"Yes, _Linda mia_, I will," replied the murderer, carrying his hand to his eyes, and trying to give his voice a pathetic tone. "I have as feeling a heart as you; and had not this d--d Panchito been always thwarting me, I should not have been here, I swear; but keep up your spirits, _preciosita de mi alma_."
A piece of money which the sporting character threw to the prisoner cut short his eloquent speech; the soldiers surrounded him, and they resumed their march to the prison. The procession soon disappeared round a corner of the _Ayuntamiento_, while some women, with a delicacy peculiar to Mexican females, surrounded the young _China_, but were unable to persuade her to go home. In a short time, in spite of all their entreaties, I saw her walk to the prison, seat herself at the foot of its dark wall, and, veiling her face with her rebozo, remain there immovable. My friend of the bull-fights was lost in the crowd, and I had now a fitting opportunity for consulting the evangelist. I stepped up to the old man, and tapped him gently on the shoulder.
"Can you tell me," said I, "where the licentiate Don Tadeo Cristobal lives?"
"Don Tadeo Cristobal, do you say? He was here a minute ago."
"Did you not see how obligingly he caused a message to be delivered to the bandit Pepito Rechifla, that one of the prettiest _Chinas_ in Mexico dictated to me?"
"What! was that man in the _sombrero_ and red cloak Don Tadeo the licentiate?"
"I do not know; for, to say the truth, he has no settled abode, but lives a little every where. If, however, you wish to consult him on urgent business, go this very evening, between the hours of nine and twelve o'clock, to the _Callejon del Arco_ (blind alley of the arcade); you are sure to find him in the last house on the right as you pass the square."
I thanked the scribe, and, after giving him a few reals for his trouble, directed my steps to the Callejon del Arco. Although it was scarcely seven o'clock in the evening, I went to try to find out, before nightfall, the house which I intended to visit two hours afterward. Experience had taught me that such precautions were not useless in Mexico; besides, the Callejon del Arco had long been notorious as one of the most dangerous places in the Mexican capital.