Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/147

Rh to peddle haberdashery, but I hardly ever showed myself in large places, on account of my unlucky business at Seville. One day, or rather one night, we were to meet below Veger. El Dancaïre and I got there before the others.

"'We shall soon have a new comrade,' said he. 'Carmen has just managed one of her best tricks. She has contrived the escape of her rom, who was in the presidio at Tarifa.

"I was already beginning to understand the gipsy language, which nearly all my comrades spoke, and this word rom startled me.

"'What! her husband? Is she married, then?' said I to the captain.

"'Yes!' he replied, 'married to Garcia el Tuerto —as cunning a gipsy as she is herself. The poor fellow has been at the galleys. Carmen has wheedled the surgeon of the presidio to such good purpose that she has managed to get her rom out of prison. Faith! that girl's worth her weight in gold. For two years she has been trying to contrive his escape, but she could do nothing until the authorities took it into their heads to change the surgeon. She soon managed to come to an understanding with this new one.'

"You may imagine how pleasant this news was for me. I soon saw Garcia el Tuerto. He