After they had all shaken hands with the Grandee, they formed a group in the middle of the drawing-room, and Amalia in the centre bade farewell to her female friends, as she kissed them affectionately. She was pale, and her eyes looked anxious and feverish as she gave her hand to the count; she turned her head aside, feigning inattention; but she pressed his fingers firmly three or four times as if to inspire him with courage, for indeed the poor man was in want of it. He was so nervous and trembling that Amalia thought that he would collapse entirely.
And then the guests quickly passed into the passages and down the damp stone staircase. A servant was there to open the street-door.
"Ah! Who left this basket here?" said Emilita Mateo, who was the first to come across the obstruction.
"A basket?" asked several ladies as they came up to her.
"Perhaps some poor creature asleep about here," said the servant, who had not yet closed the door.
"There is nobody to be seen," said Manuel Antonio, who had quickly surveyed the portico.
Curiosity then prompted one of the ladies to raise the cloth which covered the basket. Whereupon the same exclamation was heard that Pharaoh's daughter uttered when she saw the celebrated basket of Moses floating on the river.
"A child!"
Then ensued a moment of amazement and curiosity among the guests. They all rushed forward, all wishing to see the foundling at once. For no one doubted for an instant but that the child had been purposely left there. Paco Gomez picked up the basket and uncovered it completely, so as to show the sleeping child to his friends.
Then followed a storm of exclamations.