ts was something to make one
die laughing; for there are _Tenorios_ and _Tenorios_, and he was one of
the most original.

"What girls? I don't see any girls," responded Pepe Rey.

"Yes, play the anchorite!"

One of the blinds of the balcony was opened, giving a glimpse of a
youthful face, lovely and smiling, that disappeared instantly, like a
light extinguished by the wind.

"Yes, I see now."

"Don't you know them?"

"On my life I do not."

"They are the Troyas--the Troya girls. Then you don't know something
good. Three lovely girls, the daughters of a colonel of staff, who died
in the streets of Madrid in '54."

The blind opened again, and two faces appeared.

"They are laughing at me," said Tafetan, making a friendly sign to the
girls.

"Do you know them?"

"Why, of course I know them. The poor things are in the greatest want.
I don't know how they manage to live. When Don Francisco Troya died a
subscription was raised for them, but that did not last very long."

"Poor girls! I imagine they are not models of virtue."

"And why not? I do not believe what they say in the town about them."

Once more the blinds opened.

"Good-afternoon, girls!" cried Don Juan Tafetan to the three girls, who
appeared, artistically grouped, at the window. "This gentleman says that
good things ought not to hide themselves, and that you should throw open
the blinds."

But the blind was closed and a joyous concert of laughter diffused a
strange gayety through the gloomy street. One might have fancied that a
flock of birds was passing.

"Shall we go there?" said Tafetan suddenly.

His eyes sparkled and a roguish smile played on his discolored lips.

"But what sort of people are they, then?"

"Don't be afraid, Senor de Rey. The poor things are honest. Bah! Why,
they live upon air, like the chameleons. Tell me, can any one who
doesn't eat sin? The poor girls are virtuous enough. And even if they
did sin, they fast enough to make up for it."

"Let us go, then."

A moment later Don Juan Tafetan and Pepe Rey were entering the parlor of
the Troyas. The poverty he saw, that struggled desperately to disguise
itself, afflicted the young man. The three girls were very lovely,
especially the two younger ones, who were pale and dark, with large
black eyes and slender figures. Well-dressed and well shod they would
have seemed the daughters of a duchess, and worthy to ally themselves
with princes.

When the visitors entered,