''No, no! I thought it might be as well to take down the new
curtains--the blood might spoil them.'

'Need I say I terminated my interview with my hostess, more impressed
with admiration of her business qualities than of her sympathetic
virtues? But let me do the poor woman justice; life is held so cheap,
and the knife acts so large a part in Mexico, that violence and sudden
death produce a mere transient effect.


IX.

'Instead of going to my own apartments, I went direct to Mr.
Livermore's, intending thus to show him that I wished no longer to be
looked upon as the man in the next room.

''We were dying with anxiety to see you,' he said, as I entered; 'walk
into the other room, you will find Adéle there.'

''Well, Mr. Rideau,' said she, with intense anxiety visible on her
countenance, 'what passed between those two men?'

''Little of importance. Pedro offered Pepito four hundred dollars if he
would divulge the particulars of his journey; to which offer Pepito has
acceded. That is about all.'

'I was far from anticipating the effect my answer would produce on my
hearers. They were overwhelmed--thunderstruck. Adéle was the first to
recover.