“Oh, my friend!” exclaimed the Senator, with all that vivacity of pantomimic gesture so characteristic of the South, “the reality far exceeds the imagination. She is an angel! Even in our country, famous for its beautiful women, Doña Rosarita is certainly loveliest of all.”
“And richest too,” added the Spaniard, with a smile.
“Who would have expected to find, in the middle of the desert, such an accomplished beauty? such youthful freshness? Such charms were created to shine in afar higher sphere?”
“At the court of a king, for instance,” carelessly rejoined Arechiza.
“Oh! Señor Don Estevan!” again exclaimed the Senator in an earnest voice, “do not keep me in suspense; the divine, the rich Doña Rosarita—is it possible I am to have her for my wife?”
“One word from me, one promise from you, and the thing is done. I have her father’s word. Within fifteen days you may be the husband of his daughter.”
“Agreeable as easy.”
“A little later you will be rich.”
“No harm in that.”
“Later still you will be a grand proprietor.”