"Yes, madam, Don Louis. He is a gentleman belonging to one of the noblest and oldest families in France."
"Ah! All the better. Unless, I say, he should not consent to deal with my father."
"And why should he not, señorita?"
"Oh! I do not know; but on our first meeting, after saving my father's life and mine, that caballero behaved so singularly toward us that I fear——"
"You are wrong, madam, to suppose that Don Louis could refuse an offer so advantageous as that you make him; besides, I will talk with him, and am certain to bring him over to my views."
"O dear me!" she said negligently, "I have but a very slight interest in all this. I should not like the proposal to cause you the slightest annoyance with your partner. I am only looking after your interests in the affair, Don Cornelio."
"I am convinced of it, madam, and thank you humbly," he replied, with a low bow.
"I only know you. Your partner, though he rendered me a great service, is but a stranger to me, especially after the peremptory manner in which he declined my father's advances and offers of service."
"You are perfectly right, señorita. Believe me that I attach full value to the delicacy of your conduct."
"Still," she continued, in an insinuating and slightly malicious voice, "I confess to you that I should not be sorry to find myself once more face to face with that strange man, were it only to convince myself that the opinion I formed of him was wrong."