"It is more hilly than the northern provinces, the tones are more marked. I saw from the Lancian road, looking eastward, a group of mountains with the summits still covered with snow, which was truly beautiful. It only wants a few lakes, and foreigners would resort to it."
"We have a lake in the west of the province," said Peña.
"A lake?" queried the duke, as he raised his eyelids to look at the interlocutor.
Then the duke kept his glassy gaze fixed upon the officer until he grew confused, and after bringing each person at the table into the focus of that gaze, he continued:
"In my gallery at Bourges I have a landscape, by Backhuysen, with a background very similar to that of these mountains. Only in the foreground there is a lake surrounded with briers. On the right there are some swans swimming on the water, and on the left there is a boat with two young peasants. I bought it merely for the delicacy of the coloring."
"The señor duke seems to like good pictures," said Don Rufo, stretching his mouth from ear to ear to speak with a befitting smile.
"And who does not like them?" returned the magnate, looking at him with his squinting eyes.
"Oh, yes, señor--it is true--you are very right! Everybody likes them. But it is an expensive taste--only great people like the señor duke can allow themselves the luxury."
Don Rufo here became confused, thinking he had said something disrespectful.
"The señor duke has many pictures of the best painters from what I hear," said Don Rosendo, coming to his friend's assistance.
"I have a few," returned the nobleman, pouring some water into Venturita's glass. This act overwhelmed the girl with gratitude, and the blood rushed to her face.
"The duke's is one of the first galleries in Europe," said Cosio in a low voice to Peña.
"I like painting because it is the national art," continued the magnate. "It is the only one in which we have really advanced; it is the only one in which we distinguish ourselves in the present day--because, although I have spent a great deal of my life abroad, I am very fond of my country," he added in a patronizing tone, with a slight smile.
If the country could have heard those fine words it would doubtless, like Venturita, have trembled for joy.
