Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/123

CH. VII.] I had contemplated or imagined. Don Simon had risen, and the interview was, now, renewed in the presence of the other sister. I was still in bed, and, being wide awake, could not help listening to the conversation, when I discovered that it was to the following purport.

Don Simon began by insisting on the folly of their wishing to be all alike: he had only brought with him enough for one; and oh, my wounded sensibility! this was not love, but a piece of scarlet pelisse cloth, which was very scarce in the country, but which, by dint of his influence in the line, together with the alacrity which he always manifested in doing a kindness, he had contrived to procure in fulfilment of a commission given to him by the elder young lady. The discussion, however, which ensued was not without its interest: the colour, quality, width, and quantity of the fabric which was to make their pelisses was discussed with an order and pertinacity which were