'So saying, Pepito arose, took his traveling sword under his arm, placed
his hat jauntily on his head, cast an admiring eye at the looking-glass,
and then brushed off some of the dust that still clung to his left
sleeve.

''The smile of Heaven abide with you, Señor,' said he, with a most
graceful bow. 'As for your friend's secret, do not be uneasy about it; I
am not going to meet Pedro to-night. I shall take advantage of his
absence to make a call on my lady-love. Pedro is a good fellow, but
shockingly self-conceited; he fancies himself far smarter than
I--perhaps he is--but somehow I fancy, this time he must be early if he
catches me asleep.'

'On his departure, I paid the bill, which both my friends had
overlooked, then walked out and seated myself on the Alameda, which at
that hour was thronged with promenaders. Isolated, buried in thought, in
the midst of that teeming throng, the various episodes in the drama of
which my mysterious neighbor was the principal character, passed before
my mind. I again and again reviewed the strange events which, by some
freak of fortune, I had been a witness to. What was the basis on which
my friend, with two sets of names, founded his dream of inexhaustible
wealth, this mission he had intrusted to Pepito? What the mission which
the agent laughed at, and which to gain a clue to, others were tempting
him with glittering bribes? And again, why the deceit practiced on
Pepito, by assuming the guise of a doctor? Each of these facts was a
text on which I piled a mountain of speculation.

'Vexed and annoyed at finding myself becoming entangled in this web of
mystery, as well as piqued at my failure to unravel it, I determined to