I had personally no longer any fear that he might dismiss me. I would, I think, have thrown up my job myself, but that I seemed to have a better chance of helping the girl by staying on.
"You will never win her," I continued, "your Excellency, by your way of wooing."
"Oh, and why not?" he asked.
"She thinks you a brute," I said frankly.
Juan Ballester reflected.
"I don't much mind her thinking that," he answered slowly.
"She hates you," I went on.
"And I don't seriously object to her thinking that," he replied.
"She despises you," I said in despair.
"Ah!" said Ballester, with a change of voice. "I should object to her doing that. But then it isn't true."