ing drone, he answered:

"What has the French revolution to do with the robe of the Virgin?"

He got up and walked toward the house, but he had not taken half a dozen
steps before he heard again beside him the buzzing of the mosquito,
saying:

"Senor Don Jose, I wish to speak to you about an affair in which you are
greatly interested and which may cause you some trouble."

"An affair?" said the young man, drawing back. "Let us hear what affair
is that."

"You suspect what it is, perhaps," said Jacinto, approaching Pepe,
and smiling with the air of a man of business who has some unusually
important matter on hand; "I want to speak to you about the lawsuit."

"The lawsuit! My friend, I have no lawsuits. You, as a good lawyer,
dream of lawsuits and see stamped paper everywhere."

"What! You have not heard of your lawsuit?" exclaimed the youth, with
amazement.

"Of my lawsuit! But I have no lawsuits, nor have I ever had any."

"Well, if you have not heard of it, I am all the better pleased to have
spoken to you about it, so that you may be on your guard. Yes, senor,
you are going to have a suit at law."

"And with whom?"

"With Uncle Licurgo and other land-owners whose property borders on the
estate called The Poplars."

Pepe Rey was astounded.

"Yes, senor," continued the little lawyer. "To-day Uncle Licurgo and I
had a long conference. As I am such a friend of the family, I wanted to
let you know about it, so that, if you think well of it, you may hasten
to arrange the matter."

"But what have I to arrange? What do those rascals claim from me?"

"It seems that a stream of water which rises in your property has
changed its course and flows over some tile-works of the aforesaid Uncle
Licurgo and the mill of another person, occasioning considerable
damage. My client--for he is determined that I shall get him out of this
difficulty--my client, as I said, demands that you shall restore the
water to its former channel, so as to avoid fresh injuries, and that
you shall indemnify him for the damage which his works have already
sustained through the neglect of the superior proprietor."

"And I am the superior proprietor! If I engage in a lawsuit, that will
be the first fruit that those famous Poplars, which were mine and which
now, as I understand, belong to everybody, will have ever produced me,
for Licurgo, as well as some of the other farmers of the district, have
been filching from me, little by little, yea