"You have a proof of it before you; if he were not so, should I be here?"
"That is true."
"Now for the second."
"That is of an extremely delicate nature."
"Ah, ah! You pique my curiosity," the Colonel said, laughingly.
Don Felix frowned and lowered his voice, as it were involuntarily.
"It is very serious, Don Juan," he continued; "I wish, before the battle, to know if you have retained towards me that esteem and friendship with which you deigned to honour me at the Larch-tree hacienda?"
The Colonel turned away in embarrassment.
"Why ask that question at this moment?" he remarked.
Don Felix turned pale and fixed a flashing glance upon him.