make the inquiry, when I learned that, for want of time to dress, she had availed herself of the custom of the country, which makes the _mantilla_ a species of _dishabille_ fit for an evening party. In the intervals of the dance we were sometimes treated with dramatic scenes, of which the dialogue is composed on the spot by the actors. This amusement is not uncommon in country-towns. It is known by the name of _juegos_--a word literally answering to _plays_. The actors are in the habit of performing together, and consequently do not find it difficult to go through their parts without much hesitation. Men in women’s clothes act the female characters. The truth is, that far from being surprised at the backwardness of the ladies to join actively in the amusement, the wit and humour of the _juegos_ is such, that one only wonders how any modest woman can be present at the performance. One night the dance was interrupted by the hoarse voice of our worthy friend Don Juan, who happened to be in the kitchen on a visit to a favourite jar of brandy. The ladies, though possessed of strong nerves, shewed evident symptoms of alarm; and we all hurried out of the room, anxious to ascertain the cause of the threatening tones we had heard. Upon our coming to the hall, we found the doughty hero standing at a window with a cocked gun in his hands, sending forth a volley of oaths, and protesting he would shoot the first man who approached his door. The assault, however, which he had thus gallantly repulsed, being now over, he soon became cool enough to inform us of the circumstances. Two or three individuals of the adverse party, who were taking their nightly rounds under the windows of their mistresses, hearing the revel at Rosa’s house, were tempted to interrupt it by just setting fire to the door of the entrance-hall. The house might, in a short time, have been in flames, but for the unquenchable thirst of the owner, which so seasonably drew him from the back to the front of the building.