Whenever Jacinto spoke in this strain he appeared much moved, his eyes would become moist and at times he would even weep. And being a handsome young man, he always appealed to the women, so that he found plenty of defenders whenever he quarrelled with his uncle. The fair sex was his weakness, and his follies in this direction excited serious disgust in more than one of his acquaintances. When the young man reached his twenty-fifth year, his uncle surrendered to him his inheritance, in a greatly improved condition, and gave him some good advice besides. Jacinto felt like a man who has been a long time in prison and suddenly recovers his liberty. He threw himself with avidity into a life of dissipation that would have speedily accomplished his ruin if his good uncle had not continued his advice and sometimes admonished him severely.
“I want to see the world,” said the young fellow at last, and gathering together all the money he could obtain, and bidding his uncle farewell, he took the road to Madrid, leaving behind him three women who had been foolish enough to believe in the love of a young scapegrace.
Apart from this failing, Jacinto was very kind-hearted, and could not look upon distress unmoved. What was his object in going to Madrid? He wanted expansion, emotions, life, and went without any definite object. He had never been seriously in love, and, to his misfortune, the same fate as Señor Alonso’s overtook him. One day he saw Doña Luz on one of the balconies of her house, and, as we have mentioned, she neither looked at people on the sly, or sought to hide herself, as did her sisters. Jacinto stared at her, and she contemplated him with perfect tranquility. He felt that his heart was beating more strongly than usual, and Doña Luz, probably unconsciously, smiled.
“Where am I?” cried the young man. “Not even in dreamland can one conceive such a vision of beauty.”
The quiet look, revealing the tranquility of its owner’s mind, charmed the young man all the more in that he was beginning to tire of his stormy pleasures. He could contain himself no longer, but lifting his head was preparing to call to her with his customary daring, when Doña Luz smiled a second time, and disappeared.
“She would not have listened to me!” exclaimed the young man in despair. “And yet she smiled to me when she left. Now that I think of it, it would have been folly to do what I was thinking of, and she has given me a lesson that will teach me to be more prudent.”
After this Doña Luz came to the balcony every day at the same time, always perfectly tranquil, and always smiling, and Jacinto finished by falling seriously in love. Not knowing any one in Madrid, he could not find out who the lady was, and as luck would have it, he never saw the stupid servant, either going or coming. This was the situation of affairs when he met the other two gallants.
And now we will finish by saying a few words concerning the plump chubby-cheeked one.
His name was Santiago Morcillo. He was a native of Leon, had no parents, and was one of those quiet beings whom it is difficult to rouse, either through anger or pleasure. When anything unpleasant happened, he said only, “God’s will be done,” and if he had reason to feel pleased, showed it only by a smile or by going to church to thank God for the favors which he bestowed on him. His father’s conduct had been disorderly, and he left but few unencumbered possessions, his affairs being in confusion, but the good-natured Santiago did not mind this. He was quite the opposite of his father and, by force of work, economy and shrewdness, he recovered what was lost, and even improved his condition so far that finally he was free from debt and in easy circumstances. Until then he had never thought of women, and when he did, he said,
“I shall take a rest now. It would be folly to begin a dangerous experiment immediately. My mother was a very virtuous woman, but all women are not alike.”