Besides, there was a
young Scotch girl, very interestingly pale and delicate of face, at one
of the tables, and at another a Spanish girl with the most wonderful
fire-red hair, and there were several miracles of the beautiful obesity
which abounds in Spain.
When we returned to the annex it did seem, for the short time we kept
our windows shut, that the manager had spoken true, and we promised
ourselves a tranquil night, which, after our two nights in Cordova, we
needed if we did not merit. But we had counted without the spread of
popular education in Spain. Under our windows, just across the way,
there proved to be a school of the "Royal Society of Friends of their
Country," as the Spanish inscription in its front proclaimed; and at
dusk its pupils, children and young people of both sexes, began
clamoring for knowledge at its doors. About ten o'clock they burst from
them again with joyous exultation in their acquirements; then, shortly
after, every manner of vehicle began to pass, especially heavy market
wagons overladen and drawn by horses swarming with bells. Their
succession left scarcely a moment of the night unstunned; but if ever a
moment seemed to be escaping, there was a maniacal bell in a church near
by that clashed out: "Hello! Here's a bit of silence; let's knock it on
the head!"
We went promptly the next day to the gentle old manager and told him
that he had been deceived in thinking he had given us rooms on a quiet
street, and appealed to his invention for something, for anything,
different.
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