"I do," said Don Roderigo. "I have just passed through the city, I have listened to the comments of the Creoles upon the disasters which have fallen upon Spain, I have come to warn your Excellency that we are on the eve of a catastrophe."
"And what has that to do with the Señor Miranda?"
"In admitting such a man to your confidence your Excellency runs great danger, if he visits you, he comes as a spy."
"Yes, but as my spy."
"You are acquainted then with his character, and employ him?"
"I seek to do so, for, before I left Spain, he was named to me as a man who might be serviceable in procuring for me secret information. I am as well aware as you that there are dangerous ideas abroad in the city, and there are some men upon whom I wish to keep watch. The Señor Miranda visited me at my own request."
"And what has he told you?"
"Nothing; but he has promised to report to me upon the movements of one man, of whom Marshal Liniers entertained great suspicions, the Señor Evaña. If this excitement of the people should culminate in any outbreak against my authority, I am assured that the Señora Evaña will be at the head of it."
"Do you know that the Señor Miranda is brother to Francisco Miranda of Venezuela?"
"Of Francisco Miranda! No, I did not know that."