"Senor, we should reflect upon our motives. It is salutary for our
conscience and is recommended (he crossed himself) by our Holy
Mother the Church. I have here certain letters from Paris on which
I would consult your young sagacity which is accredited to us by
the most loyal Dona Rita."
The sound of that name on his lips was simply odious. I was
convinced that this man of forms and ceremonies and fanatical
royalism was perfectly heartless. Perhaps he reflected on his
motives; but it seemed to me that his conscience could be nothing
else but a monstrous thing which very few actions could disturb
appreciably. Yet for the credit of Dona Rita I did not withhold
from him my young sagacity. What he thought of it I don't know,
The matters we discussed were not of course of high policy, though
from the point of view of the war in the south they were important
enough. We agreed on certain things to be done, and finally,
always out of regard for Dona Rita's credit, I put myself generally
at his disposition or of any Carlist agent he would appoint in his
place; for I did not suppose that he would remain very long in
Marseilles. He got out of the chair laboriously, like a sick child
might have done. The audience was over but he noticed my eyes
wandering to the portrait and he said in his measured, breathed-out
tones:
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