s the name he had given himself, "I would
fain have done you so much service that you could not help granting me
anything that I should ask of you; but the short time we have known you
has not permitted this. Hereafter perhaps you may know how far I deserve
that you should comply with my desires; but if you do not choose to
satisfy that which I am now about to express, I will not the less
continue to be your faithful servant. Furthermore, before I prefer my
present request, I would impress upon you that although my age does
exceed yours, I have more experience of the world than is usual at my
years, as you will admit when I tell you that it has led me to suspect
that you are not a man, as your garb imports, but a woman, and one as
well-born as your beauty proclaims, and perhaps as unfortunate as your
disguise implies, for such transformations are never made willingly, or
except under the pressure of some painful necessity. If what I suspect
is the case, tell me so, and I swear to you on the faith of a cavalier
to aid and serve you in every way I can. That you are a woman you cannot
make me doubt, for the holes in your ears make that fact very clear. It
was thoughtless of you not to close them with a little flesh-coloured
wax, for somebody else as inquisitive as myself, and not so fit to be
trusted with a secret, might discover by means of them what you have so
ill concealed. Believe me, you need not hesitate to tell me who you are,
in full reliance on my inviolable secrecy."

The youth had listened with great attention to all Teodoro said, and,
before answering her a word, he seized her hands, carried them by force
to his lips, kissed them with great fervour, and even bedewed them
copiously with tears. Teodoro could not help sympathising with the acute
feelings of the youth, and shedding tears also. Although, when she had
with difficulty withdrawn her hands from the youth's lips, he replied
with a deep-drawn sigh, "I will not, and cannot deny, senora, that your
suspicion is true; I am a woman, and the most unfortunate of my sex;
and since the acts of kindness you have conferred upon me, and the
offers you make me, oblige me to obey all your commands, listen and I
will tell you who I am, if indeed it will not weary you to hear the tale
of another's misfortunes."

"May I never know aught else myself," replied Teodoro, "if I shall not
feel a pleasure in hearing of those misfortunes equal to the pain it
will give me to kno