“Certainly I did. For reasons already known to you, I dared not invite you to our house; so I have chosen this pretty glade for my drawing-room. How do you like it, cavallero?”
“In your society, señorita, the rudest spot would appear a paradise.”
“Again the poet’s tongue! Ah, capitan, remember the yellow domino! No more flattery, I pray; we are no longer en masque. Face to face, let us be candid with each other.”
“With all my heart I accept the conditions. Candour is the very thing I desire, for, to say the truth, I came prepared for a confession.”
“A confession!”
“Precisely so; but since you are an advocate for candour, may I first ask a question?”
“Ho! you wish to play the confessor with me?”
“I do, señorita.”
“Bravo, capitan! Proceed! I shall answer you in all sincerity.”
“Then, lady, what I would ask first—Who is this Cyprio whom you expected?”