"Man alive! certainly; for it is not this way that it is explained and defined to us by the treatises."
Mendoza shrugged his shoulders, at the same time pressing his lips into a sign of disdain.
"Well, then you want to bring the general back to Madrid?" added Miguel.
"That is impossible."
"Then what shall we do?"
Mendoza meditated.
"If you had been elected deputy, the thing would be much easier. In that case we should be two to ask the minister, who, looking out for his future interests, would be much more careful not to go counter to us...."
"But as I am not a deputy!"
Mendoza meditated another long time, and said:—
"Still it can all be arranged. The general, when he accepted the post of ambassador, left one district vacant, that of Serín, in Galicia. They will soon be having the second elections. If the government will accept you as candidato adicto, you are certain of a triumph."