nswered Don Juan, "that the broken pane is precisely
the one adjacent to the fastening? It must have been knocked out to get
the window open."

"_Carramba_! Senor Don Juan de Dios!" cried the alcalde, in a peevish
tone--at the same time biting his gold-headed cane, the emblem of his
office--"Is it you or I who have here the right to ask questions?
_Carrai_! it appears to me that you make me cut a strange figure!"

Here Cagatinta interposed with a modest air--

"I shall answer our friend Canelo, if you permit me. If the window was
open with the design he has stated, it must of course have been done
from the outside. The pieces of glass then would have fallen _into_ the
chamber; but such is not the case--there they lie on the balcony! It
has been the wind therefore, as his honour the alcalde has reasonably
stated, that has done this business. Unless, indeed," added he, with a
feigned smile, "some trunk carried incautiously past the window might
have struck one of the squares. This may have been--since it appears
the Countess intends a prolonged absence, judging from the effects--
taken with her, as testified by the empty drawers."

The old steward lowered his head at this proof which seemed completely
to falsify his assertion. He did not hear the last observation of
Cagatinta, who was cogitating whether he ought not to exact from the
alcalde something more than the liver-coloured breeches, as a recompense
of this new service he had done him.

While the faithful Don Juan was busy with painful reflections that threw
their shadows upon his bald forehead, the alcalde approached and
addressed him in a voice so low as not to be heard by the others.

"I have been a little sharp with you, Don Juan--I have not sufficiently
taken into account the grief, which you as a loyal servant must feel
under such an unexpected stroke. But tell me! independent of the
chagrin which this affair has caused you, are you not also affected by
some fears about your own future? You are old--weak in consequence--and
without resources?"

"It is just because I am old, and know that I have not long to live,
that I am so little affected. My grief, however," added he with an air
of pride, "is pure and free from all selfishness. The generosity of
Count de Mediana has left me enough to pass the remainder of my days in
tranquillity. But I should pass them all the more happily if I could
only see avenged the lady of my old master."

"I app