"Caramba! Dear little one, it was the same with me. Some scamp persisted in strumming the most melancholy airs on the guitar, that would have frightened the cats themselves, and kept me awake all night Deuce take the musician and his silly instrument!"
"It was not that, papa. I scarcely heard the man of whom you are speaking."
"What was it, then? I was not aware of any other noises last night but that."
"I cannot explain to you positively what I heard; but Violanta was also aroused several times like myself."
"Is that true, little one?" the general asked, turning to the camarista, apparently busy at the moment in arranging the cuarto.
"Oh, señor general," she exclaimed, clasping her hands, "it was a fearful noise—a noise to wake the dead!"
"What the deuce could it be?"
"I do not know," she replied, assuming her most innocent air.
"Did it last long?"
"All the night," she said, trumping what her mistress had alleged.