Avennes, he was no longer in his
early youth, but was a man of totally different stamp; tall, strong as if
hammered from steel, a soldier of invincible strength and skill, a most
dreaded seeker of quarrels, but a man whose glowing eyes and wonderful
gift of song must have exerted a mysterious, bewitching power over women.
Dozens of adventures, in which he was said to have taken part, were told
in the servant's hall and half of them had some foundation of truth, as I
afterwards learned by experience. If you suppose this heart-breaker bore
any resemblance to the gay, curly-haired minions of fortune, on whom
young ladies lavish their love, you are mistaken; Don Luis was a grave
man with close-cut hair, who never wore anything but dark clothes, and
even carried a sword, whose hilt, instead of gold and silver, consisted
of blackened metal. He resembled death much more than blooming love.
Perhaps this very thing made him irresistible, since we are all born for
death and no suitor is so sure of victory as he.

"The padrona had not been favorably disposed to him at first, but this
mood soon changed, and at New Year's he too was admitted to small evening
receptions of intimate friends. He came whenever we invited him, but had
no word, no look, scarcely a greeting for our young lady. Only when it
pleased the signorina to sing, he went near her and sharply criticised
anything in her execution that chanced to displease him. He often sang
himself too, and then usually chose the same songs as Fraulein Anna, as
if to surpass her by his superior skill.

"So things went on till the time of the carnival. On Shrove-Tuesday the
padrona gave a large entertainment, and when I led the servants and stood
behind the signorina and Don Luis, to whom her excellenza had long been
in the habit of assigning the seat beside her niece, I noticed that their
hands met under the table and rested in each other's clasp a long time.
My heart was so full of anxiety, that it was very hard for me to keep the
attention so necessary on that evening--and when the next morning, the
padrona summoned me to settle the accounts, I thought it my duty to
modestly remark that Don Luis d'Avila's wooing did not seem disagreeable
to the young lady in spite of her betrothal. She let me speak, but when I
ventured to repeat what people said of the Spaniard, angrily started up
and showed me to the door. A faithful servant often hears and sees more
than his employers suspect, and