Then, looking at his watch, he said it was time for him to go and put his notes in order; and approaching Jorge,—
“Good-by, my dear Jorge, good-by,” he said. “Take care of your health in Alemtejo; the climate is an insalubrious one.” And he embraced him with emotion.
Donna Felicidade put on her black serge shawl.
“Are you going already, Donna Felicidade?” said Luiza to her.
“Yes, my dear,” she whispered in her ear; “I do not feel well. I have an attack of indigestion; I have eaten too much. And that man,—he is an iceberg!”
“Ernesto,” she said aloud, “you are going my way, are you not?”
“Straight as an arrow, Senhora.”
Ernesto had put on his gray alpaca overcoat. With cheeks drawn in he was inhaling the smoke from an enormous pipe on which was carved a Venus reclining on the back of a tame lion.
“Good-by, Cousin Jorge,” he said; “I wish you good health and plenty of money. I will send Cousin Luiza a box for the first night of ‘Love and Honor.’ Good-by.”
Just as they were leaving, the counsellor, already at the threshold of the door, turned back, and resting his hand majestically on the silver knob of his cane, which represented a Moor’s head, said gravely,—