said one of the girls, with a
condescending tone.

The guests formed groups, and were conversing gayly. Gomez de la
Floresta was burning with impatience.

At last Miguel, not so much to gratify him, as to have everything pass
off in good form, invited him to begin the reading of the play: he took
his stand by the side of the fireplace, under a gas-fixture; the people
scattered themselves at their convenience on the chairs and sofas; a
servant brought on a waiter various refreshments, and placed them as
well as he could on the mantel-piece near the poet.

Gomez de la Floresta coughed two or three times, cast a troubled glance
over his audience, and then began the reading of his drama, which was
entitled _The Serpent's Hole_, and was cast in the time of Carlos
II.,[35] the _Bewitched_.

As we know the author, there is no need of saying that the lyric note
prevailed in it; that it was couched in sonorous verse, that it abounded
in elegant and exotic adjectives; in writing it he had put under
contribution the beautiful and picturesque phrases of our _Esmaltes y
Camafeos_,[36] of Theophile Gautier, and the no less beautiful but more
spontaneous ones of our own Zorilla.

The result was a composition of beautiful words in diapason, producing a
notable musical effect, alternating with some phrase or sentence _a la_
Victor Hugo. Not a single character said anything in a straightforward
manner: instead of telling who they were and whence they came, they
drowned themselves by anticipation in a river or cascade of Oriental
pearls, moonbeams, dewdrops, perfumes of Arabia, sunsets and sapphires
and emeralds, so that the thread of the discourse was lost, and no one
could gather the least idea of its character and tendency.

When he was half through the act, the Countess de Losilla and her two
daughters came in, later than all the rest, since they lived the nearest
of all. Their entrance for a few moments interrupted the reading; all
arose, and Maximina hastened to greet them.

All the ladies looked sharply and eagerly at the young ladies' dresses
and jewelry, which were in the highest degree elegant and original,
especially that of Filomena, who had a remarkable genius for inventing
and combining adornments, departing from the fashion when she pleased,
or changing it according to her own caprice; she knew how to make the
most of her extreme slenderness by wearing dresses such as would have
been unbecoming to any other girl, a