"Oh, yes! I am a mean cur, because I do not choose to maintain a crew of hungry puppies. I leave that to the hags who choose to pet them!"
This brutal speech seemed to have eased his mind, for his lips wore a smile of triumphant sarcasm.
Five minutes later they were both in the dining-room, laughing and jesting with a small party of guests.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW THE DUKE DE REQUENA REWARDED VIRTUE.
"LET me see, let me see. Explain yourself."
"Señor Duque, the matter is as clear as possible. I spoke with Regnault to-day. If the furnaces are altered, a few roads made, and proper machinery set up, the mine can be made to yield half as much again as it now does. It may be as much as sixty thousand flasks of mercury. The outlay needed to produce these results would not exceed a hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
"That seems to me a great deal."
"A great deal for such a result?"
"No, that seems to me a great many flasks."
"But I have no doubt that what Regnault says is true. He is an intelligent and practical engineer. He worked for six years in California; and, indeed, the English engineer said the same."