"Your master told me that he loved you dearly, when he was blind; and now that he can see, he constantly asks for Nela. He knows very well that for him the whole outer world was filled by one person—Nela; and the sight which has been mercifully bestowed on him is of no value to him, unless he can use it to see Nela."
"To see Nela—but he never shall see Nela—Nela will never let him see her!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Why not?"
"Because she is so ugly.—He may have cared for María Canela when his eyes were shut; but now that they are open and he can see the Señorita, he can never, never care for a poor little dwarf."
"Who knows but...."
"It is impossible," she said positively.
"It is your fancy—you cannot tell whether your master will be pleased with you or not till you try. I will take you to the house."
"I will not go—I cannot go!" she cried, starting to her feet and standing in front of Teodoro, who was utterly astounded at the determination of her gesture and the flash of her black eyes, which both revealed her resolute nature.
"Be calm, be easy—come here," he said persuasively. "It is true that you are not very pretty—but a sensible man does not think so much as you fancy of mere outside beauty. You are too self-conscious, little woman."
But Nela, paying no sort of heed to the doctor's moralities, and as resolute in her attitude as she was in her opinion, gravely went on as if pronouncing sentence: