ns of the arabesques. It
was no longer pink embroidered with silver, but silver embroidered with
pink. So loaded were the shoulders with twist, filigree, knots and
ornaments of all kinds, that the arms seemed to issue from two crushed
crowns. The satin hose, braided and spangled on the seams, were
admirably adjusted to limbs combining power and elegance. The whole
dress was the masterpiece of Zapata of Granada,--of that Zapata,
unrivalled for _majo_ costumes, who weeps when he takes one home, and
offers his customer more money to resign it to him than he had asked for
making it. The learned in such matters did not consider the suit dear at
ten thousand reals. Worn by Juancho, it was worth twenty thousand.

The last flourish of trumpets sounded; the arena was cleared of dogs and
boys, and the troop of bull-fighters entered. A murmur of admiration
greeted Juancho when he made his obeisance before the queen's box; he
bent the knee with so good a grace, with an air at once, so humble and
so proud, and rose again so gracefully and easily, that the severest
critics and oldest frequenters of the circus declared none had ever done
it better.

Meanwhile Andres, delighted to have found the manola, paid little
attention to the preliminaries of the fight, and the first bull had
already ripped up a horse before he bestowed a single look upon the
arena. He gazed at the young girl by his side, with an intentness that
would doubtless have embarrassed her had she perceived it. He thought
her more charming than ever; and certainly a more perfect type of
Spanish beauty had never sat upon the blue granite benches of the Madrid
circus. With admiration amounting to ecstasy, Andres contemplated the
delicate profile, the thin, well-formed nose, with nostrils pink-tinted,
like the interior of a tropical shell; the full temples, where, beneath
the slightest possible tint of amber, meandered an imperceptible network
of blue veins; the mouth, fresh as a flower, ripe and ruddy as a fruit,
slightly opened by a half smile, and illuminated by a gleam of
mother-of-pearl; and above all, the eyes, whose glances, passing between
a thick double fringe of black lashes, possessed an irresistible
fascination. It was the Greek form with the Arab character: the style of
beauty would have had something startling in a London or Paris
drawing-room, but was perfectly in its place at a bull-fight and under
the ardent sky of Spain.

The old woman, less attentive t