"No, man, not enter. Listen, I will tell you. You arrive at the Plaza
de San Felipe where the tower is. Look yonder! Do you see there near
the great pile there is another tower, a little belfry? It seems like
an acolyte before his lord the canon, which is the great tower."
"Yes, now I see the altar-boy. And if I am not mistaken, it is the
belfry of San Felipe. And the damned thing is ringing this minute!"
"For mass, it is ringing for mass," said Augustine, with great emotion.
"Do you not hear the cracked bell?"
"Very plainly. Let us know what I have to say to this Mr. Altar-boy who
is ringing the cracked bell."
"No, no, it is nothing about him. You arrive at the Plaza of San
Felipe. If you look at the belfry, you will see it is on a corner, and
from this corner runs a narrow street. You enter there, and at the left
you will find at a little distance another street, narrow and retired,
called Anton Trillo. You follow this until you reach the back of the
church. There you will see a house. You stop there--"
"And then I come back again?"
"No; close to the house there is a garden, with a little gateway
painted the color of chocolate. You stop there."
"There I stop, and there I am!"
"No, old man. You will see--"
"You're whiter than your shirt, my Augustine. What do all these towers
and stoppages signify?"
"They mean," continued my friend, with increasing embarrassment, "that
in a little while you will be there. I desire you to go by night. All
right, you arrive there. You stop. You wait a little, then you pass to
the opposite sidewalk. You stretch your neck, and you will see a window
over the wall of a garden. You pick up a pebble and throw it against
the panes of glass lightly, to do little damage."
"And in a second she will come!"
"No; have patience. How do you know whether she will come or not come?"
"Well, let us suppose that she comes."
"Before I tell you another thing, you must understand that it is there
the goodman Candiola lives. Do you know who Candiola is? Well, he is a
citizen of Saragossa, a man who, as they say, has in his house a cellar
full of money. He is avaricious and a usurer, and when he lends he guts
his customers. He knows more about debtors, laws, and foreclosures than
the whole court and council of Castile. Whoever goes to law with him is
lost."
"From all this, the house with a gate painted chocolate color should be
a magnificent palace."
"Nothing of the sort. You will see a wretched-looking house that seems
about to fall down. I tell you that that goodman Candiola is a miser.
He does not waste a real that he can help. And if you should see him
about here you would give him alms. I will tell you another thing;
he is never seen in Saragossa, and they call him goodman Candiola in
mockery and contempt. His name is Don Jeronimo de Candiola; he is a
native of Mallorca, if I am not mistaken."
"And this Candiola has a daughter?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account