2O SOME BIRDS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS 



my hat on the whole evening, while they took theirs 

 off, and if I removed mine for a minute one of them 

 would come up and insist on my replacing it. 



The son was a man with a black beard, very like 

 his father, and he evidently had a rooted idea which 

 nothing could drive out of his head, that if he only 

 shouted loud enough at me in Spanish, I must eventually 

 understand. I have said before that I could understand 

 Lorenzo to a certain extent, but most of the people 

 talked so fast, and clipped the words so in their patois 

 that I was at that time at a loss to make out their 



meaning. 



Soon I noticed one or two strange faces at the 



o 



doorway ; these belonged to men who were no doubt 

 friends of the family, and they were brought in forth- 

 with and introduced one by one. After each introduc- 

 tion I heard the black-bearded son say, in a very 

 audible and hoarse whisper, behind his hand, " Amigo de 

 la Marquesa." Now I had not the honour of knowing 

 the Marquesa at all, but, like many other people, I am 

 not blind to the advantages of having my name coupled 

 with those of the aristocracy. My letters of introduc- 

 tion were given me by a friend of the Marquesa's, and 

 as these good people had honoured me so far as to 

 assume that I was an acquaintance of hers, I did not 

 think it at all necessary to undeceive them, especially as 

 it evidently invested me with an importance that my 

 own personality would not have secured. I also saw 

 that it might smooth my way during our stay in the 

 island. 



Presently one of them took up a framed photograph 

 from a table in my room and handed it to me. I saw 



