[pg 138] We spoke of the road, which he knew, and said was not too bad; and about brigands, who were making themselves talked of just then. “You'd better buy arms, if you haven't them,” said Don Cipriano; “but there's not much danger on this side Seville.”
He had brought a road-map; and we were examining it, in the reading-room of the hotel, wondering whether Cannona would take the direct way through Manzanares, Valdepeñas, and Cordoba, or another which Don Cipriano considered better, though longer, by Talavera de la Reina, Trujillo, and Zafra, when the concièrge came to say a messenger with a parcel wished to see me.
“It must be a mistake,” I replied.
“He asked for el Teniente O'Donnel; and he has a packet for you.”
“Bring it in, please, and let me see how it's addressed.”
“He won't give it up, sir, without seeing you himself. Those were his instructions.”
I got up impatiently and went into the hall, where a boy in the livery of some shop handed me a small parcel. There was no address upon it, and I wondered if this were not some purchase of Pilar's, sent back to my care. However, I decided to open it, and found nothing inside except a little steel paper-knife with the word Toledo engraved on the black and gold handle.
I stared at the thing stupidly for a moment, as I fumbled for a pourboire to give the messenger, when it occurred to me that he might explain the mystery. “Did a lady buy this?” I asked; “a young lady, with a tall señor also young, and another middle-aged?”
“A young lady? yes, sir. But she was with only one señor, and two señoras, both of an age.”
“You saw them?”