you won't hear much, for I am a man of honor, and bound not to speak; besides, I received a hundred dollars to keep mum.'
'Pedro for a moment appeared to be in a brown study; at last, gazing hard at his friend, he said:
''Would two hundred tempt you to speak?'
''If such a proposition were to come from a stranger, I might, perchance, accept it; but seeing it comes from you—never.'
''Why?'
''Because, when you offer me two hundred dollars for any thing, it must be worth far more than you offer.'
''Well, now, admit, just as a supposition, that I am interested in this matter, what harm will it do you, if we both turn an honest penny?'
''That is just the point; but I don't want you to turn ten pennies to my one.'
''Your scruples, my dear Pepito, display a cautious temperament, and evince deep acquaintance with human nature; you see through my little veil of mystery, and I own your sagacity; now I will be honest with you—with a man like you, lying is mere folly. It is true, I am to have four hundred dollars if I can find out where you have been. I swear to you by the holy Virgin of Guadalupe, I am making a clean breast of it. Now, will you take that amount? Say the word, and I will go and fetch it right away.'
'This proposition seemed to embarrass the scrupulous Pepito extremely, and he remained some time lost in thought.
''But, if you only receive four hundred, and give me four hundred, what the deuce will you make out of such an operation?'
''Trust entirely to your generosity.'
''What! leave me to do what I like! I take you up—by Jupiter! Pedro, that is a noble trait in your character—I take you up.'
''Then it is a bargain. Will you wait here for me, or would you prefer to meet me at our usual Monte in the Calle de los Meradores?'
''I prefer the Monte.'
''You will swear on the cross, to relate fully and truly every particular relating to your journey?'
''Of course—every thing.'
''I will be there in a couple of hours.'
'After his friend's departure, Pepito sat silent; his brow was knit, and yet a mocking sneer played around his lips; he seemed to be pursuing two trains of thought at once; suspicion and merriment were clearly working in his mind.
''This is a droll affair, Caballero; I can't clearly see the bottom of it'
''There is nothing very unusual in it that I see,' I replied, 'for every day men sacrifice honor for gold.'
''True, nothing more common, and yet this proposition beats all I ever met with.'
''In what respect?'
''Why, the interest that these folks who employ Pedro, take in this journey that I undertook for your friend, Señor Pride.'
''But, if this journey has some valuable secret object in view?'
''Valuable secret!' repeated Pepito, bursting into a fit of laughter; 'Yes, a valuable secret indeed! Oh! the joke of offering four hundred dollars for what, 'twixt you and me, is not worth a cent. But who can it be that is behind Pedro, in this matter? He must be some rival doctor, or else a naturalist, on the same scent.'
''Is Señor Pride,' I inquired, 'a doctor—are you sure of that?'
''Yes—he must be—but I don't know,' exclaimed Pepito; 'I am at my wits' end. If he is not, I have been working in the dark, and he has deceived me with a false pretext; I am at a loss—dead beat. But one thing is plain—I can make four hundred dollars, if I like.'
''And will you betray your employer?' said I indignantly.
''Time enough—never decide rashly, Caballero; I shall deliberate—nothing like sleeping on important affairs; to-morrow—who knows what to-morrow may bring forth?'
'So saying, Pepito arose, took his traveling sword under his arm, placed his hat jauntily on his head, cast an admiring eye at the looking-glass, and then brushed off some of the dust that still clung to his left sleeve.
''The smile of Heaven abide with you, Señor,' said he, with a most graceful bow. 'As for your friend's secret, do not be uneasy about it; I am not going to meet Pedro to-night. I shall take advantage of his absence to make a call on my lady-love. Pedro is a good fellow, but shockingly self-conceited; he fancies himself far smarter than I—perhaps he is—but somehow I fancy, this time he must be early if he catches me asleep.'
'On his departure, I paid the bill, which both my friends had overlooked, then walked out and seated myself on the Alameda, which at that hour was thronged with promenaders. Isolated, buried in thought, in the midst of that teeming throng, the various episodes in the drama of which my mysterious neighbor was the principal character, passed before my mind. I again and again reviewed the strange events which, by some freak of fortune, I had been a witness to. What was the basis on which my friend, with two sets of names, founded his dream of inexhaustible wealth, this mission he had intrusted to Pepito? What the mission which the agent laughed at, and which to gain a clue to, others were tempting him with glittering bribes? And again, why the deceit practiced on Pepito, by assuming the guise of a doctor? Each of these facts was a text on which I piled a mountain of speculation.
'Vexed and annoyed at finding myself becoming entangled in this web of mystery, as well as piqued at my failure to unravel it, I determined to avoid all further connection with any of the actors; and full of this resolve, I wended my way homeward, to have a final and decisive interview with Mr. Livermore.
'The worthy Donna Teresa Lopez confronted me as I entered the inner door:
''Plenty of news, is there not?' she asked; 'I heard a good deal of squabbling, last night; that man in the cloak was noisy.'
''Yes; they had an interesting discussion.'
''You can not make me believe that was all. Discussion, indeed! When there is a pretty woman in the case, and two men talk as loudly as they did, it generally ends in a serious kind of discussion. 'When love stirs the fire, anger makes the blood boil.' Tell me, now, will they fight here, in the Señor Pride's room?'
'This question, which Donna Teresa put in the most matter-of-fact sort of way, staggered me considerably, and confirmed me in the resolution to avoid the whole business.
''I sincerely trust, Señora, that such an event is not probable. On what do you base your supposition?'
''There is nothing so very astounding in rivals fighting; but it is all the same to me. I only asked that I might take precautions.'
''Precautions! what, inform the police?'
''No, no! I thought it might be as well to take down the new curtains—the blood might spoil them.'
'Need I say I terminated my interview with my hostess, more impressed with admiration of her business qualities than of her sympathetic virtues? But let me do the poor woman justice; life is held so cheap, and the knife acts so large a part in Mexico, that violence and sudden death produce a mere transient effect.
IX
'Instead of going to my
