"I confess it; I will even add that I did not in the slightest desire your visit."
"You are very forgetful of your friends, Don Rufino, and it makes me feel sorry for you," the bandit answered, with a contrite air.
"What do you mean, scoundrel, by daring to use such language to me?"
Kidd shrugged his shoulders, drew up a butaca, and fell into it with a sigh of relief.
"I must observe," he said, with the most imperturbable coolness, "that you forgot to offer me a chair."
Then, crossing one leg over the other, he began rolling a cigarette, a task to which he gave the most serious attention. The senator frowningly examined the adventurer; for this bandit to dare assume such a tone with him, he must have very powerful weapons in his hands, or be the bearer of news of the highest importance. In either case he must be humoured. Don Rufino immediately softened the expression of his face, and handed the adventurer a beautifully chased gold mechero.
"Pray, light your cigarette, my dear Kidd," he said, with a pleasant smile.
The bandit took the mechero, and examined it with admiration.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, with a splendidly feigned regret, "I have dreamed for years that I possessed such a toy, but, unluckily, fortune has ever thwarted me."
"If it please you so much," Don Rufino answered, with a mighty effort, "I shall be delighted to make you a present of it."