both in birth and fortune, and by no means remarkable for
beauty. Don Rodrigo fondly imagined that his rank and affluence would
insure him success; nor did he overlook the advantages nature had given
him in a pair of fine eyes, an aquiline nose, well proportioned limbs, a
carriage that shewed off these qualifications to advantage, and a degree
of personal courage that even his rivals and enemies respected; but his
Angelica must have been an admirer of the opposite qualities, as she
chose for her husband an obscure plebeian, whom the very sight of a
Toledo steel threw into an ague. Disgusted with the bad taste and
vulgarity of those he had already courted, he boldly resolved to prefer
his suit to the very first lady in the land. He accordingly laid siege
to the heart of Leonor, but here his pretensions met with as decided a
repulse as before, and though his vanity could not have been wounded by
having Gomez Arias for his fortunate rival, yet, soured by his repeated
crosses, he determined, if he could not by gentle means succeed in his
object, to kill his rival or fall in the attempt: his success in this
last exploit the reader will perhaps remember.

Nor was the ill-luck of Don Rodrigo confined to his amours; it extended
to all his affairs. If he engaged in a duel, a wound was generally the
result; or if he escaped unhurt, though he might have been the injured
party, yet by some fatality he was sure to be accounted the aggressor.
If he happened to say a good thing, it was invariably attributed to
another person, while, if a piece of scurrility or a foolish remark
circulated, he never failed to have the whole merit to himself.

We need not, however, go further for instances to exemplify the ill-luck
that constantly attended Don Rodrigo. We see him at present a prey to
his evil genius. He left the _Zaguan_ of Monteblanco's dwelling with the
utmost precipitation. Impressed with the idea that he had killed his
rival; and, fully sensible of the necessity of speedy flight, he
hurried to the inn for his horse and valet, anxious to put in practice
his prudential resolution, before any impediment could be thrown in his
way. On his arrival he asked for his man Peregil; but Peregil, as if on
purpose to perplex him, was gone to evening prayers, which Don Rodrigo
very naturally interpreted, to the tavern. So he sent a boy there, with
instructions where he was to meet him out of the town. He then hastened
to the stable, but found, to