secondly
why he should speak to him at all. "Think of whom?" he repeated
carelessly.

"Why him--you know--Don Jose."

"I did not see anything the matter with him," returned Hamlin with
frigid simplicity.

"What? nothing queer?"

"Well, no--except that he's a guest in YOUR house," said Hamlin with
great cheerfulness. "But then, as you keep a hotel, you can't help
occasionally admitting a--gentleman."

Mr. Jenkinson smiled the uneasy smile of a man who knew that his
interlocutor's playfulness occasionally extended to the use of a
derringer, in which he was singularly prompt and proficient, and Mr.
Hamlin, equally conscious of that knowledge on the part of his
companion, descended the staircase composedly.

But the day had darkened gradually into night, and Don Jose was at last
compelled to put aside his volume. The sound of a large bell rung
violently along the hall and passages admonished him that the American
dinner was ready, and although the viands and the mode of cooking were
not entirely to his fancy, he had, in his grave enthusiasm for the
national habits, attended the table d'hote regularly with Roberto. On
reaching the lower hall he was informed that his henchman had early
succumbed to the potency of his libations, and had already been carried
by two men to bed. Receiving this information with his usual stoical
composure, he entered the dining-room, but was surprised to find that a
separate table had been prepared for him by the landlord, and that a
rude attempt had been made to serve him with his own native dishes.

"Senores y Senoritas," said Don Jose, turning from it and with grave
politeness addressing the assembled company, "if I seem to-day to
partake alone and in a reserved fashion of certain viands that have
been prepared for me, it is truly from no lack of courtesy to your
distinguished company, but rather, I protest, to avoid the appearance
of greater discourtesy to our excellent Jenkinson, who has taken some
pains and trouble to comport his establishment to what he conceives to
be my desires. Wherefore, my friends, in God's name fall to, the same
as if I were not present, and grace be with you."

A few stared at the tall, gentle, melancholy figure with some
astonishment; a few whispered to their neighbors; but when, at the
conclusion of his repast, Don Jose arose and again saluted the company,
one or two stood up and smilingly returned the courtesy, and Polly
Jenkinson, the landlord's