a magic ring, the possession of which was very important to her. We had
a violent quarrel, and I struck her. She turned pale and began to cry.
It was the first time I had ever seen her cry, and it affected me in the
most painful manner. I begged her to forgive me, but she sulked with me
for a whole day, and when I started back to Montilla she wouldn't kiss
me. My heart was still very sore, when, three days later, she joined me
with a smiling face and as merry as a lark. Everything was forgotten,
and we were like a pair of honeymoon lovers. Just as we were parting she
said, 'There's a _fete_ at Cordova; I shall go and see it, and then I
shall know what people will be coming away with money, and I can warn
you.'

"I let her go. When I was alone I thought about the _fete_, and about
the change in Carmen's temper. 'She must have avenged herself already,'
said I to myself, 'since she was the first to make our quarrel up.' A
peasant told me there was to be bull-fighting at Cordova. Then my blood
began to boil, and I went off like a madman straight to the bull-ring. I
had Lucas pointed out to me, and on the bench, just beside the barrier,
I recognised Carmen. One glance at her was enough to turn my suspicion
into certainty. When the first bull appeared Lucas began, as I had
expected to play the agreeable; he snatched the cockade off the bull and
presented it to Carmen, who put it in her hair at once.*

* _La divisa_. A knot of ribbon, the colour of which
indicates the pasturage from which each bull comes. This
knot of ribbon is fastened into the bull's hide with a sort
of hook, and it is considered the very height of gallantry
to snatch it off the living beast and present it to a woman.

"The bull avenged me. Lucas was knocked down, with his horse on his