Just then a servant opened the door, and beckoned to the governor.
"What do you want?" said the latter.
"Señor," replied the servant, "a vaquero, just arrived in all haste, requests an audience. He is the bearer of important intelligence."
This announcement fell like a sheet of ice on the three caballeros, and thoroughly stopped the flow of their fictitious gaiety.
"Let him come in," said the colonel.
Then casting a look of inconceivable sadness on Don Fernando, he added:
"It is fate herself who undertakes to answer you!"
"We shall see!" replied Don Fernando with a forced smile.
Heavy footsteps were heard in the adjacent apartments, and the vaquero entered.
It was Pablito.