ry, so much happiness awes me. It appears to me, for a
reason which I cannot divine, that some sad disappointment lurks under
the seductive prospect."

"Ah! just as I expected," answered Don Estevan; "it is the human heart.
I knew you would make some objection of this kind, but I thought you
were more a man of the world than to trouble yourself about the past
with such a splendid fortune before you. Ah! my poor Despilfarro,"
added the Spaniard, with a laugh, "I thought you were more advanced."

"But why, Don Estevan?" inquired the Senator, intending to give a proof
of his high diplomatic capacity,--"why is it, _entre nous_, that you
desire to lavish this treasure of beauty--to say nothing of her grand
wealth--upon another, while you yourself--"

"While I myself might marry her," interrupted the Spaniard. "Is that
what you mean to say? Suppose I have no wish to get married. I had
that desire long ago, like the rest of the world. My history has been
like a great many others; that is, my sweetheart married another. It is
true I adopted the means to re--to console myself, and quickly too,"
added Arechiza, with a dark scowl. "But who do you think I am, Don
Vicente Tragaduros?"

"Who are you! why; Don Estevan de Arechiza, of course!"

"That does honour to your penetration," said the Spaniard, with a
disdainful smile. "Well, then, since I have already demanded the hand
of Dona Rosarita for the illustrious senator Tragaduros y Despilfarro,
of course I cannot now take his place."

"But why, senor, did you not make the demand on your own account?"

"Why, because, my dear friend, were this young lady three times as
beautiful, and three times as rich as she is, she would neither be
beautiful enough nor rich enough for me!"

Despilfarro started with astonishment.

"Eh! and who are you then, senor, may I ask in my turn?"

"Only, as you have said, Don Estevan Arechiza," coolly replied the
Spaniard.

The Senator made three or four turns across the room before he could
collect his thoughts; but in obedience to the distrust that had suddenly
sprung up within him, he resumed:

"There is something in all this I cannot explain, and when I can't
explain a thing I can't understand it."

"Good logic," exclaimed Don Estevan, in a tone of raillery, "but am I
really mistaken about you, my dear Senator? I did you the honour to
believe you above certain prejudices; and even if there was anything in
the past life of the bea