"The individual in question was able to offer him only a trifling sum, and when my brother mounted his wagon again with his cloaked and veiled companion, the people at the inn noticed that the two strangers, as they bade him farewell, gazed earnestly at the two boxes which he himself loaded, one containing his money, the other his wife's jewels, and that they started off at once on his track, although they had previously announced their purpose to go in the opposite direction. The villains were described in such a way as to leave no manner of doubt as to their identity when a description of my brother's murderers was furnished."
"Ah!" said D'Alvimar, "so you had a description of them?"
"Exact. One had a handsome face and was so young that he seemed little more than a boy. He was of medium height but well proportioned. His hand was as white and slender as a woman's, he had an incipient beard, very black, silky hair, a noble bearing, a rich travelling costume, but little else, for his valise weighed nothing; a good Andalusian horse, and yonder infernal knife, which he used for eating and killing. The other——"
"No matter, messire. Your brother——?"
"I must describe the other miscreant, as he was described to me. He was a man in middle life, who had something of the monk and something of the hired bravo in his appearance. A long nose overhanging a gray moustache, a shifty eye, a callous hand, and of a taciturn humor; a genuine Spanish brute——"
"I beg pardon, messire?"
"A brute of the sort that we find in all countries where men are taught that they can save their souls from hell by reciting paternosters. The brigands followed my poor brother as two fierce, cowardly wolves follow the victim they dare not attack, and pounced upon him—What is it, messire? Are you too warm in this small room?"
"Perhaps so, messire," replied D'Alvimar excitedly. "I feel difficulty in breathing the air of a house where the name of Spaniard seems to be held in such contempt as by yourself."
"Not at all, monsieur. Let me reassure you on that point. I do not hold your nation responsible for the degradation of a few. There are infamous villains everywhere. If I speak bitterly of those who robbed me of a brother, you must pardon me."
D'Alvimar apologized in his turn for his sensitiveness, and begged the marquis to continue his narrative.