After the ragdealer's daughter had left, Manuel felt as if he had been abandoned to darkness. He thought that he could live for two or three weeks on her incendiary glances alone.
The next day, when Manuel met El Conejo he listened to the nonsense that the hunchback spoke, with his eternal harping on the Bishop of Madrid-Alcalá, and then tried to shift the conversation toward the topic of Señor Custodio and his family.
"Justa's a pretty girl, isn't she?"
"Psch … yes," and El Conejo looked at Manuel with the reserved mien of a person concealing a mystery.
"You've known her since she was a kid, haven't you?"
"Yes. But I've known plenty of other girls, too."
"Has she a sweetheart?"
"She must have. Every woman has a sweetheart unless she's mighty ugly."
"And who is Justa's fellow?"
"Anyone; I shouldn't be surprised if it were the Bishop of
Madrid-Alcalá."