As he sat in his open carriage he looked very amiable, and
handsomer than most of the pictures make him. He seemed to be gazing at
me, and when he bowed I could do no less than return his salutation. As
I glanced round to see if people near me were impressed by our exchange
of civilities, I perceived an elderly officer next me. He was smiling as
I was, and I think he was in the delusion that the king's bow, which I
had so promptly returned, was intended for him.
VIII
CORDOVA AND THE WAY THERE
I should be sorry if I could believe that Cordova experienced the
disappointment in us, which I must own we felt in her; but our
disappointment was unquestionable, and I will at once offer it to the
reader as an inducement for him to go to Cordova with less lively
expectations than ours. I would by no means have him stay away; after
all, there is only one Cordova in the world which the capital of the
Caliphate of the West once filled with her renown; and if the great
mosque of Abderrahman is not so beautiful as one has been made to fancy
it, still it is wonderful, and could not be missed without loss.
I
Better, I should say, take the _rapido_ which leaves Madrid three times
a week at nine-thirty in the morning, than the night express which
leaves as often at the same hour in the evening.
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