"Virgen Santa! what say you, Señor?"
"Theodora expects me to relinquish the intended wedding, and depart hence with her, or she will expose me at the very altar."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Roque! "what, is not the gentle lady already tired of rambling? Good God! I should have imagined she had had too many mountain adventures to be longing to take another trip with you."
"Roque," said Gomez Arias, "we must remove this girl out of our way."
"Our way!" quoth the man of confidence—"our way, my good Señor? she is not in my way, by any means."
"No, buffoonery, Sirrah! you have chosen ill your time for jesting. Now listen, varlet. This Theodora must be disposed of; the urgency of this measure is obvious."
"Very obvious," responded Roque.
"The sooner the better," continued Don Lope, musing.
"Exactly," rejoined the valet.
"And how this is to be accomplished," muttered Gomez Arias, "without exciting suspicion among the household, I cannot conceive."