"And Razzaro triumphed?" I added aloud.
"Yes; Razzaro triumphed," he replied; "and, as a matter of fact, thoroughly got hold of the popular favour. His son is President of the Republic at the present moment. Old Razzaro made a sort of family living of the Presidency."
"And Don Juan d'Alta retired into private life?" I ventured.
"Into private life and the society of his reptiles," added the old diplomatist, rising. "I think the latter have consoled him for many disappointments."
"Whom did he marry?" I asked.
"A very beautiful French lady," he replied, "whose husband, a French nobleman, had come to Aquazilia to try and make his fortune, and had died in the effort."
"Poor man!" I commented. "And Don Juan married his widow?"
"Exactly; and this pretty little lady, Señorita Dolores, who is returning to Valoro with us, is the result of the union. They say she is the very image of her mother, who died when she was five."
"Then the mother must have been very beautiful," was my comment.
The old minister stopped and looked at me for some moments without saying anything. Then, with a peculiar smile about the corners of his good-natured mouth, shook his head and went slowly out of the smoking-room.