The Reign of Greed
night of February 4, 1899.—Tr.
[71] Spanish etiquette requires a host to welcome his guest with the
conventional phrase: “The house belongs to you.”—Tr.
[72] The handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast, foretelling the
destruction of Babylon. Daniel, v, 25–28.—Tr.
[73] A town in Ciudad Real province, Spain.—Tr.
[74] The italicized words are in English in the original.—Tr.
[75] A Spanish hero, whose chief exploit was the capture of Gibraltar
from the Moors in 1308.—Tr.
[76] Emilio Castelar (1832–1899), generally regarded as the greatest of
Spanish orators.—Tr.
[77] In the original the message reads: “Español escondido casa Padre
Florentino cojera remitirá vivo muerto.” Don Tiburcio understands
cojera as referring to himself; there is a play upon the Spanish words
cojera, lameness, and cogerá, a form of the verb coger, to seize or
capture—j and g in these two words having the same sound, that of the
English h.—Tr.