“I had the pleasure of seeing you some time since in the Rua do Ouro.”
“Yes, I think I remember,” she answered.
There was a moment’s silence. Leopoldina coughed, seated herself nearer the edge of the sofa, and said, smiling,—
“Well—I sent for you because we have something to say to you.”
Castro bowed. He did not take his eyes off Luiza.
“The question is this,—I will proceed to the matter at once and without preface,—my friend is in a serious difficulty and has need of a conto de reis.”
Luiza interrupted her, saying in a voice that was almost inaudible,—
“Six hundred thousand reis.”
“It is all the same,” interrupted Leopoldina, with magnificent indifference; “we are talking to a millionaire. The question is this: Can you do her the favor of lending it to her?”
Castro straightened himself slowly, and said in doubtful accents,—