"'Don Philip, will you assist me? The Jew's ducats are very heavy, and the bag containing them rather larger than a Senora's night-cap.'
"Don Philip did as he was desired, when suddenly our hero dropped his end of the bag, with a cry more piercing than that of an enraged hyena. Oh shades of Mater Money! Por vida del diablo! The bag moved, there came a cry, and there appeared in the opening of its leather covering the head of a baby!
"'Oh, Holy Virgin! Thunder and lightning! Fire! Murder! I'm lost, tormented, tortured, cheated! Cruel Leonora! Infamous woman! d—d old duenna!' roared the unhappy Bobadil, stamping and steaming like an infuriated tea-pot.
"'Be calm, my dear friend, I pray you be calm,' cried Don Philip, vainly endeavoring to conquer his mirth, while Lisette rolled on the floor in a paroxysm of laughter.
"'Don't tell me to be calm!' bellowed Bobadil. 'Look there! My horror, detestation, abhorrence—a baby! Hear it squeal! I'll strangle the cursed little fiend! Oh, oh, oh!—diablo!'
"'You will arouse the neighborhood.'
"'What do I care! I'm betrayed, swindled, ruined, seduced! Stab me, shoot me, make a bloody corpse of me. Kill that baby, or I'll make your wife an orphan!'
"'What's all this?' asked Dame Margy, darting into the apartment and holding up her hands in wild astonishment.
"'Don't you hear it yell?' howled Bobadil, tearing out his hair by handfulls. 'It's a baby!'