elets suit her?"

At this question all Quiroga's liveliness vanished like a dream. His
caressing voice became plaintive; he bowed lower, gave the Chinese
salutation of raising his clasped hands to the height of his face,
and groaned: "Ah, Senor Simoun! I'm lost, I'm ruined!" [37]

"How, Quiroga, lost and ruined when you have so many bottles of
champagne and so many guests?"

Quiroga closed his eyes and made a grimace. Yes, the affair of that
afternoon, that affair of the bracelets, had ruined him. Simoun smiled,
for when a Chinese merchant complains it is because all is going well,
and when he makes a show that things are booming it is quite certain
that he is planning an assignment or flight to his own country.

"You didn't know that I'm lost, I'm ruined? Ah, Senor Simoun, I'm
_busted!_" To make his condition plainer, he illustrated the word by
making a movement as though he were falling in collapse.

Simoun wanted to laugh, but restrained himself and said that he knew
nothing, nothing at all, as Quiroga led him to a room and closed the
door. He then explained the cause of his misfortune.

Three diamond bracelets that he had secured from Simoun on pretense
of showing them to his wife were not for her, a poor native shut up in
her room like a Chinese woman, but for a beautiful and charming lady,
the friend of a powerful man, whose influence was needed by him in
a certain deal in which he could clear some six thousand pesos. As
he did not understand feminine tastes and wished to be gallant, the
Chinese had asked for the three finest bracelets the jeweler had, each
priced at three to four thousand pesos. With affected simplicity and
his most caressing smile, Quiroga had begged the lady to select the
one she liked best, and the lady, more simple and caressing still,
had declared that she liked all three, and had kept them.

Simoun burst out into laughter.

"Ah, sir, I'm lost, I'm ruined!" cried the Chinese, slapping himself
lightly with his delicate hands; but the jeweler continued his
laughter.

"Ugh, bad people, surely not a real lady," went on the Chinaman,
shaking his head in disgust. "What! She has no decency, while me,
a Chinaman, me always polite! Ah, surely she not a real lady--a
_cigarrera_ has more decency!"

"They've caught you, they've caught you!" exclaimed Simoun, poking
him in the chest.

"And everybody's asking for loans and never pays--what about
that? Clerks, officials, lieutenants, soldiers