o consider."

All listened to him, many left him as he desired, and he returned to his
abode with a much smaller train. But it was every day the same: his
exhortations availed nothing; and Thomas finally resolved to repair to
Flanders, there to support himself by the strength of his arm, since he
could no longer profit by that of his intellect.

This resolution he executed accordingly, exclaiming as he departed--"Oh,
city and court! you by whom the expectations of the bold pretender are
fulfilled, while the hopes of the modest labourer are destroyed; you who
abundantly sustain the shameless Buffoon, while the worthy sage is left
to die of hunger; I bid you farewell." That said, he proceeded to
Flanders, where he finished in arms the life which he might have
rendered immortal by letters, and died in the company of his friend the
Captain Don Diego, leaving behind him the reputation of a most valiant
soldier and upright man.

THE DECEITFUL MARRIAGE

From the Hospital of the Resurrection, which stands just beyond the
Puerta del Campo, in Valladolid, there issued one day a soldier, who, by
the excessive paleness of his countenance, and the weakness of his
limbs, which obliged him to, lean upon his sword, showed clearly to all
who set eyes on him that, though the weather was not very warm, he must
have sweated a good deal in the last few weeks. He had scarcely entered
the gate of the city, with tottering steps, when he was accosted by an
old friend who had not seen him for the last six months, and who
approached the invalid, making signs of the cross as if he had seen a
ghost. "What; is all this?" he cried; "do I, indeed, behold the Senor
Alferez[58] Campuzano? Is it possible that I really see you in this
country? Why, I thought you were in Flanders trailing a pike, instead of
hobbling along with your sword for a walking-stick. How pale--how
emaciated you look!"

[58] Alferez, Ensign.

"As to whether I am in this country or elsewhere, Signor Licentiate
Peralta, the fact that you now see me is a sufficient answer," replied
Campuzano; "as for your other questions, all I can tell you is, that I
have just come out of that hospital, where I have been confined for a
long time in a dreadful state of health, brought upon me by the conduct
of a woman I was indiscreet enough to make my wife."

"You have been married, then?" said Peralta.

"Yes, Senor."

"Married without benefit of clergy, I presume. Marriages of that