She could have taken my horse and ridden away. But I found
her there still. She did not choose that any one should say I had
frightened her. While I had been away she had unfastened the hem of her
gown and taken out the lead that weighted it; and now she was sitting
before a table, looking into a bowl of water into which she had just
thrown the lead she had melted. She was so busy with her spells that at
first she didn't notice my return. Sometimes she would take out a bit of
lead and turn it round every way with a melancholy look. Sometimes she
would sing one of those magic songs, which invoke the help of Maria
Padella, Don Pedro's mistress, who is said to have been the _Bari
Crallisa_--the great gipsy queen.*
* Maria Padella was accused of having bewitched Don Pedro.
According to one popular tradition she presented Queen
Blanche of Bourbon with a golden girdle which, in the eyes
of the bewitched king, took on the appearance of a living
snake. Hence the repugnance he always showed toward the
unhappy princess.
"'Carmen,' I said to her, 'will you come with me?' She rose, threw away
her wooden bowl, and put her mantilla over her head ready to start.
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