et it aright....
There, there, don't get angry. The gentleman really pleases me a great
deal, with his little white goatee and his wee voice that seems to come
from the other world!... I tell you I'm going to see him and say, 'Senor
Rabbi, Luna and I adore each other and wish to many; not like the Jews,
by contract and with the right to change their minds, but for all our
life, for centuries and centuries. Bind us from head to foot, so that
there'll be none in heaven or on earth that can separate us. I can't
change my religion because that would be base, but I swear to you, by
all my faith as a Christian, that Luna will be more cared for, pampered
and adored than if I were Methuselah, King David, the prophet Habakkuk
or any other of the gallants that figure in the Scriptures.'"

"Silence, you scamp!" interrupted the Jewess with superstitious anxiety,
raising one hand to his lips to prevent him from continuing. "Seal your
lips, sinner!"

"Very well. I'll be silent, but it must be agreed that we'll settle this
one way or another. Do you believe it possible for any one to sever us
after such a serious love affair... and such a long one?"

"Such a long one!" repeated Luna like an echo, imparting a grave
expression to his words.

Aguirre, in his silence, seemed to be given over to a difficult mental
calculation.

"At least a month long!" he said at last, as if in wonder at the length
of time that had flown by.

"No, not a month," protested Luna. "More, much more!"

He resumed his meditation.

"Positively; more than a month. Thirty-eight days, counting today....
And seeing each other every day! And falling deeper and deeper in love
each day!..."

They walked along in silence, their gaze lowered, as if overwhelmed by
the great age of their love. Thirty-eight days!... Aguirre recalled a
letter that he had received the day before, bristling with surprise and
indignation. He had been in Gibraltar already two months without sailing
for Oceanica. What sort of illness was this? If he did not care to
assume his post, he ought to return to Madrid. The instability of his
present position and the necessity of solving this passion which little
by little had taken possession of him came to his thoughts with
agonizing urgency.

Luna strolled on, her eyes upon the ground, moving her fingers as if
counting.

"Yes, that's it. Thirty-eight.... Exactly! It seems impossible that you
could have loved me for so long. Me! An old woma