"For the last time, I order you to be gone," the valet went on, menacingly.
"Take care of what you are doing, comrade; I have to talk with the señor, and he is expecting me."
"Expecting you?"
"Yes, me!" the scoundrel answered, majestically. The servant shrugged his shoulders contemptuously: still he reflected, and asked with a more conciliatory tone than he had yet employed—"Your name?"
"You do not want to know it; merely tell your master that I have just come from the Hacienda del Toro."
"If that is the case, why did you not tell me so before?"
"Probably because you did not ask me. Go and announce me to your master; you have kept me waiting too long already."
The domestic went off without replying, and Kidd took advantage of his departure to instal himself in the vestibule. For a hundred reasons he did not like the vicinity of the street, and he was glad to be no longer exposed to the curious glances of passers-by. The absence of the servant was not long, and when he returned, his manner was entirely changed.
"Caballero," he said, with a bow, "if you will do me the honour of following me, his Excellency is waiting for you."
"Fellow! Too insolent before, too humble now," the adventurer said, crushing him with a contemptuous glance; "show the way."