"Then, you are really going?" Don Pacheco said.

"At once: you know that I put off the journey as long as I could."

"How long do you expect to be absent?"

"Four days, at the most."

"Good: we shall not expect you, then, before."

"Oh, it is very possible I may return sooner."

"Why so?"

"Shall I tell you? Well, I do not feel easy in mind."

"What do you mean?"

"I am anxious, I know not why. Many times I have left you, brother, for longer journeys than this—"