"Who told you that? Come, speak up, this moment. Have you had a detective trailing me? You're mean enough to!..."
Nacha looked at him in astonishment, pretending she did not understand.
"What is the matter? What did I say?"
Arnedo staggered towards her, an arm lifted to strike. Nacha covered her face with her hands to ward off the blow. The man was beside himself with fury. It was not so much that Nacha knew about his adventures; he had boasted of them to her more than once himself. What irritated him, because it lowered his prestige with his "crowd," was the fact that she was breaking with him. That was his right!... And that she had found a pretext for doing so.... Besides, he got it into his head that Nacha was going to Monsalvat; and the thought that the man he had offended was turning the tables on him was unbearable. A new idea, however, suddenly thrust itself upon him.
"Was it one of these girls who told you?" he broke out, facing the two startled women.
"What's it all about?" asked one of them.
"This is the first I've heard of it," declared the other.
Arnedo seized his glass, which was full of wine, and drained it at a gulp. He stood brooding for a few seconds at the table; then, thrusting his right hand inside his belt, he cried out to the man with whom he had been talking when Nacha overheard him:
"Now I remember! Of course it was you.... You thought you'd play a joke on me by blabbing! You always were a dog; but now you're going to pay up!"