Trafalgar

not die till some time after his daughter’s marriage with Don Rafael Malespina, an event which took place two months after the action which the Spanish know as “the 21st,” and the English as the battle of Trafalgar. My young mistress was married one lovely morning, though it was winter time, and set out at once for Medina-Sidonia where a house was ready and waiting for the young couple. I might look on at her happiness during the days preceding the wedding but she did not observe the melancholy that I was suffering under; nor, if she had, would she have guessed the cause. She thought more of herself every day, as I could see, and I felt more and more humiliated by her beauty and her superior position in life. But I had taught myself to understand that such a sweet vision of all the graces could never be mine, and this kept me calm; for resignation⁠—honest renunciation of all hope⁠—is a real consolation, though it is a consolation akin to death.

Well, they were married, and the very day they had left us for Medina-Sidonia Doña Francisca told me that I was to follow them and enter their service. I set out that night, and during my solitary journey I tried to fight down my thoughts and my feelings which wavered between accepting a place in the house of the bridegroom or flying from them forever. I arrived very early in the morning and found out the house. I went into the garden but on the bottom step I stopped, for my reflections absorbed all my energies, and I had to stand still to think more clearly; I must have stood there for more than half an hour.

Perfect silence prevailed. The young couple were sleeping untroubled by a care or a sorrow. I could not help recalling that far-off time when my young mistress and I had played together. To me she had then been my first and only thought. To her, though I had not been the first in her affections, I had been something she loved and that she missed if we were apart for an hour. In so short a time how great a change!

I looked round me and all I saw seemed to symbolize the happiness of the lovers and to mock my forlorn fate. Although it was winter time, I could picture the trees in full leaf, and the porch in front of the door seemed suddenly overgrown with creepers to shade them when they should come out. The sun was warmer, the air blew softer round this nest for which I myself had carried the first straws when I served as the messenger of their loves. I seemed to see the bare rosebushes covered with roses, the orange-trees with blossoms and fruit pecked by crowds of birds thus sharing in the wedding feast. My dreams and reflections were at last interrupted by a fresh young voice breaking the silence of the place and which made me tremble from head to foot as I heard it. It thrilled me with an indescribable sensation, that clear, happy, happy voice⁠—whether of fear or shame I can hardly say; all I am sure of is that a sudden impulse made me turn from the door, and fly from the spot like a thief afraid of being caught.

My mind was made up. I quitted Medina-Sidonia forthwith, quite determined never to be a servant in that house, nor to return to Vejer. After a few minutes reflection I set out for Cádiz intending to get from thence to Madrid; and this was what I ultimately did, in spite of the persuasions of Doña Flora who tried to chain me to her side with a wreath of the faded flowers of her affection!

But since that day how much I have gone through; how much I have seen, well worthy of record. My fate, which had taken me to Trafalgar, led me subsequently through many glorious and inglorious scenes, all in their way worth remembering. If the reader cares to hear the story of my life I will tell him more about it at a future opportunity.

Endnotes

1. The battle of Cape St. Vincent was fought on February 14, 1797. ↩

2. Pescadillas are a small fish peculiar to the south Atlantic coast of Spain. Cañitas is the name given to certain small glasses used only for drinking Manzanilla. ↩

3. March, 1806. ↩

List of Illustrations

1. A chart showing the arrangement of the Spanish, French, and English fleets in advance of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Colophon

Trafalgar
was published in 1873 by
Benito Pérez Galdós.
It was translated from Spanish in 1884 by
Clara Bell.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Alex Cabal,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2015 by
Josep Cols Canals, Sam W., and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans from the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
The Battle of Trafalgar,
a painting completed in 1836 by
Clarkson Frederick Stanfield.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
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The League of Moveable Type.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
March 6, 2025, 7:51 p.m.
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