With this he gave his beard a derisive sort of touch.
We know that Manuel Antonio could not bear anybody's hands near him in public.
"Be off, you jackdaw, be off!" he returned, with visible irritation as he pushed him away.
"But are you not fetching? Why, my man, if this were lost to view! Look what a mouth! Goodness alive, what shaped eyes! Did you ever see such a texture of the skin?"
And as he touched him again, Manuel repulsed him with a hard push of real anger.
"Caramba! how cross you are to-day!" said the Conde de Onis.
"It does not matter," returned Paco with a sigh, "white hands never offend."
At that moment it was his turn to figure in the rigodon, and he went off with Emilita.
Maria Josefa, who had been dancing a little way off, now came up with her partner, a lieutenant of the battalion of Pontevedra.
"Why, Don Santos, you are cruel! Why do you not go and keep Fernanda company? She is quite alone."