5
A Glance All Round – and Inside – a Man

Tio lucas was uglier than sin itself. He had been so all his life and he was now nearing forty. Nevertheless few such openhearted and genial spirits had ever come from the Creator’s hand. Completely captivated by his liveliness, his quickness of mind, and his native wit, the late Bishop had begged him of his parents, who had been shepherds – of real sheep, I mean, not men. On his Lordship’s death the boy left the seminary for the barracks and soon was singled out by General Caro to act as his valet and orderly in the field. When at last his military service was over it was just as inevitable that he should take Frasquita’s heart by storm as that he should have won the special regard of both Prelate and General. That “fair maid of Navarre” – who at that date had known a mere twenty springtimes and was the toast of all the young bloods in Estella, many of them young men of fortune – was quite powerless to resist his innumerable social graces, the witty sallies, the quizzing of his little, amorous, simian eyes, the ready smile so full of raillery and mischief, and yet of tenderness too. The young Murcian was indeed so forthcoming, had so much to say for himself, showed constantly such sense, address, spirit and wit, that in the end he completely turned the head not only of the much-sought-after young beauty but of her father and mother as well.

Lucas was in those days, as he still was at the time of our story, of spare build – at any rate, compared with his wife. He had something of a hump on his back, and was very swarthy. He was clean-shaven, his ears were rather long, and his face was pockmarked. On the other hand, his mouth was very well-shaped and his teeth perfect.

It could be said of Lucas that only the shell of the man was rough and ugly; as soon as one got beyond that, his perfections became manifest, and they began with his teeth. Then came the voice, vibrant, flexible, seductive; virile and grave at times; then, when he sought a favour, soft and honeyed – at all times hard to resist. Next there was what that voice said – every single word straight to the point, most apt, ingenious, and persuasive. To sum up, the character of Tio Lucas was a compound of stoutness of heart, staunchness, straightforwardness, common sense, a readiness to learn, an instinctive or acquired knowledge of many things, a deep contempt for fools whatever their social standing, and a certain spirit of irony, burlesque, and raillery that stamped him in the learned Doctor’s eyes as a Quevedo in the raw.

Such, outwardly and inwardly, was Lucas.