"Captain Ribot is a gentleman, and does not sell the flowers that a lady bestows upon him."
"Ah, so she bestowed it upon you!" said Martí, and turning to Castell added: "But, Enrique, would you wish Ribot to sell you this carnation, when, if she had given it to me, I, although her husband, would not let you have it for your whole fortune?"
And at the same time he gazed at his wife with a look of intense affection. The innocence and nobleness of that man moved me. He must have touched the soul of Cristina. Dropping her head again, she murmured in intense tones:
These simple words were a poem of tenderness.
"It is well known," observed Castell with the same indifference, "that there are things in the world that cannot be and should not be bought with money. Unfortunately men are not in the same category with them, and therefore we pursue material and even gross objects until we secure them, however remote they may be."
"But I do not find them remote," said Sabas. "It seems to me that money serves well enough for almost all the cases that present themselves. Thus you hold another carnation to be better than this. This was given me by a lady. All right, Castell, I will let you have this one for two pesetas."
The company laughed. Cristina seemed vexed and said to her brother:
"You are rude; you are a clodhopper. Matilde, do me the favor of taking the carnation away from that pig. After that, he shall not keep it."
Sabas covered it up with his hands.