He was not disappointed; henceforth I treated him entirely as an equal.  Donna Ignazia was delighted at what her father had done for me.  We talked an hour, settling our business relations over a bottle of excellent wine.  I succeeded in my contention that the Biscayan cook should be kept at my expense.  All the same, I wanted the girl to think that she was in Don Diego’s service, so I begged him to pay her every day, as I should take all my meals at home, at all events, till the return of the ambassador.  I also told him that it was a penance to me to eat alone, and begged him to keep me company at dinner and supper every day.  He tried to excuse himself, and at last gave in on the condition that his daughter should take his place when he had too much work to do.  As may be imagined I had anticipated this condition, and made no difficulty about it.

The next morning, feeling curious to see the way in which my landlord was lodged, I paid him a visit.  I went into the little room sacred to Donna Ignazia.  A bed, a chest, and a chair made up the whole furniture; but beside the bed was a desk before a picture, four feet high, representing St. Ignatius de Loyola as a fine young man, more calculated to irritate the sense than to arouse devotion.

My cobbler said to me,

“I have a much better lodging than I had before; and the rent of your room pays me for the house four times over.”

“How about the furniture and the linen?”

“It will all be paid in the course of four years.  I hope this house will be the dower of my daughter.  It is an excellent speculation, and I have to thank you for it.”

“I am glad to hear it; but what is this, you seem to be making new boots?”

“Quite so; but if you look you will see that I am working on a last which has been given me.  In this way I have not to put them on, nor need I trouble myself whether they fit well or ill.”

“How much do you get?”

“Thirty reals.”

“That’s a larger price than usual.”

“Yes, but there’s a great difference between my work and my leather, and the usual work and leather of the bootmakers.”

“Then I will have a last made, and you shall make me a pair of shoes, if you will; but I warn you they must be of the finest skin, and the soles of morocco.”

“They will cost more, and not last so long.”

“I can’t help that; I can’t bear any but the lightest boots.”

Before I left him he said his daughter should dine with me that day as he was very busy.

I called on the Count of Aranda, who received me coldly, but with great politeness.  I told him how I had been treated by my parish priest and by Mengs.

“I heard about it; this was worse than your imprisonment, and I don’t know what I could have done for you if you had not communicated, and obliged the priest to take out your name.  Just now they are trying to annoy me with posters on the walls, but I take no notice.”