screet."

"Unless you see me mad, Preciosa," said Andrew, "any other demonstration
would be far short of showing you what desperate havoc jealousy can make
of a man's feelings. However, I will do as you bid me, and find out what
this senor page-poet wants, whither he is going, and whom he is in
search of. It may be, that unawares he may let me get hold of some end
of thread which shall lead to the discovery of the whole snare which I
fear he is come to set for me."

"Jealousy, I imagine," said Preciosa, "never leaves the understanding
clear to apprehend things as they really are. Jealousy always looks
through magnifying glasses, which make mountains of molehills, and
realities of mere suspicions. On your life, Andrew, and on mine, I
charge you to proceed in this matter, and all that touches our concerns,
with prudence and discretion; and if you do, I know that you will have
to concede the palm to me, as honest, upright, and true to the very
utmost."

With these words she quitted Andrew, leaving him impatient for daylight,
that he might receive the confession of the wounded man, and distracted
in mind by a thousand various surmises. He could not believe but that
this page had come thither attracted by Preciosa's beauty; for the thief
believes that all men are such as himself. On the other hand, the pledge
voluntarily made to him by Preciosa appeared so highly satisfactory,
that he ought to set his mind quite at ease, and commit all his
happiness implicitly to the keeping of her good faith. At last day
appeared: he visited the wounded man; and after inquiring how he was,
and did his bites pain him, he asked what was his name, whither he was
going, and how it was he travelled so late and so far off the road. The
youth replied that he was better, and felt no pain so that he was able
to resume his journey. His name was Alonzo Hurtado; he was going to our
Lady of the Pena de Francia, on a certain business; he travelled by
night for the greater speed; and having missed his way, he had come upon
the encampment, and been worried by the dogs that guarded it. Andrew did
not by any means consider this a straightforward statement: his
suspicions returned to plague him; and, said he, "Brother, if I were a
judge, and you had been brought before me upon any charge which would
render necessary such questions as those I have put to you, the reply
you have given would oblige me to apply the thumb-screw. It is nothing
to me who you are,