"Oh, it is a great and generous action, caballero."
"Not at all; on the contrary, it is quite natural. Don Hernando is my intimate friend; I am going to marry his daughter, and my line of duty is plain. I only did what anyone else in my place would have done."
"No, no," Don Marcos said, shaking his head with an air of conviction; "no, señor, no one would have acted as you have done, I feel certain. Alas! Hearts like yours are rare."
"All the worse, all the worse, and I feel sorry for humanity," Don Rufino said, as he raised his eyes piously to the ceiling.
"What is the service you expect from me, señor?"
"A very simple thing. I will give you in a few moments those unlucky receipts, which I will ask you to be kind enough to hand to the Marquis. You can make him understand better than I can the purity of my intentions in this affair; and, above all, pray assure him that I have not done it for the purpose of forcing him to give me his daughter's hand."
The senator went away, leaving the colonel completely under the charm. He proceeded hastily to the mesón where Don Parfindo was lodged; he took the receipts from him, rewarded him handsomely, and did not leave him till he saw him and his bailiff out of the pueblo; then he walked slowly back to the colonel's house, rubbing his hands, and muttering, with an ironical smile—
"I fancy that I shall soon have no cause to fear that worthy Señor Kidd's denunciations. By the bye, where can he be? His absence from Quitovar is not natural, and I must free myself from him at our next interview."
The senator's conversation with his agent had occupied some time, and when Don Rufino returned to the colonel's house, he found the latter busy in making known his new rank to his officers. The colonel eagerly took advantage of the opportunity to introduce the senator to them, and to tell them that Don Rufino was delegated by the Government to watch the operations of the army, and that hence they must obey him like himself. The officers bowed respectfully to the senator, made their bows, and retired. When the two gentlemen were alone again, the ice was completely broken between them, and they were the best friends in the world.
"Well," the colonel asked.