"I agree with you; but it costs the most of all."
And in this connection he related several cases where by frankly saying what he thought, it had caused him serious losses. His conversation was gay, insinuating, without the least snobbishness; his fault lay, on the contrary, in excessive familiarity.
When he had finished eating, he courteously offered cigars, and after lighting one and leaning back in his chair, he asked Rivera:—
"So, then, you wish to be deputy for Serín?"
"If you have no opposition to it...."
"I? Why should I have any opposition to it? It is sufficient that you are Brigadier Rivera's son and Mendoza's friend. Besides, no election could be more suitable than yours. You are a young man of talent, as has already been proved; you belong to the democratic wing of the party, and that composes a very respectable contingent in it; you have an independent fortune ... on men like you the heads of the government ought to have great reliance, and ought to win them over at all hazards. We like young men of intelligence, and with a future ahead of them; rising stars! As for those that are declining, let them have a feather-bed to rest in! That is public life."
He remained a few moments pensive; puffed at his cigar, and added:—
"I am not acquainted with this district of Serín. Do you know how it is situated, Mendoza?"
"My impression is that government has absolute control of it. The general had certainly no opposition."
"Very good; but you must remember that the general is a figure of the first magnitude in politics, and that his name would be sufficient to scare off all opposition."