"'I'll manage it all alone,' I answered. 'I can snap my fingers at the
whole world now.'

"We buried Garcia, and we moved our camp two hundred paces farther on.
The next morning Carmen and her Englishman came along with two muleteers
and a servant. I said to _El Dancaire_:

"'I'll look after the Englishman, you frighten the others--they're not
armed!'

"The Englishman was a plucky fellow. He'd have killed me if Carmen
hadn't jogged his elbow.

"To put it shortly, I won Carmen back that day, and my first words were
to tell her she was a widow.

"When she knew how it had all happened--

"'You'll always be a _lillipendi_,' she said. 'Garcia ought to have
killed you. Your Navarrese guard is a pack of nonsense, and he has sent
far more skilful men than you into the darkness. It was just that his
time had come--and yours will come too.'

"'Ay, and yours too!--if you're not a faithful _romi_ to me.'

"'So be it,' said she. 'I've read in the coffee grounds, more than once,
that you and I were to end our lives together. Pshaw! what must be, will
be!' and she rattled her castanets, as was her way when she wanted to
drive away some worrying thought.