As day after day went by, Enrique, constantly visiting at the "dairy," enduring the _freshnesses_, the pushing, and occasionally even the slaps of this gentlest of _chulas_, when he went beyond the bounds of reason, spent his time very pleasantly in the toils of his love.
At first he had a few unpleasant encounters with the brute of a father; but afterwards they became great friends as soon as the dairyman discovered that the señorito knew a thing or two about bulls, that he had himself taken part in bull-fights, and was a great friend of the most famous _espadas_, to whom the plebeians of Madrid offer fervid worship.
When he came into the shop drunk, Enrique would take his hat and go, and the other was not in the least offended at him for it; in this way he avoided any collision with him. He spent not less than two hours every afternoon talking with Manolita; in the evening, after the shop was closed, he escorted her to the cafés to collect for the milk that they had used during the day; he would wait for her at the door while she settled her accounts with the proprietor.
As the _chula_ had her suitors, and they belonged to the "common people," and were jealous of a señorito paying attentions to her, our lieutenant was sometimes threatened, and even attacked; but we know that in his character of _bulldog_, he was most fierce and obstinate; he could defend himself so well with his iron cane, which he always took with him, that Manolita was perfectly tranquil about him, though she would bravely come to his aid and give his aggressors a few raps, as destructive as they were well directed.
What were Enrique's intentions when he first began this flirtation? They could not have been more perverse and insidious: he expected to ruin the _chula_ and afterwards back out of it, but after he had known her a month Manolita had him a prisoner at her feet, as tame and obedient as a mountebank's dog, and this (let us say it to his credit, since we have said unkind things of him) because he had a noble heart and felt sorry for the poor girl's fate, so sorry, indeed, that he made up his mind to marry her.
He spent several days pondering over this resolution, and then took courage to open his heart to his mother.