not have played the pedant as I did; the canon was to blame for it. Do
you know that that priest appears to me to be a singular character?"

"He is an excellent person!" responded Rosarito, showing the delight she
felt at being able to give her cousin all the data and the information
that he might require.

"Oh, yes! An excellent person. That is very evident!"

"When you know him a little better, you will see that."

"That he is beyond all price! But it is enough for him to be your friend
and your mamma's to be my friend also," declared the young man. "And
does he come here often?"

"Every day. He spends a great deal of his time with us," responded
Rosarito ingenuously. "How good and kind he is! And how fond he is of
me!"

"Come! I begin to like this gentleman."

"He comes in the evening, besides, to play tresillo," continued the
young girl; "for every night some friends meet here--the judge of the
lower court, the attorney-general, the dean, the bishop's secretary, the
alcalde, the collector of taxes, Don Inocencio's nephew----"

"Ah! Jacintito, the lawyer."

"Yes; he is a simple-hearted boy, as good as gold. His uncle adores him.
Since he returned from the university with his doctor's tassel--for he