from Lorca. And Lorca
is an old Moorish town, and the Lorcanese (good enough folks, all the
same) bear undeniable traces of their ancestry. So there is nothing
which they take in worse part than to have this imputed to them, which
is why they keep perpetually declaring that they are Christians of ever
so old standing. This was the case with this little fellow, in whose
face his Moorish origin is certainly reflected to the extent of
positive caricature."

"No matter!" cried Ludwig. "I stick to my opinion; the man is a
tremendous scoundrel, and I will leave no stone unturned till I deliver
my charming, beautiful Mignon from his clutches."

"If you insist on thinking the little fellow a scoundrel," said Euchar,
"I can't say that I have very much confidence, for my part, in the
charming beautiful Mignon."

"What!" cried Ludwig. "Not have confidence in that divine little
creature, whose eyes beam with the purest, most innocent truth and
tenderness? However, there we see the icy, prosaic nature wholly devoid
of feeling for all such matters, distrustful of everything which
doesn't fit all in a moment into the compartments, the grooves of his
everyday business."

"Well, don't get so excited about it, my dear, enthusiastic friend,"
said Euchar quietly. "You will probably say that I have no tangible
reason for distrusting the beautiful Mignon. But my reason is that I
have this instant discovered that as she was kissing my hand she took
away that little ring with the curious stone (which you know I always
wear) from my finger. And I am greatly distressed to lose it, because
it is a souvenir of a period of my life which was full of intense
interest and importance."

"In heaven's name," said Ludwig, in an awestruck whisper, "it is not
possible, surely! No, no!" he cried, loudly and excitedly, "it cannot
be possible! That lovely face could not deceive: that eye--that
glance--You must have dropped the ring--let it fall."

"Well--" said Euchar, "we shall see. But it is getting dark: let us get
back to the town."

All the way home, Ludwig did not cease talking of Emanuela, calling her
by the sweetest names, and declaring that he was quite certain--from a
peculiar glance which she had cast on him at parting--that he had made
a deep impression on her--a sort of event which generally happened to
him in similar cases--_i.e._ when the romantic element entered amongst
the circumstances of everyday life. Euchar did not interrupt him b