Don Santiago shook his head, threw around him a suspicious look, and then at last made up his mind to speak in a low and almost indistinct voice, as if he feared to be heard, although all his companions were asleep at too great a distance for the sound of his voice to reach them.
"I have," said he, "but one thing which vexes me."
"You, Don Santiago—you much astonish me; can it be that you are on bad terms with your brother, Don Pablo?"
"My brother, it is true, has something to do with the affair, but with him personally I have no misunderstanding—at least I believe so, for with him one never knows how to act; no, it is only on your account that I am chagrined just now."
"On my account!" cried the young man with surprise, "I confess I do not understand you."
"Speak lower; there is no occasion for our companions to hear what we say. Look you, Don Emile, I wish to be frank with you. We are about to separate, perhaps never to see one another again—and I hope, for your sake, it may be so. I wish our parting to be friendly, and that you should not entertain any ill feeling against me."
"I assure you, Don Santiago—"
"I know what I say," interrupted he, with some vivacity; "you have rendered me a great service. I cannot deny that, to a certain extent, I owe my life to you, for when I met you in the cavern of the rancho my position was almost desperate; well, I have not, in appearance, conducted myself towards you as I ought to have done. I engaged myself to shelter you and yours from the danger which threatened you, and I have conducted you to Casa-Frama, when I ought, on the contrary, to have taken you in quite an opposite direction. I know that I have acted badly in this aspect, and you have a right to entertain ill feeling to me. But I was not free to do otherwise. I was forced to obey a will stronger than my own—the will of my brother—whom no one has ever dared to resist. Now, I acknowledge my fault, and I wish as much as possible to repair the evil I have done, and that I have allowed to be done."
"That is speaking like a caballero and a man of heart, Don Santiago. Be assured that, come what may, I shall be pleased at what you tell me at this moment; but, since you have begun so well, do not leave me any longer in the painful doubt in which I now am; answer me sincerely, will you?"
"Yes, as far as it depends on me."