sean_
_de agrio tienen su poquito._(1)

Yes, always a little bitter, I said to myself. But if for me there were
after all to be some sweetness left?

Last night before parting, the Cherub, Dick and I had talked matters over
from every point of view. I was only too thankful to take the advice of
one girl on behalf of another, and give to Monica the benefit of that
doubt which at first had not seemed admissible. But even Pilar confessed
that Monica's engagement to Carmona made our part a hundred times more
difficult.

Whatever her motive had been--revenge upon me for supposed disloyalty,
dread of her mother, or awakened ambition--she had in any case consented
to marry him, and Pilar suggested that the dinner invitations had been
sent out as an excuse for a public announcement, which would more firmly
bind her to her promise. The news would have flown all over Seville in
twenty-four hours; when the King arrived on Tuesday Carmona would
certainly lose no time in telling him; Lady Vale-Avon would not wait for
Monica to write to the Princess, but would probably wire; and no matter
what my private anxieties might be, for Monica's sake I must do nothing
openly. As for defying Carmona to use his knowledge of my true name, and
challenging him to fight, that must not be thought of. Monica's fair fame
would never survive such a scandal, especially in Spain, where a girl's
reputation is as easily damaged as the down on a butterfly's wing.

But, as the Cherub said, there are many roads which lead to the centre of
the world. He had learned at his club that the Duke had lent his box in
the tribune to a friend, for such processions as he and his household did
not care to see. That friend was a member of the club, and through him the
Cherub had found out that the box in question was next to the royal box
which would be occupied by the King, the Infanta Dona Maria Teresa, and
her husband. Immediately upon making this discovery, the Cherub had begun
to move heaven and earth to obtain a box for himself, either behind, in
front of, or on one side of Carmona's box. He did not know yet if he
should succeed, for things were not done in a moment in Spain. Of course
all the boxes were already subscribed for the whole week by members of the
aristocracy and other persons of importance in Seville; but, then, the
Cherub had friends and acquaintances in every class. If it were a question
of money, money would not be spared; if it were a quest