- 'Verily, brother, we can scarcely tell you who we are.
All we know of ourselves is, that we keep this inn, to our trouble
and sorrow, and that our parents kept it before us; we were all
born in this house, where I suppose we shall die.'
MYSELF. - 'Who is the master of the house, and whose are these
children?'
GYPSY HAG. - 'The master of the house is the fool, my brother, who
stands before you without saying a word; to him belong these
children, and the cripple in the chair is his wife, and my cousin.
He has also two sons who are grown-up men; one is a chumajarri
(shoemaker), and the other serves a tanner.'
MYSELF. - 'Is it not contrary to the law of the Cales to follow
such trades?'
GYPSY HAG. - 'We know of no law, and little of the Cales
themselves. Ours is the only Calo family in Tarifa, and we never
left it in our lives, except occasionally to go on the smuggling
lay to Gibraltar. True it is that the Cales, when they visit
Tarifa, put up at our house, sometimes to our cost. There was one
Rafael, son of the rich Fruto of Cordova, here last summer, to buy
up horses, and he departed a baria and a half in our debt; however,
I do not grudge it him, for he is a handsome and clever Chabo - a
fellow of many capacities.
Pages:
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272