"The course of true love never did run smooth."
The foregoing was not related at the time, but afterwards, by a young Spanish gentleman, who had taken some pains to enable us to witness the ceremony. I had hardly expected to hear a serious story from his lips, for his appearance was reckless and gay, and I had associated him in my mind with the character of Don Cæsar de Bazan, as I had seen it illustrated.
He introduced us further into the convent than I would have ventured upon my own responsibility—appeared at home with all the priests towards whom his manner conveyed but little reverence—and inquiring if we had any desire to see the nuns, went up to an opening in which there was a revolving frame, and asked for the Lady Superior. The lady mother soon presented her round and not unhandsome form at a door to the right, and in choice Italian demanded our business. With much nonchalance Don C. expressed a desire to pay his respects to the ladies under her charge, especially to the one just admitted. His coolness somewhat disconcerted the supreme lady Abbess, to whom such a request had never before been preferred, I warrant, and her black eyes sparkled with scarcely a holy fire, as she answered this time in Spanish, and in the tone of dignity which that language can convey so well, "That the nuns were in their place, and the new one did not receive company, especially that of such gay cavaliers," and intimated that in attending to their duties they set an example which would be well followed by those cavaliers.
Don Cæsar, his sang froid still retaining its temperature, with the grave courtesy of a true Spaniard, bowing almost to the floor, told her, "Heaven was the proper place for angels such as her noble self and her illustrious daughters," and wishing the whole family a pleasant journey thither, commended them to God. "Adios!" and the door was closed a little hastily.
After this interchange of compliments, Don Cæsar took us to his father's house, within the walls near the convent, where he gave us introductions to his sisters, cousins, and other ladies, all under the excitement of the event of the day.
The old gentleman placed, with the usual Spanish compliment, his house, and all that it contained in our hands. And when I state, that like Jephtha, he "had a daughter who was passing fair," my sensations can be imagined, and it may be understood how small a portion of the "Casa," with this appurtenance, would have satisfied me.
CHAPTER XII.
Fabrico del Tobago—Manufacture of the Cheroot—Description of the process—Female Operatives—Gigantic effects—Midshipman attacked—A delightful Evening—Boat ahoy—Disappointed in trip to Lagunade Bay—Funcion Familia—Madame Theodore—The Calçada again—Margarita—Teatro Binondo—Teatro Tagalo de Tondo—Espana—Anecdote of an Englishman—Farewell to Manilla—Out to Sea.