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It was already the beginning of autumn; Leandro, on the advice of Senor Ignacio, was living with his aunt on Aguila street; Milagros continued keeping company with Lechuguino. Manuel gave up going with Vidal and Bizco on their skirmishes and joined the company of Rebolledo and the two Aristas.
Seated at the tables was a motley crowd, speaking at the top of their voices, clapping their hands and laughing. They had to wait a long while before a waiter brought them their beer; Milagros ordered an ice, and as there were none, she would have nothing.
In former years he had accompanied Milagros to the nocturnal fair of San Antonio and to those of the Prado; he had danced with her, treated her to buns, presented her with a pot of sweet basil; but this summer the proof-reader's family seemed very much determined upon keeping Milagros away from Leandro.
"I was here, reading the paper," said the old-clothes man, "and Milagros and her mother were talking to Lechuguino. The engaged couple were enjoying themselves, when up comes Leandro to the gallery; he was about to open the door to his rooms when, before he went in, he suddenly turned to Milagros. 'Is that your sweetheart? he said to her. It seemed to me that he was as pale as a corpse.
"I went in and said to her, nice enough, 'Listen Milagros, is it true that you're going to marry Lechuguino? 'Yes, it is true. Is it any business of yours? she says. 'Yes, it is, I said to her. 'You know that I like you.
Manuel was about to leave after supper, when he heard Leandro call him several times. "What do you want?" "Come on, let's be going." Manuel ran out to the balcony; Milagros and her mother, from their door, were heaping insults upon Leandro. "Outcast! Blackguard!" the proof-reader's wife was shouting. "If her father were here you wouldn't talk like that."
In the lot next to the entrance, where the dancing was going on, couples resting between numbers strolled around in leisurely fashion. Milagros and her two friends, arms linked, came by in jovial mood, followed closely by three men.
Encarna's bosom was consumed with the fires of passion for Leandro; but that ingrate, enamoured of Milagros, was unscathed by the soul-flames of the second-hand dealer's daughter.
The three girls approached them, and Lechuguino invited Milagros to dance. Leandro glanced in anguish at his sweetheart; she, however, whirled off heedlessly. The band was playing the pas double from the Drummer of the Grenadiers.
And thus it came about; before a month had passed, everybody in the house knew that Milagros and Lechuguino were keeping company, that he had given up the gay life in the dives of the city and was considering the continuation of his father's business, the sale of construction material; he was going to settle down and lead the life of a respectable member of the community.
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