Russell thought that his accent had a little smack of Irish about it, and wondered whether all Spaniards spoke English like that. "Ye'll excuse me," said the chief, "if I have to ax you a few throiflin interrogations for farrum's sake. I'll now begin. What is your name?" "Russell." "Russell--ah! What profession?" "A gentleman," said Russell, somewhat pompously. "A gintleman, eh; an' ye live on yer own money?" "Of course." "That's right," said the chief, with deep satisfaction. "It's meself that's the proud man this day to meet wid the loikes avyou that's got an indepindint fartune, an' can call his sowl his own. An' have yez been long in Spain, thin?" "No, only a couple of months." "Thravellin' for plisure, av coorse," insinuated the chief. "Yes; I wanted to take a run through the Continent," said Russell, in a grandiose way, as though the "Continent" was something belonging to him; "and I'm also bringing home with me a ward of mine--Miss Westlotorn." "Ah! an' so the young lady is a ward av yours? I thought she was your daughter." "No, she's my ward." "Is she rich?" "Well, sir, she's comfortable; she's worth about fifty thousand pounds sterling. Now I don't call that rich; I only call it comfortable." "An' what do yez call rich?" asked the chief, in a tender voice, full of affectionate interest. "Well, a couple of hundred thousand pounds or so. You see, when I was worth fifty thousand I thought I was somebody, but I soon learned how paltry an amount that is. No, sir; two hundred thousand pounds are necessary to make a rich man, and not a penny less, sir--not a penny, sir." "Thim's me own sintimints intirely," said the chief; "that shuits me, so it does. I saw by the cut av yez that ye must be a millionnaire at laste--so I did." "A millionnaire!" said Russell, with affected modesty. "Well, you know, in England that's a big word; but I suppose here in Spain, or anywhere on the Continent, I might be called one." "I suppose," said the chief, after a pause, "that ye've got an ixtinsive acquaintince wid the nobility an' gintry an' all thira fellers?" "Yes," said Russell, "I have; and not in England only, but throughout the Continent. Not that I think much of the Continental nobility. Between you and me, I think they're a beggarly lot." "Thrue for you," said the chief. "Thim's me own sintimints." "Why, sir," continued Russell, who evidently thought he was making a deep impression, and so went on all the more in his vainglorious boastings, "some of these here Continental nobility ain't worth a brass farthing. Why, sir, there's lots of respectable English merchants--tailors, for instance--and other quiet, unassuming gentlemen, who could buy out these Continental nobles, out and out, over and over again." "Divil a doubt av that same," said the chief. "Ye know how to ixpriss yourself wid very shuitable sintimints. I'd like to know more av you. I suppose ye've got a passport?"