“I’ll sell it.”
How was she to tell him that she had already sold it?
“No, I....” The chalky fellow was about to speak like a crafty merchant, but he did not dare. “Then again,” he went on, “these frequent visits of your cousin aren’t at all nice.”
“But what can I do if he pursues me,” murmured the baroness in a plaintive voice. “That man is simply mad over me. I know that such a passion is rare. A woman of my years....”
“Don’t talk like that, Paquita.”
“Well, then, there you are. He follows me like a shadow. But you’ll see, now; I’ll see that he never comes here any more.”
“Never come! He certainly will come, until you tell him not to, in so many words....”
“That’s just what I’ve told him, and that’s why he’ll never come any more.”
“All the better, then.”
The baroness glared at Don Sergio in indignation, and then assumed an air of deep contrition.