"Look you, Carlos," said Doña Josefina, interrupting him, "I had a plan for that Asneiros which would have suited us all very well. Every Wednesday I have two visitors, Dolores and Magdalen Miranda. They come to see each other, and are great friends. You have met them here on Wednesdays. Who you came to see you have never told me, but I am not one to whom it is necessary to tell things. I asked Asneiros to come that he might meet Magdalen, but when you are not there to make Dolores talk to you this gentleman can talk only to her, and for the Inglesita he has not one glance. Then when Marcelino can manage it, he comes always for at least one hour on Wednesdays, and has neither eyes nor words for anyone but for Magdalen. These Wednesdays, which were to me a pleasure, are now the bane of my life, everything goes contrary, and I counted that by going out with Constancia I should put an end to them." "You intended Magdalen for this Spaniard?" "Precisely so, and she thinks nothing of him, and watches the door with all her eyes till Marcelino comes. That Marcelino should amuse himself with her is well enough, so long as it pass not amusement. Young men are not all like you, Carlos; they must have amusement, and with each new face they see they think they are in love. I wanted Elisa to come also on Wednesdays, and she came in the winter, but after Marcelino came back from Brazil she comes only in the evenings. That is all through Magdalen, the insignificant little creature; I begin to lose patience with her." "Magdalen is a great deal too good for Asneiros," said Evaña. "What an idea! Even he is good enough for that snub-nosed little thing. Think you what is her father? A miserable, without soul. And what has he? Just enough live to on. Not even presentable would Magdalen be but that we had befriended her." "Possibly not, Señora; you have been very kind to her. But do not afflict yourself, let affairs arrange themselves. For Dolores there is not the slightest fear. She is kind to Asneiros, for he rings praises of Marcelino in her ear, and that is always music to Dolores, but more there is nothing." "Ah! Carlos! with what confidence you speak," said Doña Josefina, with a toss of her head, and smiling. "Let us leave that, Señora. What matters to us at present is that you keep, and increase if you can, your influence over Asneiros. How to do it you know much better than I can tell you." "Do you want me to make love to him on my own account?" asked the lady, with a supplicating glance. "Far be it from me to indicate the 'how.' One thing only I ask of you to promise me, which is that you do not leave the city at present." "And when then will your lordship give me permission to go?" "When we have tried our strength with the Spaniards, and have beaten them." "Let it be so. I give you my promise." "And the Patria will some day thank you, and know you as one of her most faithful children," replied Evaña, rising from his chair.