ce of
unalloyed satisfaction."

"No, Miguel, it is not Enrique.... Enrique has caused me some sorrow,
... but what I feel now has its source far deeper."

Miguel began to puzzle over what he meant, and was inclined to imagine
that it might be some loss or diminution of his property.

Don Bernardo dismounted, leaned against one of the bars to rest, and
rubbed his sweaty forehead with his handkerchief, heaving a deep sigh;
then he took some iron balls and began to open and shut his arms with
the solemnity that accompanied all his acts.

After a few moments' silence, which his nephew dared not interrupt in
spite of the curiosity that piqued him, the old gentleman dropped the
weights, and approaching him with his eyes fixed and open like those of
a spectre, he said in a hoarse tone:--

"Forty years ago I married.... Forty years have I been cherishing a
viper in my bosom! At last its poison has made its way into my blood,
and I shall perish of the wound!"

Miguel did not understand, nor did he wish to understand, those strange
words. However, he said:--

"I have always supposed that you were happy in your marriage."

"I was, Miguel! I was because I had a bandage over my eyes. Would to God
that it had never been taken off!... There is a day in my life, as you
know well, when, in order to rescue the honor of our family, I descended
to give my hand to a women of very different rank from mine. In return
for this immense sacrifice, don't you think that this woman ought to
kiss the very dust on which I walk?... Now then, this woman is a
Messalina!"

"Uncle!"

"More correctly an Agrippina."

"But after forty years, when my aunt Martina is already old and
venerable!"

"That makes her crime all the more odious."

"Aren't you blinded, uncle?"

"It has cost me much to believe it; but I can no longer have any doubt."

"I regret your annoyance from the bottom of my heart; but allow me to
doubt it absolutely...."

"Do you know who the infamous wretch is who has dishonored my name,"
demanded Senor de Rivera, coming closer and speaking into Miguel's
ear,--"This viper, also, I have warmed in my bosom!"

"Who?"

"Facundo! My fraternal friend, Facundo!"

"Senor Hojeda!"

"Not another word more!" exclaimed Don Bernardo, raising his arm
majestically. "You are a member of my family; you are married, and I
have told you my secret--to prepare your mind. A terrible catastrophe is
threatening all our heads."

"But, uncle