CONTENTS
OF
THE THIRD VOLUME.
CHAP.
I. [PLAYING WITH FIRE]
II. [THE POISONED WINE]
III. [PADRE FLOREZ]
IV. [THE ARMY MARCHES]
V. [HALT AT AZUMAR]
VI. [THE ADVANCE INTO SPAIN]
VII. [RETROGRESSION]
VIII. [A MESSAGE FROM THE ENEMY]
IX. [THE PRISONER]
X. [THE COURT-MARTIAL]
XI. [LOVE ME]
XII. [THE OLD BRIGADIER]
XIII. [THE RETREAT]
XIV. [FRESH DISASTERS]
XV. [A SMILE OF FORTUNE]
XVI. [PIQUE]
XVII. [THE COMBAT OF LUGO]
XVIII. [A WARNING]
XIX. [THE BATTLE OF CORUNNA]
XX. [THE BURIAL]
XXI. [TOO LATE]
XXII. [MADAME DE RIBEAUPIERRE]
XXIII. [THE "BIEN AIMÉ"]
XXIV. [MINDEN LODGE]
XXV. [THE REVELATIONS OF A NIGHT]
THE KING'S OWN BORDERERS.
CHAPTER I.
PLAYING WITH FIRE.
"Fraught with this fine intention, and well fenced
In mail of proof—her purity of soul,
She, for the future of her strength convinced,
And that her honour was a rock or mole,
Exceeding sagely from that hour dispensed
With any kind of troublesome control;
But whether Julia to the task was equal,
Is that which must be gathered in the sequel."
BYRON.
For two other entire days the rain continued to pour as it only pours in the Peninsula during the wet season, and our travellers were compelled to keep close within the doors of the Villa de Maciera. Could Quentin have lifted the veil that hides the future, and foreseen the turmoil and danger in which this unexpected delay would eventually involve him, he would certainly have made some vigorous efforts to procure horses or mules at Salorino, to push on for Portalegre, in spite of wind or rain; but what, then, was he to do with Donna Isidora? In such a November deluge she could neither travel on horse or foot, and "leathern conveyances" were not to be had in Spanish Estremadura in those days, nor in the present either, probably. To leave her alone in that deserted house was not to be thought of.
So Quentin stayed.
Time did not pass slowly, however. They did not read, you may be assured, though books were plentifully strewed about, as the French had been lighting their pipes with them; but Isidora took to teaching Quentin the language of the fan, as spoken or used at the bull-fight, the theatre, on the prado, or elsewhere, and with such a pair of eyes beaming on him, over, under, or through the sticks of the aforesaid fan, he proved an apt scholar. Who would have been otherwise?