"It was about eleven, a little before or after."
"Then allow me to dispute your statement. I am never out of bed till two."
"Till two!" exclaimed one and another.
"That is going to an excess!" cried the Marquesa de Alcudia.
"But it is an aristocratic excess. Who gets up earliest in Madrid? The scavengers, porters, scullions. A little later you will see the shopmen taking down their shutters, the old women going to early Mass, grooms airing their masters' horses, and so forth. Next come the men of business and office clerks, who do all the real work of the Government, milliners' girls and the like. By about eleven you may meet a better class, officers in the army, students, civilians of a higher grade, and merchants. At noon you see the larger fry, heads of houses, bankers, and land-owners; but it is not till two that Ministers of State, Directors, Grandees of the realm and distinguished writers are to be seen in the streets."
The whole company were listening, greatly edified by this defence of laziness, and feeling themselves in a position to laugh at it, saying in an undertone:
"That Fuentes! Oh, that Fuentes can talk any one down!"
Then, simply for the pleasure of it, some one contradicted him.
"But then, my dear fellow, you do not know the delights of getting up early in the morning to breathe the fresh air and bathe in the sunshine!"
"I would sooner bathe in warm water with a little bottle of Kananga."