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We must not conclude, however, that Don Gonzalo had any personal

dislike to our poor mountaineer; we must not conclude that,

informed perhaps of his disrespect and ill-timed jests upon his

_Moorish king enchained by the throat_, he wished to wreak his

vengeance on him, nor that he considered him a person dangerous

enough to be pursued even in his flight, as was Hannibal by the

Roman senate. Don Gonzalo had too many things to think of, to

trouble himself with the actions of Renzo, and if he appeared to

do so, it was the result of a singular concurrence of

circumstances; by which the poor fellow, without wishing it, or

even knowing why, found himself attached, as by an invisible

thread, to numerous and important affairs.

CHAPTER XXVII.