"No," answered Ventura, "I come for supplies, and besides, it is eight days--"
"Since you saw my sister, Elvira," interrupted Perico with his sweet smile. "Very good, my friend, you are killing two birds with one stone."
"You keep still, Perico, and I will. He whose house has a glass roof shouldn't throw stones at his neighbor's," answered the guard.
"You are happy, Ventura," proceeded Perico with a sigh, "for you can marry when you like, without opposition from any one."
"And what!" exclaimed Ventura, "who or what can oppose your getting married?"
"The will of my mother," replied Perico.
"What are you saying?" asked Ventura, "and why? What fault can she find with Rita, who is young, good-looking, and comes of a good stock, since she is own cousin to you?"
"That is precisely the reason my mother alleges for not being in favor of it."
"An old woman's scruples! Does she wish to change the custom of the church, which permits it?"
"My mother's scruples," replied Perico, "are not religious ones. She says that the union of such near relations is against nature, that the same blood in both repels itself, and distaste is the result; that sooner or later evils, misfortunes and weariness follow and overtake them, and she gives a hundred examples to prove it."