all be referred to chance coincidences of dates and events; and, finally,
that the poor old creature could also have been crazy, or a thief, or a
beggar, or a procuress--as the hero of my story said to himself in a lucid
interval."

"A very proper supposition," exclaimed Gabriel's comrades; "that is just
what we were going to say."

"Well, listen a few minutes longer, and you will see that I was mistaken
at the time, as you are mistaken now. The one who unfortunately made no
mistake was Telesforo. It is much easier to speak the word 'insanity' than
to find an explanation for some things that happen on the earth."

"Speak, speak!"

"I am going to; and this time, as it is the last, I will pick up the
thread of my story without first drinking a glass of wine."


VI.

"A few days after that conversation with Telesforo I was sent to the
province of Albacete in my capacity as engineer of the mountain corps.
Not many weeks had passed before I learned, from a contractor for public
works, that my unhappy friend had been attacked by a dreadful form of
jaundice; it had turned him entirely green, and he reclined in an
arm-chair without working or wishing to see anybody, weeping night and day
in the most inconsolable and bitter grief. The doctors had given up hope
of his getting well.