ould you say if I should tell you that he still owes me four pesos,
five reales, and twelve cuartos? But who would collect from a rich
man like him?"

"That gentleman in debt to you?"

"Sure! One day I got him out of a bad fix. It was on a Friday at
half-past six in the morning, I still remember, because I hadn't
breakfasted. That lady who is followed by a duenna is the celebrated
Pepay, the dancing girl, but she doesn't dance any more now that a
very Catholic gentleman and a great friend of mine has--forbidden
it. There's the death's-head Z----, who's surely following her to get
her to dance again. He's a good fellow, and a great friend of mine,
but has one defect--he's a Chinese mestizo and yet calls himself a
Peninsular Spaniard. Sssh! Look at Ben-Zayb, him with the face of a
friar, who's carrying a pencil and a roll of paper in his hand. He's
the great writer, Ben-Zayb, a good friend of mine--he has talent!"

"You don't say! And that little man with white whiskers?"

"He's the official who has appointed his daughters, those three little
girls, assistants in his department, so as to get their names on the
pay-roll. He's a clever man, very clever! When he makes a mistake he
blames it on somebody else, he buys things and pays for them out of
the treasury. He's clever, very, very clever!"

Tadeo was about to say more, but suddenly checked himself.

"And that gentleman who has a fierce air and gazes at everybody over
his shoulders?" inquired the novice, pointing to a man who nodded
haughtily.

But Tadeo did not answer. He was craning his neck to see Paulita
Gomez, who was approaching with a friend, Dona Victorina, and Juanito
Pelaez. The latter had presented her with a box and was more humped
than ever.

Carriage after carriage drove up; the actors and actresses arrived
and entered by a separate door, followed by their friends and admirers.

After Paulita had gone in, Tadeo resumed: "Those are the nieces of
the rich Captain D----, those coming up in a landau; you see how
pretty and healthy they are? Well, in a few years they'll be dead or
crazy. Captain D---- is opposed to their marrying, and the insanity
of the uncle is appearing in the nieces. That's the Senorita E----,
the rich heiress whom the world and the conventos are disputing
over. Hello, I know that fellow! It's Padre Irene, in disguise, with
a false mustache. I recognize him by his nose. And he was so greatly
opposed to this!"

The scandalized nov