Akin to the treatment of the troopers in hall and kitchen, but on a
nobler scale, was the treatment of Lieutenant Butler and Cornet
O'Rourke in the dining-room. For them a well-roasted turkey took
the place of kid, and Souza went down himself to explore the cellars
for a well-sunned, time-ripened Douro table wine which he vowed -
and our dragoons agreed with him - would put the noblest Burgundy
to shame; and then with the dessert there was a Port the like of
which Mr. Butler - who was always of a nice taste in wine, and who
was coming into some knowledge of Port from his residence in the
country - had never dreamed existed.
For four and twenty hours the dragoons abode at Mr. Bearsley's
quinta, thanking God for the discomforts that had brought them to
such comfort, feasting in this land of plenty as only those can
feast who have kept a rigid Lent. Nor was this all. The benign
Souza was determined that the sojourn there of these representatives
of his country's deliverers should be a complete rest and holiday.
Not for Mr. Butler to journey to the uplands in this matter of a
herd of bullocks. Fernando Souza had at command a regiment of
labourers, who were idle at this time of year, and whom his good
nature would engage on behalf of his English guests.
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