201

Many of these details I owe to a personal letter from the son of General Ignacio Pérez Galdós who bears the same name as his father. Although he was born ten years after the events of 1879-80 he gives me the family traditions on this period. About the materials for El amigo Manso he says «muchas veces oí decir a mi madre Caridad, que fue aquella su hermana María quien informó a Galdós de muchos datos para la familia cubana que conocemos en El amigo Manso».

202

Don Ignacio writes «No puedo precisar si también vivió con mis padres una señora Hurtado de Mendoza pariente política de los Pérez Galdós, pero creo recordar que sí, aunque sin precisar detalles.»

203

El amigo Manso, p. 1179 (Chap. 8).

204

Ibid., p. 1190 (Chap. 14).

205

Ibid., p. 1185 (Chap. 11).

206

Ibid., p. 1179 (Chap. 8). Galdós was notably inaccurate in recalling the dates of his works, etc., but we are astounded to read that he told Clarín that he was born in 1845 (instead of 1843). Clarín, Galdós, p. 11. If, as it seems, this was his habitual way of reckoning his age, his brother Ignacio would be only six years older than he, not eight years, as he really was.

207

See Berkowitz, Pérez Galdós, pp. 15-17.

208

El amigo Manso, p. 1174 (Chap. 6, end).

209

Ibid., p. 1164 (Chap. 2, end).

210

Ibid., p. 1178 (Chap. 7).