The little wife well understood that these words were sincere, and she looked at her husband with enthusiasm and joy.
Miguel, in speaking the last words, had felt his heart growing tender: he covered his eyes with his hands, and turned away his head. On seeing him in this attitude a smile of intense delight illumined his wife's face.
"Are you crying?" she whispered into his ear.
Miguel did not reply.
"Are you crying?" she repeated. "You are crying; don't try to deny it." And with infantile curiosity she tried to pull his hands away from his face.
"Stop, stop!"
"Let me see thy tears, Miguel!"
And she struggled with all her might to see her husband's eyes full of tears.
"Are you satisfied now?" he asked, laughing; then after a moment of silence, "And you, Maximina," he said, in a tone of anxiety, "would you marry again?"
"Oh! for Heaven's sake!"