"Good heavens, caballeros! I was tired of being treated in the provinces as a nobody, a kind of useless ninny. I threw off everything of that sort, and have become a man of the world like others."
"Then you are—?" asked Don José.
"An officer like yourself, colonel,—of the same rank; and moreover, aide-de-camp to the governor of the state."
"It is wonderful!" said the colonel.
"Why so? Nothing could be more simple."
The major had taken no part in this conversation. When Don Torribio entered, a strange suspicion had seized him.
"I confess," said the colonel, "that I was a thousand miles from thinking—"
"What, pray? That I should turn officer? You see, you were wrong; and so much the more so, since I have been deputed by the general commanding the province to bring you a message, which I am sure will be of great service to you in the present conjuncture."
He drew forth a large folded paper, sealed with the Mexican arms, and presented it to the colonel.
Don José hastened to take it.