"I thank you for the compliment, caballero, but I do not intend to take you so far. I only wish to conduct you to my mistress, who desires to see you and speak with you for an instant."
"Rayo del cielo! If the mistress be only as pretty as the maid, I shall not regret the trip if it last a week."
The girl smiled again.
"My mistress is staying in this inn, only a few steps off."
"All the worse, all the worse! I should have preferred a journey of several leagues before meeting her."
"A truce to gallantry. Are you willing to follow me?"
"At once, señorita."
And throwing his jarana on his back, and bowing for the last time to the audience, who opened a passage for him respectfully,—
"I am at your orders," he said.
"Come, then."