How did he know that I had reached an independent position? Solely by his marvellous intuition, for I had given nobody an account of the state of my affairs. I admired such tremendous penetration from the bottom of my heart, and was humbly disposed to find out how much more he knew about me.
Sabas meditated several minutes. And while he meditated, sucking his pipe, his cheeks sunk in a supernatural manner. The energy that he expended upon that tobacco smoke was such that I was persuaded he must be swallowing it.
At the same time the intensity of his reflections influenced in like manner the secretion of his salivary glands.
"Why should you not marry my cousin Isabelita?" he said to me suddenly, with that brusque and peremptory accent which characterizes men who rule their kind by their power of thought.
Isabelita was walking on with Matilde in front of us. I grew pale, fearing she might have heard these serious words, and frightened and confused, murmured some incoherent words.
"Yes," proceeded the critic, "my cousin is a very nice girl, very modest, and more, she admires you extremely."
"Admires me!" I exclaimed, amazed. "And for what does she admire me?" I asked candidly.
Sabas laughed noisily, coughed, and got rid of his nicotine.
"She will tell you that when you are alone with her, hand in hand."
"You do not understand me," I returned, nettled. "What I wish to say is that I do not see anything in myself to be admired by anybody. And as for Isabelita, I have always believed that she had dedicated all of her admiration to Castell."