"Holá, friend Rivera!"
Miguel, without looking up, replied very solemnly:—
"Gently, gently, Señor Merelo! gently, we are not all on a level!"
The editors roared with laughter.
Merelo, a little touched, exclaimed:—
"This Rivera is always making jokes.... Now, señor, ..." he went on to say, flinging his sombrero on the table.... "I have just this moment come from the tariff meeting at the Teatro del Circo...."
"Who spoke?... Who spoke?" was asked from various parts of the room.
"Well, Don Gabriel Rodríguez, Moret y Prendergast, Figuerola, and our chief; but the one who made the best speech was Don Felix Bona."
"Man alive! and what did he say?"
"Well, he began by saying that he ... the most insignificant of all that were there...."