After sniffing several times like a ship displaying its banner on weighing anchor in a port, and after fixing upon her nose her gold-bowed glasses to contemplate me for a while in silence, Doña Clara found it well to give me some account of her intentions. Isabelita was a child, I was a man. Laying down these two propositions, at first sight undeniable. Doña Clara logically deduced from them that it was necessary to be careful. A child does not generally know what she wants; a man is in duty bound to know. Further, it was impossible to put aside what I wished for.
"Señor de Ribot," Retamoso at this point interrupted, "will you be so kind as to put what my wife says to you into Castilian for me?"
This was done, and when he found out what was meant, he expressed noisy enthusiasm, exclaiming energetically:
"Just so! That's it! Exactly! That's it, that's it! Just so! That's it!"
Doña Clara did not pay the slightest attention to these words, and keeping her nose pointed the same way, submitted me to a long and careful examination. Although I was sufficiently upset, I answered her questions clearly, and had the satisfaction of noting certain slight signs of acquiescence that touched my pride. She examined my pretensions, and (as a result of the conscientious investigation concerning my conduct, which was carried to the extreme) Doña Clara declared at last, turning her head slowly towards her husband like a globe revolving on its axis, that I was "a decent person," a thing that I had never doubted in my most extravagant moments.
Every phase of the investigation was successively and faithfully interpreted by me into Castilian, so that Señor Retamoso could understand. Everything won from him the same warm approval, and was greeted with a salvo of "That's it's!" and "Just so's!"
Doña Clara terminated the interview by rising from the sofa, and with the same firmness, the same impassive calm and sang-froid, let me know that here would be my home, and that she would have much pleasure in receiving me whenever I wished to come. Saying this, she let her glasses drop by means of a clever and surprising jerk of her nose, and presented me her hand. I took it with the greatest veneration.
"Permit me, Señor de Ribot! One moment, one moment, no more!" exclaimed Retamoso, who, following our example, had also risen. "I have not the knowledge that my wife has, nor do I understand foreign tongues. So I am not sure that I understand all that you desire. It seemed to me that I understood that there is something between you and Isabelita."
"Are we still there?" I said between my teeth, looking at him with surprise and anxiety. As for Doña Clara, she cast a look upon him that might have ground him to powder.
"Yes, señor," I replied shortly at last.