Benito Pérez Galdós
Doña Perfecta
(Unabridged)
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2018 OK Publishing
ISBN 978-80-272-4687-8
Table of Contents
Chapter I Villahorrenda! Five Minutes!
Chapter II A Journey In The Heart Of Spain
Chapter IV The Arrival Of The Cousin
Chapter V Will There Be Dissension?
Chapter VI In Which It Is Seen That Disagreement May Arise When Least Expected
Chapter VII The Disagreement Increases
Chapter IX The Disagreement Continues To Increase, And Thereafter To Become Discord
Chapter X The Evidence Of Discord Is Evident
Chapter XIV The Discord Continues To Increase
Chapter XV Discord Continues To Grow Until War Is Declared
Chapter XVII Light In The Darkness
Chapter XIX A Terrible Battle-Strategy
Chapter XXV Unforeseen Events—A Passing Disagreement
Chapter XXVII A Canon’s Torture
Chapter XXVIII From Pepe Rey To Don Juan Rey
Chapter XXIX From Pepe Rey To Rosarito Polentinos
Chapter XXX Beating Up The Game
Conclusion From Don Cayetano Polentinos to a friend in Madrid:
Chapter I
Villahorrenda! Five Minutes!
When the down train No. 65—of what line it is unnecessary to say—stopped at the little station between kilometres 171 and 172, almost all the second-and third-class passengers remained in the cars, yawning or asleep, for the penetrating cold of the early morning did not invite to a walk on the unsheltered platform. The only first-class passenger on the train alighted quickly, and addressing a group of the employes asked them if this was the Villahorrenda station.
“We are in Villahorrenda,” answered the conductor whose voice was drowned by the cackling of the hens which were at that moment being lifted into the freight car. “I forgot to call you, Senor de Rey. I think they are waiting for you at the station with the beasts.”
“Why, how terribly cold it is here!” said the traveller, drawing his cloak more closely about him. “Is there no place in the station where I could rest for a while, and get warm, before undertaking a journey on horseback through this frozen country?”
Before he had finished speaking the conductor, called away by the urgent duties of his position, went off, leaving our unknown cavalier’s question unanswered. The latter saw that another employe was coming toward him, holding a lantern in his right hand, that swung back and forth as he walked, casting the light on the platform of the station in a series of zigzags, like those described by the shower from a watering-pot.
“Is there a restaurant or a bedroom in the station of Villahorrenda?” said the traveller to the man with the lantern.
“There is nothing here,” answered the latter brusquely, running toward the men who were putting the freight on board the cars, and assuaging them with such a volley of oaths, blasphemies, and abusive epithets that the very chickens, scandalized by his brutality, protested against it from their baskets.
“The best thing I can do is to get away from this place as quickly as possible,” said the gentlemen to himself. “The conductor said that the beasts were here.”
Just as he had come to this conclusion he felt a thin hand pulling him gently and respectfully by the cloak. He turned round and saw a figure enveloped in a gray cloak, and out of whose voluminous folds peeped the shrivelled and astute countenance