[Calderon The Courtier by Edward Bulwer-Lytton]@TWC D-Link bookCalderon The Courtier CHAPTER IX 2/13
What have you done to provoke his kindness ?" "Senor," said Fonseca, suspiciously, "you speak with a strange want of caution to a stranger, and against a man whose power you confess." "Because I am safe from his revenge; because the Inquisition have already fixed their fatal eyes upon him; because by that Inquisition I am not unknown nor unprotected; because I see with joy and triumph the hour approaching that must render up to justice the pander of the prince, the betrayer of the king, the robber of the people; because I have an interest in thee, Don Martin, of which thou wilt be aware when thou hast learned my name.
I am Juan de la Nuza, the father of the young officer whose life you saved in the assault of the Moriscos, in Valentia, and I owe you an everlasting gratitude." There was something in the frank and hearty tone of the governor which at once won Fonseca's confidence.
He became agitated and distracted with suspicions of his former tutor and present patron. "What, I ask, hast thou done to attract his notice? Calderon is not capricious in cruelty.
Art thou rich, and does he hope that thou wilt purchase freedom with five thousand pistoles? No! Hast thou crossed the path of his ambition? Hast thou been seen with Uzeda? or art thou in favour with the prince? No, again! Then hast thou some wife, some sister, some mistress, of rare accomplishments and beauty, with whom Calderon would gorge the fancy and retain the esteem of the profligate Infant? Ah, thou changest colour." "By Heaven! you madden me with these devilish surmises.
Speak plainly." "I see thou knowest not Calderon," said the governor, with a bitter smile.
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