"Then, why do you wish to leave us so quickly?"
"Why," I replied, not knowing exactly what to say, "I am afraid of discommoding you."
"Don Gustavio," said don Zeno Cabral, "abandon once for all those European fashions, which are out of place here; you cannot discommode a man like me, whose fortune amounts to millions of piastres, who is master, under God, of a territory of more than thirty square leagues, and who commands more than two thousand white, red, and black people. In accepting frankly the hospitality that such a man freely offers you, as to a friend and a brother, you do him honour."
"Upon my word," I answered, "my dear host, you have a style of doing things which makes a refusal absolutely impossible, so do with me as you like."
"Well and good, that's speaking plainly, without circumlocution or reticence. But make yourself easy; perhaps even if your vagabond notions still possess your heart, I shall make, some days hence, a proposition which will make you smile."
"What?" I eagerly exclaimed.
"I will tell you, but hush! Here we are arrived."
Five minutes later, indeed, we entered the fazenda, between a double row of servants.
I shall not dilate on the style in which hospitality was offered me in this truly princely abode.
Some days passed, during which my host endeavoured in every way to amuse me.