enormous wealth of the Gould Concession on its side. He had been one
of the frequenters of the Casa Gould, where he had aired his Blanco
convictions and his ardour for reform before Don Jose Avellanos, casting
frank, honest glances towards Mrs. Gould and Antonia the while. He was
known to belong to a good family persecuted and impoverished during the
tyranny of Guzman Bento. The opinions he expressed appeared eminently
natural and proper in a man of his parentage and antecedents. And he
was not a deceiver; it was perfectly natural for him to express elevated
sentiments while his whole faculties were taken up with what seemed then
a solid and practical notion--the notion that the husband of Antonia
Avellanos would be, naturally, the intimate friend of the Gould
Concession. He even pointed this out to Anzani once, when negotiating
the sixth or seventh small loan in the gloomy, damp apartment with
enormous iron bars, behind the principal shop in the whole row under the
Arcades. He hinted to the universal shopkeeper at the excellent terms
he was on with the emancipated senorita, who was like a sister to the
Englishwoman. He would advance one leg and put his arms akimbo, posing
for Anzani's inspection, and fixing him with a haughty stare.

"Look, miserable shopkeeper! How can a man like me fail with any woman,
let alone an emancipated girl living in scandalous freedom?" he seemed
to say.

His manner in the Casa Gould was, of course, very different--devoid of
all truculence, and even slightly mournful. Like most of his countrymen,
he was carried away by the sound of fine words, especially if uttered
by himself. He had no convictions of any sort upon anything except as to
the irresistible power of his personal advantages. But that was so
firm that even Decoud's appearance in Sulaco, and his intimacy with
the Goulds and the Avellanos, did not disquiet him. On the contrary,
he tried to make friends with that rich Costaguanero from Europe in the
hope of borrowing a large sum by-and-by. The only guiding motive of
his life was to get money for the satisfaction of his expensive tastes,
which he indulged recklessly, having no self-control. He imagined
himself a master of intrigue, but his corruption was as simple as an
animal instinct. At times, in solitude, he had his moments of ferocity,
and also on such occasions as, for instance, when alone in a room with
Anzani trying to get a loan.

He had talked himself into the command of