You must be content to do that;or in quarrelling with him you must quarrel with me also."And it was done at the spur of the moment--without delay.She,who not five minutes since had been loudly condemning the unknown Englishman for his rudeness,had already pardoned him,now that he was known to be her friend;and had determined that he should be pardoned by others also or that she would share his disgrace.I recognised the nobleness of this at the moment;but,nevertheless,I was so sore that I would almost have preferred that she should have disowned me.
The marquis immediately lifted his cap with his left hand while he gave me his right."I have already had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman,"he said;"we had some conversation in the boat together.""Yes,"said I,pointing to his rent,"and you still bear the marks of our encounter.""Was it not delightful,Donna Maria,"he continued,turning to her;"your friend's friend took me for a torero?"
"And it served you properly,senor,"said Donna Maria,laughing,"you have no right to go about with all those rich ornaments upon you.""Oh!quite properly;indeed,I make no complaint;and I must beg your friend to understand,and his friend also,how grateful I am for their solicitude as to my pecuniary welfare.They were inclined to be severe on me for being so extravagant in such trifles.I was obliged to explain that I had no wife at home kept without her proper allowance of dresses,in order that I might be gay.""They are foreigners,and you should forgive their error,"said she.
"And in token that I do so,"said the marquis,"I shall beg your friend to accept the little ornament which attracted his attention."And so saying,he pulled the identical button out of his pocket,and gracefully proffered it to me.
"I shall carry it about with me always,"said I,accepting it,"as a memento of humiliation.When I look at it,I shall ever remember the folly of an Englishman and the courtesy of a Spaniard;"and as I made the speech I could not but reflect whether it might,under any circumstances,be possible that Lord John Russell should be induced to give a button off his coat to a Spaniard.
There were other civil speeches made,and before we left the tower the marquis had asked me to his parties,and exacted from me an unwilling promise that I would attend them."The senora,"he said,bowing again to Maria,"would,he was sure,grace them.She had done so on the previous year;and as I had accepted his little present Iwas bound to acknowledge him as my friend."All this was very pretty,and of course I said that I would go,but I had not at that time the slightest intention of doing so.Maria had behaved admirably;she had covered my confusion,and shown herself not ashamed to own me,delinquent as I was;but,not the less,had she expressed her opinion,in language terribly strong,of the awkwardness of which I had been guilty,and had shown almost an aversion to my English character.I should leave Seville as quickly as I could,and should certainly not again put myself in the way of the Marquis D'Almavivas.Indeed,I dreaded the moment that I should be first alone with her,and should find myself forced to say something indicative of my feelings--to hear something also indicative of her feelings.I had come out this morning resolved to demand my rights and to exercise them--and now my only wish was to man away.I hated the marquis,and longed to be alone that I might cast his button from me.To think that a man should be so ruined by such a trifle!
We descended that prodigious flight without a word upon the subject,and almost without a word at all.She had carried herself well in the presence of Almavivas,and had been too proud to seem ashamed of her companion;but now,as I could well see,her feelings of disgust and contempt had returned.When I begged her not to hurry herself,she would hardly answer me;and when she did speak,her voice was constrained and unlike herself.And yet how beautiful she was!
