"Be good enough, my dear boy," the hacendero remarked, "to tell the criados to take his Excellency's horses back to the stable, and to unload the mules. The count does not start tonight, but deigns to spend it under our humble roof."
"Still—" the count objected.
"You have promised me," Don Aníbal said quickly.
"Well, be it so," said the count, with his eyes fixed on the young man, who was standing respectfully in the doorway.
At a sign from the hacendero, Melchior bowed, and left the room. The count remained pensive for some moments, and then turned to his host.
"Have you not your old majordomo?" he asked him.
"Certainly. Why do you ask the question?"
"I fancied that young man had taken his place."
"Oh, no! That young man is not even one of my servants."
"Ah!"