4.[{25-4}] para ... punto (lit., to carry the conversation to another point), to change the subject.
5.[{25-5}] ¡Si yo ... pocos! (= muchos ó pocos años), why! I shall love you the same, whether you are old or young!
[Page 26.]—1.[{26-1}] que nos tratásemos de tú, that we should address each other with tú. Tú is more familiar than usted.
2.[{26-2}] después de aceptado, after I had accepted.
3.[{26-3}] del principio, that she had had at first.
[Page 27.]—1.[{27-1}] que le había visto, that I had seen her wear.
[Page 28.]—1.[{28-1}] se le ... garganta, a lump had come into her throat.
2.[{28-2}] hacía ... delante, she made them hold their hands before them.
[Page 29.]—1.[{29-1}] de, for.
[Page 30.]—1.[{30-1}] For the life and works of Alarcón, see [page xii] of the Introduction. The text of La Buenaventura is taken from the Obras de D. Pedro A. de Alarcón (in the Colección de Escritores Castellanos), Novelas Cortas, Madrid, 1905. La Buenaventura describes the conditions that existed formerly in certain parts of Spain. Then the sparsely populated districts were infested with highwaymen. To-day, chiefly through the efforts of the Civil Guard, a select body of Spanish police, one is as safe in the highways and by-ways of Spain as in those of any other civilized country.