e up to the
second story. I'll bet dona Pepa's poor niece is scared out of her
wits... Just imagine--coming from so far away and from such pretty
places, and running into a mess like this ..."

Rafael seemed to meditate for a moment. Then as if an idea that had been
dancing about in his head all day had just occurred to him, he said:

"Suppose we take a run down there!... What do you say, Cupido?"

"Down there!... And how'll we get there?"

But the proposal, from its very rashness, was bound to appeal to a man
like the barber, who at length began to laugh, as if the adventure were
a highly amusing one.

"You're right! We could get through! It will look funny, all right! Us
two paddling up like a couple of Venetian gondoliers to serenade a
celebrated prima donna in her fright ... I've a good mind to run home
and fetch my guitar along ..."

"What the devil, Cupido! No guitar business! What a josher you are! Our
job is to get those women out of there. They'll get drowned if we
don't."

The barber, insisting on his romantic idea, fixed a pair of shrewd eyes
on Rafael.

"I see! So you're interested in the illustrious _artiste_, too ... You
rascal! You're smitten on her reputation for good looks ... But no ... I
remember ... you've seen her; she told me so herself."

"She!... She spoke to you about me?"

"Oh, nothing important! She told me she saw you one afternoon up at the
Hermitage."

Cupido kept the rest to himself. He did not say that Leonora, on
mentioning Rafael's name, had added that he looked like an "idiot."

Rafael's heart leaped with joy! She had talked of him! She had not
forgotten that meeting which had left such a painful memory in him!...
What was he doing, then, standing like a fool there on that bridge, when
down at the Blue House they might be needing a man's help?

"Listen, Cupido; I have my boat right handy here; you know, the boat
father had made to order in Valencia as a present for me. Steel frame;
hard wood; safe as a warship. You know the river ... I've seen you
handle an oar more than once; and I've got a pair of arms myself ...
What do you say?"

"I say, let's go," the barber answered resolutely.

They asked for a torch, and with the help of several men dragged
Rafael's boat toward a stairway on the riverbank.

Above, through the crowds on the bridge, the news of the expedition
flashed, but exaggerated and much idealized by the curious. The men were
going to save a poor family