"Do you know she is wonderfully artful. She has not looked at you once."
Castro, who had been a good deal piqued these few days past by his lady's coldness, smiled a forced smile and then knit his brows. Pepa did not fail to observe this.
"Look at the black cloud on Osorio's face; it is enough to frighten one! And you are the guilty cause of it, you wretch!"
"I! Oh, dear no! It is more likely to be some question of ready money which makes him look so bilious. I hear he is ruined, or within an ace of it."
Pepa started visibly.
"Who says so? Where did you hear that?"
"Several persons have told me so."
The widow turned sharply to Arbos on her other hand, and asked him in a whisper:
"Have you heard anything about Osorio's being ruined?"
"Yes, I have heard it said that Osorio has for some time been buying for a fall, and the market has gone up steadily," replied the official, with a toss of his head suggesting a peacock, and there was a touch of evident satisfaction in his tone. To a politician, buying for a fall is a crime worthy of any punishment. "I do not know how much he may be let in for at the next account; but if it is anything considerable, he is a ruined man. Consols have gone up one per cent., by the end of the month they may have risen to two."