that the person whose presence and voice would make the strongest
impression on Rosarillo's delicate nervous system is the chosen of her
heart."

"In spite of all that," insisted Pepe, "I wish to see her."

"Perhaps Perfecta will not oppose your doing so," said the savant,
giving his attention to his notes and papers. "I don't want to take any
responsibility in the matter."

The engineer, seeing that he could obtain nothing from the good
Polentinos, rose to retire.

"You are going to work," he said, "and I will not trouble you any
longer."

"No, there is time enough. See the amount of precious information that
I collected to-day. Listen: 'In 1537 a native of Orbajosa, called
Bartolome del Hoyo, went to Civita-Vecchia in one of the galleys of
the Marquis of Castel Rodrigo.' Another: 'In the same year two brothers
named Juan and Rodrigo Gonzalez del Arco embarked in one of the six
ships which sailed from Maestricht on the 20th of February, and which
encountered in the latitude of Calais an English vessel and the Flemish
fleet commanded by Van Owen.' That was truly an important exploit of
our navy. I have discovered that it was an Orbajosan, one Mateo Diaz
Coronel, an ensign in the guards, who, in 1709, wrote and published
in Valencia the 'Metrical Encomium, Funeral Chant, Lyrical Eulogy,
Numerical Description, Glorious Sufferings, and Sorrowful Glories of the
Queen of the Angels.' I possess a most precious copy of this work, which
is worth the mines of Peru. Another Orbajosan was the author of that