"Yesterday evening at last my transfer to Valencia came!"
Blind! blind! dost thou not see that girl's pallor? Dost thou not notice the painful trembling that runs over her body? Look out! she is going to fall! Run, run to her assistance!
Nothing, the young marquis perceived nothing! He, too, was a little pale. The indifferent tone in which he made the announcement was pure comedy, for I know on good authority that he walked up and down his room the night before, till he was tired out, and that the rays of the morning found him still unable to close his eyes.
Don Mariano made a gesture of disappointment, exclaiming,—
"There, my son, there!... I feel that we are going to lose you!... However, if it is your pleasure...."
Ricardo preserved a gloomy silence. Gladly would he have exclaimed, "How can it be my pleasure? My pleasure would be to ask for a discharge at this very moment, and stay here forever and live calmly near you! Near you, the people whom I love most in this world!" But he had the weakness to hold his tongue, and such weaknesses as these generally cost very dear in life.
"And when do you expect to go?" pursued the caballero.
"To-morrow. I must stop in Madrid a few days to attend to some business. I shall reach Valencia the tenth of next month."
"Are you going to some regiment?"
"To the First Cavalry."