‘So I hear that you have a marble bath, Dr Maturin? That must be a great comfort to you, in such a climate.’ ‘Certainly, ma’am. I conceive it to be Visigothic.’ ‘Not marble?’ ‘Visigothic marble, my dear madam, from a baptistery destroyed by the Moors.’ ‘And you have a castle?’ ‘Oh, it is only a small place. I keep one wing in order, to go up there from time to time.’ ‘For the porcupine-hunting, no doubt?’ Stephen bowed. ‘And for my rents, ma’am. In some ways Spain is a more direct country than England, and when we say rack-rent in those parts, rack-rent is what we mean – why, we make them pay
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