you
shall find me not ungrateful, and in return for the zeal and devotion
you have shown, two hundred dollars shall be yours, on your return with
tidings of madame's safe arrival.'

''I will at once proceed to secure the necessary equipage, Senor.
Senora, rely on my punctuality; at seven, I shall attend you.'

''Are you related to Senor Pride?' asked Pepito, as we descended the
stairs.

''In no way; I have known him only a few days.'

''Well, Caballero, I own I am enchanted with his wife; I never met a
woman of such matchless beauty, such fascinating manners; why, Senor, if
she said to me, 'Pepito, kill your brother,' and I had a brother, which,
luckily, I have not, I think I should kill him.'

'These words were uttered with so much vehemence, that I deemed it
advisable to turn the conversation.

''It seems strange to me,' said I, 'that you should be so intimate with
Pedro, and yet be ever on the very verge of quarreling with him.'

''Well, it is perhaps astonishing to those who do not know us; but
somehow Pedro is my best, in fact, my only friend. We were brought up in
the same village, and are just like brothers. He is a good sort of
fellow, but is abominably vain and self-conceited; then he is deucedly
overbearing. He has no delicacy for his friend's feelings, and, in fact,
has a thousand failings that no one else but I could tolerate. True, we
have now and then a pretty rough time of it. The two gashes on his left
cheek are mementoes of my regard, and I confess I have two ugly marks,
one on my shoulder, the other on my right breast, which I owe to him.
But what galls me most, he is always talking of his six dead ones, while
I can claim only five; but then my five are all men, while two of his
six are women.'

''Horrible!' I exclaimed.

''Yes, it is not a fair count; but then it shows his insatiable vanity.
Vanity is one of the capital sins; it is hard to tell into what meanness
it may not lead a man.' With this sententious denunciation, the Mexican,
who had clearly misinterpreted my indignant ejaculation, raised his hat,
with an air of extreme politeness, and departed.

'When I again entered Mr. Livermore's apartment, the conversation
naturally turned on Pepito.

''Well, what think you of my cavalier?' said Adele.

''As you are aware, my acquaintance with him is of but recent date; but
one thing speaks greatly in his favor: he has been for several months
attached to Mr. Livermore's person, both as gui