New Book - La Segunda Casaca - Segunda Parte de Episodios Nacionales 3 - by Benito Pérez Galdós (Chapters 1 -12)

 

First Published: January 1, 1876

In this novel Pipaón is back. 

Now he lives in a big house, and as he has plenty of room, he asks Miguel de Baraona and her granddaughter Jenara to have some of the other rooms. Jenara was the woman who in the first series, Salvador was in love with, but she turned him down when he confessed that he belonged to the French army. Jenara married Carlos, and he and Salvador had a confrontation and Salvador injured him.

Jenara and her grandfather tell Pipaón that they have seen Salvador in Madrid, and he should be in prison. Then Pipaón, who used to be Salvador's friend, finds a note allegedly from Salvador, asking him to get his mother out of prison. Pipaón is friends with men close to the king. 

One day Jenara talks to him, and she says that she and her maid saw Salvador, but as they were wrapped in coats and shawls, he didn't recognise her. They followed him to see where he lived, and after following for hours and even waiting for him to come out of Café Levante, she discovered that he lived in a pension. The maid stayed there until he left, and then Jenara discovered where he stayed next. Jenara wants him in prison, and then he tells Pipaón that Salvador's mother is innocent and has to be out of prison.

The novel shows us Pipaon as he was in the previous book, an opportunist, agreeing with whoever can benefit him. He talks to the minister, Lozano de Torres, and he agrees that Doña Petra should be released, and he signs the order. It seems that Don Buenaventura, who Pipaón is close to, is someone nobody can trust. And then Ugarte appears to talk to Pipaón, and he tells him that even though he despises freemasons, he wants Pipaon to join them.

It is interesting how this book reflects the reality that we live today. The characters complain that if someone does something that Buenaventura does not approve of, they are accused of being freemasons. It is what today is happening: people accuse each other of bein commies or fascists, and the words have lost their real meaning. There is nothing wrong to be a commie, but the meaning of fascist is really terrible, and I think people shouldn't use that term so freely.