ame to me, a
man, to have to wear it so long. No one in the camp could possibly know
that I have ears."

Gallito at first absolutely refused to listen to him, but so adroitly
did Jose bring up the subject every evening that he began to make some
impression on his stern jailer. He was careful, though, not to mention
his hopes until near midnight, when Gallito's normally harsh mood was
greatly softened not only by winning the final game, which Jose
invariably permitted now, but also by the mellowing influence of his
bland, old cognac. Then Gallito would embark on an argument, determined
to convince Jose of the wild folly of his desire.

Their debate continued for several evenings and finally ended, as Jose
meant it should, in Gallito giving a reluctant consent, under certain
conditions which he insisted should be rigidly carried out.

He admitted that it was unlikely that any suspicion would be aroused in
the village. Those who saw the party enter the hall would, if they
thought about the matter at all, take it for granted that the stranger
was some friend of Bob Flick's who had come up with him on the train.
But two conditions Gallito insisted upon: the first, that Jose was to
turn the collar of his heavy overcoat high up about his face and draw
his hat low over his brows, and the second was that he was only to be
permitted to observe the dancing from behind the curtain of the little
recess at the end of the hall which served Pearl as a dressing room. He
might gaze his fill through the peep-hole there, but under no
circumstances was he to be seen in the body of the hall. But these
conditions, as Gallito pointed out, were entirely dependent on Pearl. It
was a question whether she would tolerate Jose for a whole evening in
her dressing room.

At first she flatly refused to do so and turned a persistently deaf ear
to Jose's pleading. She had to slip out of one frock and into another at
least three times. There would not be room with Jose sitting there.

"But, dear Senorita, I will not be sitting there," he cried. "When the
moment comes that you change your frock I will be standing with my face
to the wall and my eyes covered with my hands."

"I should hope so," murmured Mrs. Thomas, who was present.

But Pearl had another reason for not wishing to be alone with Jose upon
this occasion. She meant to wear her emeralds, and she was not so
anxious that the light-fingered bandit should have so near a view of
them. When s