"No, señora, in two days."
"A short visit—there are so many things to see here. There is the great tower of Cabildo with its enchanted weathercock, a Pallas with a standard which always indicates the quarter from which an enemy is approaching Seville."
"Ah—yes; I remember in the adventure of Don Quixotte with the Knight of the Wood, the latter boasts, that among other deeds done in honour of his mistress, he 'had challenged the famous fighting giantess, La Giralda of Seville, who is strong and undaunted as one who is made of brass.'"
"And who without changing place is the most inconstant woman in the world. Oh, Don Quixotte, he is charming! And then in Seville we have the letters of Francisco Pizzaro, of Columbus and the valiant Hernan Cortes; and more than all, we have the cathedral with its Puerta de Perdon, which was the work of a Moorish necromancer, and was all built by a spell between the night and morning. In two days you can never see all these things."
"Your own presence, Donna Paulina, is more than enough to detain me here for ever."
"Then why go so soon?" she asked, with her pretty Spanish lisp, while her long lashes drooped.
"Go I must, señora, for, being a soldier, I have nothing to urge; but——"
"But what?"
"The stern necessity of obedience."
"Ay de mi!" said she, gazing fully and honestly at me; "I am so sorry to hear all this."