"I must send one of these to the young ladies of my billet," said Alister on one occasion, as they sat writing, folding, and sealing the cards at an open window, where they were luxuriating in the fragrant perfume of the gardens, smoking cigars, and sipping Volnais. "They are both young and pretty," continued Alister, "but sadly curbed in by an old maiden aunt, who regards them as very dangerous rivals."
"They are likely to prove so," said Seaton, the captain of the light company; "the girls have superb eyes and teeth. In this capital Volnais I drink to their healths, and that of the ex-king of Spain, to whom we are so much indebted for assisting us with our entertainment, by leaving his 'gudes and gear' behind him."
"Here is the name of the Condé de Truxillo," observed Macdonald, consulting the invitation-list. "Seaton, no notice appears as yet to have been sent him."
"A general invitation has been sent to the officers of his regiment. I inclosed it myself, but I have sworn to touch these matters no more. This Volnais obscured my faculties so much yesterday, that I enclosed cards to dons which were written to donnas, to dukes that were written to plain senores, and vice versa. I will leave these matters to you Mac, and Stuart my subaltern; while, as president of the committee, I will smoke my cigar and drink with you, so long as the Volnais lasts. A-propos,—push the decanters this way!"
"So the condé has left the staff," observed Stuart.
"He belongs now to the 4th Spanish infantry; they are with De Costa's brigade."
"Here is a card for Senores the four most worshipful alcaldes of Aranjuez."
"What is the use of asking these people to a ball?" said Seaton. "Nothing more than mechanical citizens, whose blowsy wives and daughters will be intruding themselves, bedizened in the dresses of the last century."
"It is impossible to pass them over, and vulgarity may be excused in a magistrate. Here are invitations for the 10th Portuguese, for the Catalonian Caçadores, the 39th and 66th British, and all the cavalry brigades. Now, then, for the ladies."
"God bless them!"