ring actresses? The thought put her in a bad humor,
so she scarcely heard the praises that Dona Victorina was heaping
upon her own favorite.

Juanito was playing his part well: he shook his head at times in sign
of disapproval, and then there could be heard coughs and murmurs in
some parts, at other times he smiled in approbation, and a second later
applause resounded. Dona Victorina was charmed, even conceiving some
vague ideas of marrying the young man the day Don Tiburcio should
die--Juanito knew French and De Espadana didn't! Then she began to
flatter him, nor did he perceive the change in the drift of her talk,
so occupied was he in watching a Catalan merchant who was sitting
next to the Swiss consul. Having observed that they were conversing in
French, Juanito was getting his inspiration from their countenances,
and thus grandly giving the cue to those about him.

Scene followed scene, character succeeded character, comic and
ridiculous like the bailiff and Grenicheux, imposing and winsome like
the marquis and Germaine. The audience laughed heartily at the slap
delivered by Gaspard and intended for the coward Grenicheux, which was
received by the grave bailiff, whose wig went flying through the air,
producing disorder and confusion as the curtain dropped.

"Where's the cancan?" inquired Tadeo.

But the curtain rose again immediately, revealing a scene in a servant
market, with three posts on which were affixed signs bearing the
announcements: _servantes_, _cochers_, and _domestiques_. Juanito, to
improve the opportunity, turned to Dona Victorina and said in a loud
voice, so that Paulita might hear and he convinced of his learning:

"_Servantes_ means servants, _domestiques_ domestics."

"And in what way do the _servantes_ differ from the
_domestiques_?" asked Paulita.

Juanito was not found wanting. "_Domestiques_ are those that are
domesticated--haven't you noticed that some of them have the air of
savages? Those are the _servantes_."

"That's right," added Dona Victorina, "some have very bad manners--and
yet I thought that in Europe everybody was cultivated. But as it
happens in France,--well, I see!"

"Ssh! Ssh!"

But what was Juanito's predicament when the time came for the opening
of the market and the beginning of the sale, and the servants who were
to be hired placed themselves beside the signs that indicated their
class! The men, some ten or twelve rough characters in livery, carrying
branches