"I do not know him, and I beg of you to send me this instant, the sum
agreed upon. Take away these jewels."

"Will you have a receipt for them?" asked the Jew.

Don Vegal passed into the adjoining room, without replying.

"Proud Spaniard!" muttered Samuel, "I will crush thy insolence, as I
disperse thy riches! By Solomon! I am a skillful man, since my interests
keep pace with my sentiments."

Don Vegal, on leaving the Jew, had found Martin Paz in profound
dejection of spirits, mingled with mortification.

"What is the matter?" he asked affectionately.

"Senor, it is the daughter of the Jew whom I love."

"A Jewess!" exclaimed Don Vegal, with disgust.

But seeing the sadness of the Indian, he added:

"Let us go, _amigo_, we will talk of these things afterward!"

An hour later, Martin Paz, clad in Spanish costume, left the city,
accompanied by Don Vegal, who took none of his people with him.

The Baths of Chorillos are situated at two leagues from Lima. This
Indian parish possesses a pretty church; during the hot season it is the
rendezvous of the fashionable Limanian society. Public games,
interdicted at Lima, are permitted at Chorillos during the whole summer.
The senoras there display unwonted ardor, and, in decorating himself for
these pretty partners, more than one rich cavalier has seen his fortune
dissipated in a few nights.

Chorillos was still little frequented; so Don Vegal and Martin Paz
retired to a pretty cottage, built on the sea-shore, could live in quiet
contemplation of the vast plains of the Pacific Ocean.

The Marquis Don Vegal, belonging to one of the most ancient families of
Peru, saw about to terminate in himself the noble line of which he was
justly proud; so his countenance bore the impress of profound sadness.
After having mingled for some time in political affairs, he had felt an
inexpressible disgust for the incessant revolutions brought about to
gratify personal ambition; he had withdrawn into a sort of solitude,
interrupted only at rare intervals by the duties of strict politeness.

His immense fortune was daily diminishing. The neglect into which his
vast domains had fallen for want of laborers, had compelled him to
borrow at a disadvantage; but the prospect of approaching mediocrity did
not alarm him; that carelessness natural to the Spanish race, joined to
the ennui of a useless existence, had rendered him insensible to the
menaces of the future. Formerly the husband of an