"When I asked the caballero for it, he said it was useless, as you would not know it; but if you wished to learn it, he would himself tell it to your excellency."
"What a strange person," the general muttered to himself; "very good," he then added aloud, "lead the gentleman to the small mirror room, and I will be with him immediately."
"Who can the man be, and what is the important matter he has to tell me?" the general muttered, as he was alone. "Hum, probably some poor devil mixed up in our conspiracy, who wants a little money. Well, he had better be careful, for I am not the man to be plundered with impunity, and so he will find out, if his communication is not serious."
And, throwing on to a chair the plumed hat he held in his hand, he proceeded to the mirror room.
The mirror room was an immense apartment, only separated from the covered gallery by two anterooms. It was furnished with princely luxury, and it was here that the general gave those sumptuous _tertulias,_ which are still talked about in the highest Mexican circles, although so many years have elapsed.
This room, merely lighted by two lamps, standing on a console, was at this moment plunged into a semi-obscurity, when compared with the other apartments in the mansion, which were full of light.
A gentleman, dressed in full black, and with the red ribbon of the Legion of Honour carelessly knotted in a buttonhole of his coat, was leaning his elbow on the console where the lamps stood, and seemed so lost in thought, that, when the general entered the room, the sound of his steps, half subdued by the petates, did not reach the visitor's ears, and he did not turn to receive him.
Don Sebastian, after closing the door behind him, walked towards his visitor, attempting to recognize him, which, however, the stranger's position rendered temporarily impossible. It was not till he came almost near enough to touch him that the stranger, at length warned of the general's presence, raised his head; in spite of all the command Don Sebastian had over himself, he started and fell back a couple of yards on recognizing him.
"Don Valentine!" he said, in a stifled voice, "you here?"
"Myself, general," he replied, with an almost imperceptible smile and a profound bow; "did you not expect a visit from me?"