When the day for setting out on this trip arrived, servants were sent off early in the morning to get everything ready at Gelvas. Some hours after, the knight and his darling started, with the duenna, (who was always of their company, and never at all in the way,) all three on quiet mules, and followed by two footmen. When they had got just within sight of my father’s house, by which they must of necessity pass, the young lady was suddenly taken with so violent a fit of the cholic, that she beseeched the old gentleman, if he did not wish to see her die on the spot, to stop immediately; then slipping gently from the saddle to the ground, as if she was half dead, she requested some rest and refreshment, in a weak voice, saying that she could go no farther. The old man, who from his heart sincerely pitied her, knew not what to say or do; but the duenna, whose cue it was now to speak, represented in a very prudent manner to the lady, that it was by no means proper that she should remain in such a situation on the highway; that if she could not manage to walk, she had better allow herself to be carried to the house which was not far off, and which appeared to belong to some person of distinction, who could not refuse to afford every accommodation to a lady who so much required it. The old gentleman highly approved of the duenna’s advice; and the pretended sick lady said, thereupon, that they should do what they pleased with her, but that as to walking so far, the cruel pains she was suffering rendered it utterly impossible. The two footmen, therefore, carried her, whilst the afflicted old knight walked on before to speak to the people of the house, to entreat them to afford accommodation to his mistress for a few hours. I have already told you that this house was my father’s. It was left in the care of an old housekeeper, who had ample instructions how to behave to serve him in this instance. As soon as she heard a knocking at the door, she ran to open it, and pretending to be astonished at seeing a stranger, she inquired his business in a trembling voice. “I only desire,” answered the cavalier, “that you will be so kind as to allow a lady, whom I am conducting to Gelvas, and who has been suddenly taken ill at a short distance from hence, to rest herself for a short time in your house, and that you will be kind enough to assist us in the application of something which may relieve her.”--“If that be all,” replied the housekeeper, “you shall have every reason to be satisfied, for you could not have pitched upon a more charitable house.” In the mean time, the sick lady came up to them, carried by her two footmen. “Behold where she approaches,” cried the knight, “suffering grievously with the cholic.”