Thus I found myself esteemed and honoured at Saragossa, where I was as much in Lucia’s favour as I had been in that of my Florence widow, when one morning, my servant announced to me, that there was a gentleman at my chamber-door who wanted to speak to me. Being still in bed, and thinking that it must be one of Don Antonio’s friends, I desired that he might be admitted, and was not a little surprised at sight of the person who had thus announced himself, who was a huge ugly looking fellow whom I had never seen before. He wore mustachios turned up, a high crowned hat which nearly reached the ceiling, and a very long sword, the hilt of which he was very careful in holding up, that it might not dangle on the floor; thus, shrugging up his shoulders, he walked with so heavy a foot, that the chamber shook at every step he took. You will naturally expect that after so grand an entrance, he would address himself to me in a corresponding style; but no such thing; he was content to strut up and down my chamber, eyeing me from time to time in a most threatening manner. I soon grew tired of this dumb scene, so that jumping up on a sudden, I seized my pistols, and demanded what business he had there. This action seemed to bring him to his senses. “Do you know,” said he, with an agitated voice, “the brave Don Lucio de Ribera, the flower and boast of Arragon?” I replied, “that I knew him merely by sight, and that it was but of little consequence whether I knew him or not.” “I am come,” continued he, presenting me a letter, “to find you on his behalf. This letter will explain the rest.” I took the note very calmly, for I perceived plainly that the bearer was more frightened than myself, and having opened it, read these words: “Be you an Italian or a Spaniard, your presumption is unpardonable in coming into this country to dispute our ladies’ hearts with us: but as you appear to be a foreigner, we are willing to excuse your extreme rashness, on condition that you leave Saragossa within four and twenty hours. Should your evil genius induce you to despise our resentment, be prepared to encounter Don Lucio de Ribera, whom no one has hitherto been able to vanquish, but whom you must overcome before you can offer any pretensions to Donna Lucia.”