“Buenos dias, caballero,” said the doctor, as politely as though he had been saluting a grandee.
The man replied no less politely.
“May we look into your house?” asked the doctor.
“Esta muy a la disposicion de usted,” replied the caballero (it is entirely at your disposal).
This is a cosa de España. If you speak of any thing a Spaniard has, he makes you a present of it, be it his house or his horse, or any thing else; but you are not expected to avail yourself of his generosity. It would be as impolite to take him at his word as it would be for him not to place it “at your disposal.”
The house was of one story, and had but one door and one window, the latter very small indeed. The floor was of cobble-stones bedded in the mud. The little window was nothing but a hole; there was no glass in it; and the doctor said, that, when the weather was bad, the occupants had to close the door, and put a shutter over the window, so that they had no light. The interior was divided into two rooms, one containing a bed. Every thing was as simple as possible. The roof of the shanty was covered with tile which looked like broken flower-pots. In front, for use in the summer, was an attempt at a veranda, with vines running up the posts.
The doctor gave the smallest of the children a peseta, and bade the man a stately adieu, which was answered with dignity enough for an ambassador. The party drove off, glad to have seen the interior of a Spanish house.
“Why did you give the money to the child instead of the father?” asked Sheridan.
“I suppose your experience in other parts of Europe would not help you to believe it, but the average Spaniard who is not a professional beggar is too proud to receive money for any small favor,” replied the doctor. “I have had a peseta indignantly refused by a man who had rendered me a small service. This is as strange as it is true, though, when you come to ride on a diligencia, you will find that driver, postilion, and zagal will do their best to get a gratuity out of you. I speak only of the Spaniard who does you a favor, and not those with whom you deal; but, as a general rule, the people are too proud to cheat you.”