"I thought so."
"But stay," Don Antonio remarked sharply. "What great interest have you, then, in spoiling this affair?"
"I, none; it is you."
"I!" Don Antonio exclaimed in amazement; "that is a little too much."
"You shall see."
"I am most eager to do so."
"So soon as the Atravida company was established, another, under the name of the Conciliadora, was at once set on foot, as always happens, and naturally for the same object."
"Come, the name is a capital one."
"It is. Now you know that competition is the backbone of trade."
Don Antonio bowed in assent; and the colonel continued, with his dry and harsh smile.