weak mind,
and had moments of passion, it may be wondered that I bore his dangerous
neighbourhood with equanimity. As a matter of fact, it was for some time
irksome; but it happened before long that I obtained over him so
complete a mastery as set my disquietude at rest.

It fell in this way. He was by nature slothful, and much of a vagabond,
and yet he kept by the house, and not only waited upon my wants, but
laboured every day in the garden or small farm to the south of the
residencia. Here he would be joined by the peasant whom I had seen on
the night of my arrival, and who dwelt at the far end of the enclosure,
about half a mile away, in a rude out-house; but it was plain to me that
of these two, it was Felipe who did most; and though I would sometimes
see him throw down his spade and go to sleep among the very plants he
had been digging, his constancy and energy were admirable in themselves,
and still more so since I was well assured they were foreign to his
disposition, and the fruit of an ungrateful effort. But while I admired,
I wondered what had called forth in a lad so shuttle-witted this
enduring sense of duty. How was it sustained? I asked myself, and to
what length did it prevail over his instincts? The priest was possibly
his inspirer; but the priest came one day to the residencia. I saw him
both come and go after an interval of close upon an hour, from a knoll
where I was sketching, and all that time Felipe continued to labour
undisturbed in the garden.

At last, in a very unworthy spirit, I determined to debauch the lad from
his good resolutions, and, waylaying him at the gate, easily persuaded
him to join me in a ramble. It was a fine day, and the woods to which I
led him were green and pleasant and sweet-smelling, and alive with the
hum of insects. Here he discovered himself in a fresh character,
mounting up to heights of gaiety that abashed me, and displaying an
energy and grace of movement that delighted the eye. He leaped, he ran
round me in mere glee; he would stop, and look and listen, and seem to
drink in the world like a cordial; and then he would suddenly spring
into a tree with one bound, and hang and gambol there like one at home.
Little as he said to me, and that of not much import, I have rarely
enjoyed more stirring company; the sight of his delight was a continual
feast; the speed and accuracy of his movements pleased me to the heart;
and I might have been so thoughtlessly unkind as to m