"But, for what reason?"
"You wish me to tell it you?"
"I beg you."
"Well, then, señor conde, the reason is this: you are a man of too much sense and vast intelligence—in a word, you are a man in a thousand——"
"General, I implore you——"
"I do not flatter you, count; I tell you the truth. Unfortunately, though you speak Spanish with rare perfection, you are not sufficiently acquainted with Mexican for us ever to understand each other."
"Ah!" the count said, without adding another word.
"I am right, I think; this time you caught the meaning of my words?"
"Perhaps, general, I will reply in the remark you employed an instant ago."
"Very good. Now, I think, we have nothing more to say to each other."