ANDALUSIAN SKETCHES. 619 



sofa. There was no other female on board the steamer, and I 

 was obliged to call in the assistance of the astonished captain and his 

 servant. It was some time ere any of the remedies to which we had 

 recourse for the recovery of the lovely orphan (and most beautiful 

 she was) succeeded. The captain was loud in his selfish lamenta- 

 tions. What was he to do with the dead body of a man he knew 

 not ! What would become of the girl ! I at once silenced him. 



" I am answerable," said I, " for all expenses. My acquaintance 

 with the deceased is not certainly of long standing, but I claim him 

 as my friend, and I have pledged my word to protect his daughter in 

 safety to her home." With infinite difficulty I ascertained from the 



afflicted maiden that her name was Amalia R , and that her 



family resided in a house nearly adjoining the Casa Pilata, close to 

 the outer wall of Seville. The steam-vessel did not reach the Muele 

 del Vapor (the quay) until nine o'clock in the evening. I promised 

 liberal reward to the unwilling captain to allow the corpse to remain 

 undisturbed until midnight, and I gave him the few dollars I had in 

 my purse, as earnest of my intentions. He sullenly consented. It 

 was then a heart-rending task to induce the unhappy Amalia to quit 

 the body of her father. At length I prevailed, and she committed 

 herself to my guidance. It is not the custom in Spain for a female 

 to lean on the arm of a man, even though he be her near relative. 

 It must therefore have been a shock ~a pang to this lovely and truly 

 delicate creature, to be obliged to permit my supporting her almost 

 sinking frame from the landing-place to the quarter of the city where 

 stood her home. But she consigned herself to my protection in a 

 manner so touching and so confiding, that no man no gentleman 

 could by thought or deed have infringed upon the strictest rules 

 of decorum. Fortunately, from the several previous visits I had 

 made to Seville, the city was well known to me, and particularly the 

 situation of the Casa Pilata, which, being a house built from a model 

 of that of Pontius Pilate at Jerusalem, is always shewn to strangers 

 by the Cicerone, as one of "the lions." No guide or inquiry was 

 therefore requisite, and I silently conducted the weeping girl to the 

 street. She pointed out her dwelling ; I rapped gently at the door. 



" Quien esta ?" (Who is there ?) was demanded from within. 



" Genie de paz" (Peaceful people), I replied, in the manner usual 

 in Andalusia. The latch of the door was immediately lifted by a 

 pulley from above, and we entered the inner court. I now had to 

 carry my fainting charge up the stairs. On the landing-place of the 

 gallery, we were received by an old female, holding a lamp, who on 

 discovering us, dropped the light, and screaming ran into an apart- 

 ment. Thither I followed, and deposited my lovely burthen upon a 

 couch. The cries of the nurse brought from an inner chamber the 

 mother. She was nearly speechless with astonishment and alarm. 



" What is this !" at length she exclaimed, advancing eagerly to- 

 wards her daughter. " Amalia with a stranger ! and where is Don 

 Carlos ? Where is your father ?" I answered her questions. 



" Don Carlos, madam, is, I regret to say, very seriously indisposed. 

 At his request I have conducted the young lady to her home. I fear 

 she is much exhausted." At once she comprehended all. 



