_Myself_.—Of course you have conversed with Englishmen before, else you could not have recognized me by the tone of my voice. _Abarbenel_. {156b}—I was a young lad when the war of the Independence broke out, and there came to the village in which our family lived an English officer, in order to teach discipline to the new levies. He was quartered in my father’s house, where he conceived a great affection for me. On his departure, with the consent of my father, I attended him through both the Castiles, partly as companion, partly as domestic. I was with him nearly a year, when he was suddenly summoned to return to his own country. He would fain have taken me with him, but to that my father would by no means consent. It is now five and twenty years since I last saw an Englishman; but you have seen how I recognized you, even in the dark night. _Myself_.—And what kind of life do you pursue, and by what means do you obtain support? _Abarbenel_.—I experience no difficulty. I live much in the same way as I believe my forefathers lived: certainly as my father did, for his course has been mine. At his death I took possession of the _herencia_, for I was his only child. It was not requisite that I should follow any business, for my wealth was great; yet, to avoid remark, I followed that of my father, who was a _longanizero_. I have occasionally dealt in wool, but lazily—lazily—as I had no stimulus for exertion. I was, however, successful; in many instances strangely so; much more than many others who toiled day and night, and whose whole soul was in the trade. _Myself_.—Have you any children? Are you married? _Abarbenel_.—I have no children, though I am married. I have a wife, and an _amiga_, or I should rather say two wives, for I am wedded to both. {157a} I however call one my _amiga_, for appearance sake, for I wish to live in quiet, and am unwilling to offend the prejudices of the surrounding people. _Myself_.—You say you are wealthy. In what does your wealth consist? _Abarbenel_.—In gold and silver, and stones of price; for I have inherited all the hoards of my forefathers. The greater part is buried underground; indeed, I have never examined the tenth part of it. I have coins of silver and gold older than the times of Ferdinand the Accursed and Jezebel; {157b} I have also large sums employed in usury. We keep ourselves close, however, and pretend to be poor, miserably so; but on certain occasions, at our festivals, when our gates are barred, and our savage dogs are let loose in the court, we eat our food off services such as the Queen of Spain cannot boast of, and wash our feet in ewers of silver, fashioned and wrought before the Americas were discovered, though our garments are at all times coarse, and our food for the most part of the plainest description. _Myself_.—Are there more of you than yourself and your two wives?