by inventing some metaphor or making use of some harmonious
adjective. Rivera, who knew this weakness of his, used to indulge him in
it.

"This afternoon, gentlemen, I saw a woman whose glance was as bright as
a Damascus blade."

Gomez de la Floresta's face would flush with pleasure, and he would look
up with a smile of congratulation:--

"That means that it was a cold and cutting glance!"

"Her skin was smooth and brilliant with marble lines; her hair fell like
a golden cataract upon her swan-like neck, which was bound around with
a diamond necklace, brilliant as drops of light...."

"Drops of light! How felicitous that is, Rivera! how felicitous!"

"She was a woman capable of making life Oriental for a time."

"That is it! Taking refuge with her in a minaret, breathing the perfumes
of Persia, letting her pearly fingers caress our locks, drinking from
her mouth the nectar of delight!"

"I am delighted, Senor de Floresta, to see that you are consistent. Let
us put a stop to it, nevertheless. You have been having an attack of
phrases on the brain, and I fear a fatal termination."

The editor smiled in mortification and went on with his work.

A slender young man, with prominent cheek bones, almond-shaped eyes, and
awkward gait, came in, making a great confusion, and humming a few
strains of a waltz; he went up to the table where Miguel was writing,
and giving him a slap on the shoulder, said, with a jolly tone:--

"_Hola_, friend Rivera!"

Miguel, without looking up, replied very solemnly:--

"Gently, gently, Senor Merelo! gently, we are not all on a level!"

The editors roared with laughter.

Merelo, a little touched, exclaimed:--

"This Rivera is always making jokes.... Now, senor, ..." he went on to
say, flinging his sombrero on the table.... "I have just this moment
come from the tariff meeting at the Teatro del Circo...."

"Who spoke?... Who spoke?" was asked from various parts of the room.

"Well, Don Gabriel Rodriguez, Moret y Prendergast, Figuerola, and our
chief; but the one who made the best speech was Don Felix Bona."

"Man alive! and what did he say?"

"Well, he began by saying that he ... the most insignificant of all that
were there...."

"Senor Merelo! and is it possible that you did not protest against such
a statement?" asked Miguel from his table.

Merelo looked at him without seeing the force of his remark; but finally
feeling the hidden prick of sarcasm, he made up a disgust