"The Villar party wanted to have the sword points blunted, but I said: 'I know Don Rosendo very well, and he is a man who abhors childishness; you can not trifle with him. When one has to do with a quarrel like this it has to be treated seriously. I am certain that if we blunted the points there would be a row with him. Was not that what you would have said?"
"Exactly. Many thanks, Alvaro," returned Señor Belinchon, giving him a hand which Peña found rather cold, and he added in a weak voice:
"But if the points were a trifle filed I would not mind agreeing to that. The affair, after all, does not precisely exact death."
"I did not dare to agree to it. Not knowing your opinion, I feared to vex you."
"Not at all—not at all. I would not mind their being filed."
"Well, now it can't be. The conditions are arranged and unless they suggest it again the points will have to be sharp. That will suit you, as you know how to use the foil."
"And precisely for that reason I did not wish to take any unfair advantage of my adversary."
To this remark Peña gave a knowing wink.
"Don't be so scrupulous, Don Rosendo. If you can run him through first! like a little bird, don't hesitate to do so."
The officer accompanied these last words with an expressive pass in the air with the tips of his fingers, as if he were inserting them in a human body.