"Do not mock me, señor; my soul is deeply troubled. I could have forgiven this man his insolent good luck, his success in the world, where he thrives at my expense, the heaps of gold he wins with such proud indifference,—I say, I could have forgiven him all this, if he had not destroyed my sweetest hopes in tearing from me the heart of her I love; for although I have no tangible proof to corroborate my suspicions, I have tonight acquired a moral certainty impossible to controvert. A lover's heart does not deceive him; jealousy is sharp-sighted. On the appearance of Don Fernando at Don Pedro de Luna's, I found in him a rival, and a rival who is preferred to me."
"If you choose, I will rid you of Don Fernando, and deliver Doña Hermosa into your hands."
"You will do that?" cried Don Torribio, beside himself with joy.
"I will do it," briefly responded the stranger. "Before two days are over, you shall have your revenge on both. But it all depends upon your own will."
"Ah! If that is all," said the other, with an indescribable expression of rage, "I will do all you ask, I will agree to all your demands, to the utmost of my power."
"Take heed, Don Torribio; we are about to enter into a compact—a compact, the conditions of which you must fulfil at all hazards."
"Whatever they may be, I will fulfil them, if you secure my twofold revenge."
"Good! Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred in this world, that, whatever may happen, whatever determination you may arrive at hereafter, you will never divulge what is going to pass between us."
"I swear to you, a fe de caballero," (on the honour of a gentleman), "señor. Speak with all confidence."
"Just now you asked me who I am: I am the Tigercat!"