"Which?" asked Ignestria, incuriously.
Don Carmelo indicated Eulogia with a grand sweep of his hand.
"That little thing? Why, there are a dozen prettier girls in the room than she, and I have not cared to meet any of them!"
"But she has commanded me to take you to her, señor, and—look at the men crowding about her—do you think I dare to disobey?"
The stranger's dark gray eyes became less insensible. He was a handsome man, with a tall figure, and a smooth strong face; but about him hung the indolence of the Californian.
"Very well," he said, "take me to her."
He asked her to dance, and after a waltz Eulogia said she was tired, and they sat down within a proper distance of Doña Pomposa's eagle eye.
"What do you think of the women of San Luis Obispo?" asked Eulogia, innocently. "Are not they handsome?"
"They are not to be compared with the women of Monterey—since you ask me."
"Because they find the men of San Luis more gallant than the Señor Don
Pablo Ignestria!"