Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/160

82 "'You're a fool,' she rejoined, 'a simpleton, a regular payllo. You're just like the dwarf who thinks himself tall because he can spit a long way. You don't love me! Be off with you!'

"Whenever she said to me 'Be off with you,' I couldn't go away. I promised I would start back to my comrades and wait the arrival of the Englishman. She, on her side, promised me she would be ill until she left Gibraltar for Ronda.

"I remained at Gibraltar two days longer. She had the boldness to disguise herself and come and see me at the inn. I departed, I had a plan of my own. I went back to our meeting-place with the information as to the spot and the hour at which the Englishman and Carmen were to pass by. I found El Dancaïre and Garcia waiting for me. We spent the night in a wood, beside a fire made of pine-cones that blazed splendidly. I suggested to Garcia that we should play cards, and he agreed. In the second game I told him he was cheating; he began to laugh; I threw the cards in his face. He tried to get at his blunderbuss. I set my foot on it, and said, 'They say you can use a knife as well as the best ruffian in Malaga; will you try it with me?' El Dancaïre tried to part