"Well, this time I have nearly finished. It appears, from what my relation tells me, that the nuns, and the Mother Superior before all, are utterly opposed to the general's plans of marriage."
"Oh, the holy women!" the Tigrero exclaimed with simple joy.
"Are they not?" the capataz said with a laugh. "This is probably the reason why they keep so secret the return of their boarder to her senses, for they doubtless hope that, so long as the poor girl is mad, the general will not dare contract the impious union he is meditating; unfortunately, they do not know the man with whom they have to deal, and the ferocious ambition that devours him; an ambition for the gratification of which he will recoil from no crime, however atrocious it may be."
"Alas!" the Tigrero said despairingly; "you see, my friend, that I am lost."
"Wait, wait, my good sir; your situation, perhaps, is not so desperate as you imagine it."
"My heart is on fire."
"Courage; and listen to me to the end. Yesterday I went to the convent, the Mother Superior, to whom I had the honour of speaking, confided to me, under the seal of secrecy—for she knows that, although I am a servant of Don Sebastian, I take a deep interest in Doña Anita, and would be glad to see her happy—that the young lady has expressed an intention to confess."
"Ah, for what reason! do you know?"
"No, I do not!"
"But that desire can be easily satisfied, I presume, there are plenty of monks and priests attached to the convent."