ocomotive--an infernal run that Zureda
remembered all his life.

With due regard for the prudent scheme that he had mapped out, the
engineer set himself to observing the way his wife and Manolo had of
talking to each other. After greatly straining his attention, he could
find nothing in the cordial frankness of their relations that seemed to
pass the limits of good friendship. From the time when Berlanga had
stood godfather for little Manolo, Amadeo had begged them to use "thee"
and "thou" to each other, and this they had done. But this familiarity
seemed quite brother-and-sisterly; it seemed justified by the three
years they had been living in the same house, and could hardly be
suspected of hiding any guilty secret.

None the less, the jealousy of Zureda kept on growing, rooting itself in
every pretext, and using even the most minor thing to inflame and color
with vampire suspicion every thought of the engineer. The notion kept
growing in Zureda; it became an obsession which made him see the dreaded
vision constantly, just as through another obsession, Berlanga's desire
for Rafaela had been born.

At last Amadeo became convinced that his skill as a spy was very poor.
He lacked that astuteness, those powers of detection and that divining
instinct which, in a kind of second sight, makes some men get swiftly
and directly at the bottom of things. In view of his blunt character,
unfitted for any kind of diplomatic craft, he thought it better to
confront the matter face to face.

As soon as he had come by this resolution, his uneasiness grew calm. A
sedative feeling of peace took possession of his heart. The engineer
passed that day quietly reading, waiting for night to come. Rafaela was
sewing in the dining-room, with little Manolo asleep on her lap. Half an
hour before supper, Zureda tiptoed to their bedroom and took from the
little night-table his heavy-bladed, horn-handled hunting knife--the
knife he always carried on his runs. After that he put on a flat cap,
tied a muffler round his neck--for the evening was cold--and started to
leave the house. In the emptiness of the hallway his heavy, determined
footfalls, echoing, seemed to waken something deadly.

A bit surprised, Rafaela asked:

"Aren't you going to eat supper here?"

"Yes," he answered, "but I'm just going out to stretch my legs a little.
I'll be right back."

He kissed his wife and the boy, mentally taking a long farewell of them,
and went out.

In