years; you have set my blood on fire; you have put me beside myself.
God give me the calmness that I need to bear with you! Lord,
patience--patience is what I ask. And you, niece, do me the favor to
sigh and cry to your heart's content for the next ten years; for your
confounded mania of sniveling, greatly as it annoys me, is preferable
to these mad fits of rage. If I did not know that you are good at
heart----Well, for one who confessed and received communion this morning
you are behaving--"

"Yes, but you are the cause of it--you!"

"Because in the matter of Rosario and Jacinto I say to you,
resignation?"

"Because when every thing is going on well you turn back and allow Senor
de Rey to get possession of Rosario."

"And how am I going to prevent it? Dona Perfecta is right in saying that
you have an understanding of brick. Do you want me to go about the town
with a sword, and in the twinkling of an eye to make mincemeat of the
whole regiment, and then confront Rey and say to him, 'Leave the girl in
peace or I will cut your throat'?"

"No, but when I advised the senora to give her nephew a fright, you
opposed my advice, instead of supporting it."

"You are crazy with your talk about a fright."

"Because when the dog is dead the madness is at an end."