221
Unfortunately, I am not now, in my retirement, able to deal with the vast material as I would like and as it deserves. But, even so, I have deemed it of useful service to inform younger galdosistas of the general nature of the letters and to publish a few illustrative specimens. (N. del A.)
222
In answer to Gerardo's worries Don Benito writes (10-VIII-12): «Su carta viene angustiada y muy pesimista. No hay que ahogarse en poca agua. Observe V. el orden que le indico, y ya vendrá la divina providencia en nuestro auxilio para salir airosos de todo. Yo lucho hasta morir y casi siempre me salgo con la mía. No nos moriremos». The following day he adds: «Yo, que soy general en jefe, ya me afano en ordenar y disponer la batalla con seguridades de éxito. Si V. cumple al pie de la letra mis instrucciones venceremos y nos llenaremos de gloria». (N. del A.)
223
None of the names is identified with Galdós' fictional characters, whose clave José Vega wrote was in the possession of Dr. Marañón (Shoemaker, The Novelistic Art of Galdós, I, Valencia, 1980, p. 115). Dr. Marañón confirmed this in a letter to me, dated «30 julio 1956», saying: «Yo tenía, en efecto, una clave de los personajes de Galdós, pero es uno de tantos papeles que se me perdieron durante la Revolución». Names and addresses of friends are also given -at least seven identifiable- to whom Gerardo is instructed to distribute copies of his new publications as they come out.
Torquemada is named in twelve letters in August-September, 1912, only five times with the article «el» as if the man's name were a generic classification; in the others Torquemada seems to be his real name or the name that he is distinguishably and identifiably known by Galdós wrote (1-VIII-12): «Ya pudo el amigo Torquemada avisar con tiempo la fecha. No lo hizo tal vez para intervenir en el momento angustioso para dárselas de Salvador». On 4-VIII-12: «La culpa del atranco la tuvo el Torquemada, que con la mala intención sin duda dejó llegar las cosas al momento crítico para hacerse el hombre necesario». The next day he wrote that now we can «dar en las narices al tunante de Torquemada» (5-VIII-12), who will «inventar cualquier tontería o canallada» (12-VIII-12). On 17-VIII-12 he advised «mucho cuidado con el Torquemada. Si éste le convida a comer es con la idea de catequizarle a V. y meterle miedo... El abogado Don Alejandro me dijo que Torquemada era un bandido». Tell Torquemada «que no quiero las 14,000, que se las coloque a quien quisiera» (19-VIII-12). We will deal with other «matatías» and avoid his «gaterías» (20-VIII-12). Don't let «un céntimo pasar por las manos de Torquemada» (1-IX-12). Perhaps, after all, there was a specific model for Galdós' fictional Torquemada of the previous decade and earlier, in spite of the general opinion that Francisco Torquemada is a composite character (see my book, The Novelistic Art of Galdós, III, Valencia, 1982, p. 92, n. 7). The above refusal of 14,000 is reminiscent of Francisco Torquemada's loan rejection by a client, in Torquemada en la hoguera, or a marked resemblance to it (ibid., p. 97). (N. del A.)
224
«gastos que me tienen frito» (7-VIII-12). (N. del A.)
225
What book (unpublished?, unwritten?) can this be? Possibly a reprinting of the first series of Episodios Nacionales? Sales had been poor because of «la influencia clerical. Pero ya se les dará en los hocicos a esa canalla» (10-X-08). (N. del A.)
226
Apriete V. al buen Don Desi para que le dé las 600 antes del domingo. El bien sabe que su plan en el Español para la temporada siguiente me lo debe a mí (27 and 28-IX-11). Three years earlier he had pushed Gerardo to collect from Don Desiderio, «pues es ya intolerable que no acuda en mi auxilio teniendo la cobranza de mis derechos de autor» (10-X-08). (N. del A.)
227
Galdós' general health was robust, although he often suffered from catarrh, which once forced him to use and pay for a coche-cama for the return to Madrid (11-X-09). Annually, if he could afford it, between 1908 and 1912, he went to Puente Viesgo for three to ten days to take the curative baths. (N. del A.)
228
Can this be the famous mid-nineteenth century work of Eulogio Florentino Sanz? (N. del A.)
229
On which El Hogar Español held the mortgage. Sixteen letters refer to loans from this source and Galdós's payments (from 6-VIII-09 through 26-IX-17). (N. del A.)
230
See Shoemaker, Los Prólogos de Galdós, México, 1962, pp. 35-36, 111-114. (N. del A.)