"Now, señores, oiga—listen.
"While I lay in my sleep of forgetfulness, Paquita crept to where the gold and silver dagger was kept, and thrust it into her heart.
"So did it end for her.
"Certain poor women of the neighborhood tended my sister and cared for the little Paquita. These had once survived the smallpox, and they feared it not. Heaven give them many days to enjoy the life that I was afterwards able to make easier for them!
"By the hands of one of these the dagger came to me—all that I possessed in the world except the humble clothes upon my back, poor and much worn.
"I looked into a mirror, and I laughed, señores. I laughed the laugh of a man whose heart is dead. Then I threw my serape over my shoulder and strode from the pest-camp.
"In the old days, señores, I was accounted a handsome man; I was vain and much of a dandy. My complexion was lighter than you see it now; there was a curl to my hair that I was proud of; my features were regular, and there was an erectness to my figure, a nimbleness in all my movements, and a suppleness that had followed naturally on the practice of my calling.
"Now, what I beheld in the mirror was a man altogether different, and I had no fear that any one might recognize me. I drew the dagger from my sash; I pressed my lips to the dark stains upon its silver blade.
"At that moment, señores, Fernando del Castillo died to the world; and Juan Sebastian de Vargas was born—bound irrevocably to a vow of vengeance."
After his return to the city Castillo sought out his niece. Let him speak again: