimed:
“If you talk about falls—”
“Well, we’ll talk about whatever your Excellency desires. Ne in furore tuo arguas me!”
“I will argue with you with a shoe, if you don’t keep quiet.”
“Oh, it’s not worth while to put yourself out! Get up, for they are already putting all the frippery on the bride. Don’t you hear the orchestra from the Royal Imperial and Botanical Theater? Mighty good music!”
I could, in fact, hear, coming up from the court, the light, rapid notes of a country measure, which seemed to dance along with pastoral joy. It was the pipers tuning up and playing their prelude. That lively, merry, jubilant music depressed my heart.
Making an effort I set my bones in motion. I felt a depressing uncomfortableness in my chest, as though it held a heavy stone, giving me unendurable distress. Pulling myself together, I washed, dressed myself as well as I could, and went down to breakfast. Nearly all the guests were there. I noticed that Señor Aldao was uneasy, and learned that his disturbance arose from a letter he had just received from Naranjal. Don Vicente Sotopeña’s godson and protegé, Lupercio Pimentel, wrote it in the former’s name, and after many courteous congratulations and great professions of friendship for my uncle, he went on to say that Don Vicente had commissioned him to be present, in the great man’s name, at the wedding feast, if not the ceremony itself.
Hence came Don Román’s anxiety, for he was afraid that something might be lacking of the elegance which the presence of such an important personage demanded. He would almost have preferred to deal with the great chief himself. The latter, at least, was very unassuming and frank, and if one gave him country dishes and jokes in Galician dialect, he would not observe any omission. On the other hand, the godson—Heaven only knows! He was young, very elegant, and accustomed to the splendid festivities in the Capital.
After dispatching our chocolate without much ceremony, we proceeded to the parlor. We could hear merry feminine voices outside in the hall, and soon afterward the bride made her appearance, surrounded by several of her young friends from Pontevedra, invited to the ceremony, and by Candidiña, Doña Andrea, and the little girl, who were all stumbling over each other in their eagerness to get a good view of her.