"Papa is in the quinta," she said, as they seated themselves without invitation. "Or perhaps he may have walked up the road to meet Don Ciriaco, who said he would be back before dark."
"Don Ciriaco comes very often to see you now," said Marcelino.
"He is more constant in his friendships than some gentlemen I know," replied Magdalen. "It is months since you were last here, Don Carlos."
"Not months, Señorita," replied Evaña, "but weeks; when I have been here I have generally met Don Ciriaco, who is a gentleman whose friendship I have no wish to cultivate."
"Papa and Doña Josefina think very highly of him, and they know him better than you do, Don Carlos. You have been out shooting to-day in the bañados, have you not? What did you shoot?"
"Nothing; I broke my gun, but the others have some birds in their bags."
"I was on the azotea, and saw you passing this morning. Did you not meet Don Ciriaco?"
"No. Did he go out shooting too?"
"Not when you did, but he came here in the afternoon, and when I told him I had seen you pass he said he would go and join you, but how he is to shoot without a gun I do not know. Papa offered to lend him his, but he went without it, and alone on foot."
To this Evaña answered nothing, but sat biting the ends of his moustache, while Marcelino twirled his hat round between his fingers, looking upon the ground in silence.