The hunters placed their animals in a vast corral; then they sought a shelter for themselves in a mesón, the landlord of which, a perfect likeness of the worthy Knight of La Mancha, received them to the best of his ability. After the rough journey they had made, it was a great delight to the adventurers to rest their heads once again beneath a roof, and be, for a few hours at least, lodged in a manner almost civilised.
Don Louis and Valentine occupied the same cuarto, while Curumilla and Don Cornelio selected that exactly facing theirs. So soon as these provisional arrangements were made, and supper enjoyed in common, all retired to rest.
Before lying down on the cuadro, covered with an oxhide, intended for his bed, Don Louis walked up to Valentine, who, lying back in a butaca (easy chair), was smoking a cigarette, and idly watching the blue smoke ascend in spirals.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked him, as he leant familiarly on the back of the butaca.
"About you," Valentine replied, turning to him with a smile.
"About me?"
"Yes. What other anxiety can I have at present, save to see you happy?"
The count looked down on the ground and sighed.
"It is impossible," he said.
Valentine looked at him.