how could you ruin me?"

When he had grown a little calmer he explained to her what had taken
place. Eguiburu had summoned him for the following day, to recognize his
endorsements; and he expected him immediately to enforce his legal
claim.

"Do you remember that day when, after I had guaranteed the thirty
thousand duros for the paper, so that it might go on, I asked your
opinion? You did not dare to tell me that I had not done well, and you
gave me an evasive answer. How wise you were!"

"No, Miguel, no; you are mistaken," she answered, trying to spare her
husband the mortification of having acted with less sense than a woman.
"What did I know about such things? If you did wrong, I should have done
much worse.... But, after all, what has happened is not worth your being
so troubled. We haven't any money left: well, and what of that? We will
work for our living, as so many others do. I am used to it; I am not a
senorita; I can live very economically, and not suffer any. You shall
see how little I will spend! And our darling, when he gets old enough,
will work too, and become a useful man--see if that isn't so! Perhaps if
he knew that he would not be obliged to work, he would be dissipated,
like so many other rich young men. And above all, he, and I too, will
care for nothing else than to have his papa happy, with or without
money."

Oh, how sweet sounded those words in the troubled Miguel's ears!

"You are my good angel, Maximina!" he exclaimed, kissing her hands. "I
don't know what magic your words have to sweeten my sorrows
instantaneously, to soothe me and calm me as though I had taken an
aromatic bath.... Where did you learn this lovely eloquence, my life,"
he added, seating her on his knee. "You need not tell me! It all comes
from here!"

And he kissed her just above her heart.

The husband and wife conversed a long time, calm, cheerful, drinking in
with mouth and eyes the divine nectar of conjugal love. Extraordinary
thing! In spite of being on the eve of a great calamity, Miguel could
not remember having spent a happier hour in his life. And though the
events that took place within a few days sobered him, yet, thanks to
this cheering balsam, they could not wholly dishearten him.

Eguiburu at last sprang down upon his prey. The legal claim was
sustained. Miguel's two houses in the Calle del Arenal and on the Cuesta
de Santa Domingo were sold by auction for forty-eight thousand duros. If
the sale had not