"Well, my leetle brother, some day that is
fair--who knows?--it may be at your disposicion; not of our politeness,
but of a truth, friend Pancho. For, if I leave it to my wife"--it was
the first time he had spoken of her--"for my leetle child," he added
quickly, "I shall put in a bond, an obligacion, that my friend Pancho
shall come and go as he will."
"The Saltillos are a long-lived race," I laughed. "I shall be a
gray-haired man, with a house and family of my own by that time." But I
did not like the way he had spoken.
"Quien sabe?" he only said, dismissing the question with the national
gesture. After a moment he added: "I shall tell you something that is
strrange, so strrange that you shall say, like the banker say, 'Thees
Enriquez, he ees off his head; he ees a crank, a lunatico;' but it ees a
FACT; believe me, I have said!"
He rose, and, going to the end of the room, opened a door. It showed
a pretty little room, femininely arranged in Mrs. Saltillo's refined
taste. "Eet is pretty; eet is the room of my wife. Bueno! attend me
now." He closed the door, and walked back to the table.
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