asleep.

'The entrance of my learned landlady with a cup brimful of her latest
concoction, awoke me.

''Here, Senor,' said she, presenting the dose to me with a serene air of
matronly confidence, 'Here, Senor, is a tea containing no less than
seventeen different ingredients; and I have a presentiment that this is
the very thing to perfect your cure.'

''Thank you a thousand times,' I said, 'but I feel perfectly well this
morning.'

''That is no matter--'

''No matter! _what_ is no matter?'

''Why, no matter how well you fancy you feel; this is a sovereign
remedy, so just drink it off to please me.'

''For mercy's sake, Senora, put down your medicine, sit down in the
rocking-chair and draw near to the bedside, for I have several questions
to ask.

''How long has my present neighbor lodged with you, Senora,' said I,
when she had duly ensconced herself. She gazed inquiringly at me, but
when I pointed to the door behind her, she replied, with apparent
_nonchalance_:

''Somewhere about three months.'

''And who is he?'

''That is a question I can not answer?'

''Why not?'

''Because, over and above his rent, he paid me five dollars to hold my
tongue.'

''If I were to offer you ten to let it go, how would it be then?'

''_Ten_ dollars!' replied my hostess, in a ruminating tone of voice.

''Yes, _ten_ dollars.'

''I should feel it my duty to my fatherless children to speak,' said
this excellent mother of the bereaved heirs of the defunct Lopez.
'Yes--holy Virgin, forgive me--but I should feel _bound_ to speak.'

''It is a bargain, then; Senora, proceed.'

''Your neighbor, Senor,' replied my hostess, in a low voice, 'is a
heretic--an Englishman.'

''Not an American?'

''English or American--what is the difference, any way? I tell you he is
a heretic, and you know we Mexicans make no difference between those
heathens--we call them all _Inglez_.''

'The fair Teresa, I may remark, had always taken me for one of her
fellow-countrymen, as I spoke the language fluently, and had been
thoroughly sun-burnt years before.

''He arrived here, as I have already had the honor of saying, about
three months since. He appears very sickly and exhausted, and from the
look of his clothing I judge he had just returned from a long journey in
the interior. 'Senora,' said he, when paying his bill in advance, 'I
wish you to speak to no one of my residence in this house. I have no
family, no country, and no name; I hate