第150章

"Mon maitre, as I have often told you, I have lived in many houses and served many masters, and it chanced that about ten years ago I served the father of this gentleman, who was then a mere boy.It was a very high family, for monsieur the father was a general in the army, and a man of large possessions.The family consisted of the general, his lady, and two sons; the youngest of whom is the person you have just seen, the other was several years older.Pardieu! I felt myself very comfortable in that house, and every individual of the family had all kind of complaisance for me.It is singular enough, that though I have been turned out of so many families, I was never turned out of that; and though I left it thrice, it was of my own free will.I became dissatisfied with the other servants or with the dog or the cat.The last time I left was on account of the quail which was hung out of the window of madame, and which waked me in the morning with its call.EHBIEN, MON MAITRE, things went on in this way during the three years that I continued in the family, out and in; at the end of which time it was determined that the young gentleman should travel, and it was proposed that I should attend him as valet;this I wished very much to do.However, par malheur, I was at this time very much dissatisfied with madame his mother about the quail, and I insisted that before I accompanied him the bird should be slaughtered for the kitchen.To this madame would by no means consent; and even the young gentleman, who had always taken my part on other occasions, said that I was unreasonable: so I left the house in a huff, and never entered it again.

"EH BIEN, MON MAITRE, the young gentleman went upon his travels, and continued abroad several years; and from the time of his departure until we met him at Colunga, I have not set eyes upon, nor indeed heard of him.I have heard enough, however, of his family; of monsieur the father, of madame, and of the brother, who was an officer of cavalry.A short time before the troubles, I mean before the death of Ferdinand, monsieur the father was appointed captain-general of Coruna.

Now monsieur, though a good master, was rather a proud man, and fond of discipline and all that kind of thing, and of obedience.He was, moreover, no friend to the populace, to the canaille, and he had a particular aversion to the nationals.

So when Ferdinand died, it was whispered about at Coruna, that the general was no liberal, and that he was a better friend to Carlos than to Christina.EH BIEN, it chanced that there was a grand fete, or festival at Coruna, on the water; and the nationals were there, and the soldiers.And I know not how it befell, but there was an emeute, and the nationals laid hands on monsieur the general, and tying a rope round his neck, flung him overboard from the barge in which he was, and then dragged him astern about the harbour until he was drowned.They then went to his house and pillaged it, and so ill-treated madame, who at that time happened to be enceinte, that in a few hours she expired.

"I tell you what, mon maitre, when I heard of the misfortune of madame and the general, you would scarcely believe it, but I actually shed tears, and was sorry that I had parted with them in unkindness on account of that pernicious quail.

"EH BIEN, MON MAITRE, NOUS POURSUIVRONS NOTRE HISTOIRE.

The eldest son, as I told you before, was a cavalry officer and a man of resolution, and when he heard of the death of his father and mother, he vowed revenge.Poor fellow! but what does he do but desert, with two or three discontented spirits of his troop, and going to the frontier of Galicia, he raised a small faction, and proclaimed Don Carlos.For some little time he did considerable damage to the liberals, burning and destroying their possessions, and putting to death several nationals that fell into his hands.However, this did not last long, his faction was soon dispersed, and he himself taken and hanged, and his head stuck on a pole.

"NOUS SOMMES DEJA PRESQUE AU BOUT.When we arrived at the inn, the young man took me above, as you saw, and there for some time he could do nothing but weep and sob.His story is soon told:- he returned from his travels, and the first intelligence which awaited him on his arrival in Spain was, that his father was drowned, his mother dead, and his brother hanged, and, moreover, all the possessions of his family confiscated.This was not all: wherever he went, he found himself considered in the light of a factious and discontented person, and was frequently assailed by the nationals with blows of sabres and cudgels.He applied to his relations, and some of these, who were of the Carlist persuasion, advised him to betake himself to the army of Don Carlos, and the Pretender himself, who was a friend of his father, and remembered the services of his brother, offered to give him a command in his army.But, mon maitre, as I told you before, he was a pacific young gentleman, and as mild as a lamb, and hated the idea of shedding blood.He was, moreover, not of the Carlist opinion, for during his studies he had read books written a long time ago by countrymen of mine, all about republics and liberties, and the rights of man, so that he was much more inclined to the liberal than the Carlist system; he therefore declined the offer of Don Carlos, whereupon all his relations deserted him, whilst the liberals hunted him from one place to another like a wild beast.At last, he sold some little property which still remained to him, and with the proceeds he came to this remote place of Colunga, where no one knew him, and where he has been residing for several months, in a most melancholy manner, with no other amusement than that which he derives from a book or two, or occasionally hunting a leveret with his spaniel.