"Are you sure?"

"Pretty well; still, now that I reflect, I fancy I just now saw someone I know leaving the palace."

"Ah! Was it long ago?"

"No, a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes at the most; but I am afraid I was mistaken, for he wore a costume so different from that in which I knew him, and then I had but such a slight opportunity of looking at him."

"Well! Whom did you fancy you recognized?"

"You will not believe me if I tell you it was don Antonio de Cacerbar, my old patient."

"On the contrary, for I also saw him in the palace."

"¡Ah demonio! In that case I regret that I did not listen to his conversation."

"What conversation—when, with whom? Speak or choke: come, will you explain yourself?"

"I will do so, mi amo: when he left the palace there were still some groups on the plaza; a man quitted one of these groups and approached don Antonio."