oint.
"Madame," I said, "I congratulate you on your clear-sightedness. I
flatter myself that I conceal my blindness from most people. I dare lay
a heavy wager that none of the others who have been sitting round this
table has so much as guessed at it."

"I had--that is, I knew some one intimately, sir, whose eyesight had
been destroyed. So you see I naturally noticed trifles about you which
would escape others. But you may trust me not to mention a word about
it. _Adios, senor, y diez mil perdons._"

She rose and bowed. I did the same. I was angry with the woman and yet
attracted by her, and at the same time ashamed of being so. I suppose
these three conflicting emotions combined to make me careless. Anyway,
the next thing that happened was that I, who never stumbled, found
myself blundering over a rush-seated chair, and sweeping two
dessert-plates from the table as I clutched out to preserve my balance.
The waiter, who was in the room, rapped out a good round obscene oath
of surprise. Nothing but the woman's action could have prevented his
discovering my infirmity. She laughed amusedly, and said in Spanish,
"Why, senor, one might think you were blind. You should look to your
path even when you are very polite." And then she drew near me at the
corner of the table, and rested her elbow against mine as skilfully and
unobtrusively as Sadi himself could have done it.

"You see, I know better than to grip you by the arm," she said,
dropping into English again.

"You have a skill and tact that not one in a million possesses. I am
deeply grateful." We were at the foot of the stone stairs. I had my
hand on the slim iron rail.

"You will be able to get back to your rooms now?"

"Perfectly."

"Then again buenas."

"Adios. But shall I not see you again?"

She laughed quietly. "Whenever you please, sir. I shall probably be
staying in this hotel for some time yet."

"Would you," I began, and felt myself to flush as I spoke, though no
novice at chatting with most kinds of women--"are you in a hurry, that
is? Would you come out into the _patio_ down the passage yonder
and sit awhile? We shall find some hammock chairs, and if the glare off
those tall white walls hurts you, there is an awning to pull down."

She assented very gracefully, and we sat there for a couple of hours,
afterwards strolling out past the great amber-coloured cathedral, and
on to the walls, whilst the sun sank into the water beyond the little
lateen