"Did you not know that?"
"I had not the slightest idea of it; and yet I had for several years been closely connected with the Torrés family, for I was their tigrero."
"I know it. Well, this is how the relationship exists: Don Sebastian married a niece of Don Sylva's, so you see they were closely connected. Still, for reasons never thoroughly made known, a few years after the general's marriage, a dispute broke out which led to a total suspension of intimacy between the two families. That is probably the reason why you never heard of the connection existing between the Sylvas and the Torrés."
The Tigrero shook his head. "Go on," he said. "How did the general receive his relation?"
"He was not at the hacienda at the time; but an express was sent off to him, and I was the man. The general came post haste, seemed greatly moved at the double misfortune that had befallen the young lady, gave orders for her to be kindly treated, appointed several women to wait on her, and returned to his post at Sonora, where events of the utmost gravity summoned him."
"Yes, yes, I have heard of the French invasion, and that their leader was shot by the general's orders. I presume you are alluding to that?"
"Yes. Almost immediately after these events the general returned to the Palmar. He was no longer the same man. The horrible death of his daughter rendered him gloomier and harsher to any person whom chance brought into contact with him. For a whole week he remained shut up in his apartments, refusing to see any of us; but, at last, one day he sent for me to inquire as to what had happened at the hacienda during his absence. I had but little to tell him, for life was too simple and uniform at this remote dwelling for anything at all interesting for him to have occurred. Still he listened without interruption, with his head in his hands, and apparently taking great interest in what I told him, especially when it referred to poor Doña Anita, whose gentle interesting madness drew tears from us rough men, when we saw her wandering, pale and white as a spectre, about the huerta, murmuring in a low voice one name, ever the same, which none of us could overhear, and raising to heaven her lovely face, bathed in tears. The general let me say all I had to say, and when I ended he, too, remained silent for some time. At length, raising his head, he looked at me for a moment angrily."
"'What are you doing there?' he asked."
"'I am waiting,' I answered, 'for the orders it may please your excellency to give me.'"
"He looked at me for a few more moments as if trying to read my very thoughts, and then laid his hand on my arm. 'Carnero,' he said to me, 'you have been a long time in my service, but take care lest I should have to dismiss you. I do not like,' he said, with a stress on the words, 'servants who are too intelligent and too clear-sighted,' and when I tried to excuse myself, he added, 'Not a word—profit by the advice I have given you, and now lead me to Doña Anita's apartments.'"