d have such a ring.

"Yes, yes; I am coming, Maximina!" said the young woman, hastening to
rise.

And at the same time, making a little face at Miguel, she said in a low
voice:--

"Do you see? Your wife is already jealous!"

Miguel watched them go out, not without a feeling of vexation.

Saavedra, seeing his partner get up so unexpectedly, and thus casting
such a slur on his reputation as a ladykiller, frowned darkly and bit
his lips in vexation. Julia, who in spite of her apparent absorption in
conversation with Utrilla, had not lost the slightest detail of this
scene, burst into a harsh laugh. Saavedra gave her an angry and
malignant look, the meaning of which she was very far from suspecting at
that time.

The party was brought to an end by Senor de Ramirez taking out his watch
and announcing in a loud voice that it was half-past two in the morning.
Various mammas arose as though moved by springs; the girls reluctantly
followed their example; a great group was formed in the centre of the
parlor; numberless farewells were heard, a clatter of kisses, and
ripples of feminine laughter.

The young couple took their place at the stairway door, and bade good
night to their guests, at the same time adding their assistance to that
of the servants in the putting on of wraps. They were overwhelmed with
thanks and congratulations. Then everything relapsed into silence.

Miguel and his wife returned to the parlor. Maximina was extremely pale,
as her husband could see out of the corner of his eye; he also noticed
that she flung herself down upon a sofa.

He, pretending to be absent-minded, put out the candles that were
burning in the candelabra on the mantel-piece, and set some of the
furniture in place. On returning from the other room one time, he saw
his wife with her face buried in a pillow and sobbing. He went to her
and said with affected surprise:--

"Crying?"

The poor child did not reply.

"What are you crying for?" he added, with cruel coldness.

Still Maximina made no answer.

Miguel waited an instant, still standing; then he went and sat down at
the other end of the sofa.

The lights in the chandeliers burned silently; nothing was heard but the
noises made by the servants in the dining-room and kitchen; the
atmosphere of the parlor was filled with the penetrating odor compounded
of all the perfumes which the ladies had brought with them. Brigadier
Rivera's son, bending forward with his elbows restin