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Amparito, with the old nurse, was praying before a lighted image. When he got up, Caesar found a lot of letters and notices from his followers all over the district, giving him pointers. With the help of a manservant who used to go about with him, he himself got the motor ready and prepared to visit the polls. As he got into the car, the youngster of the night before appeared with a letter.
Caesar could not permit a young girl to make fun of him and combat his ideas for her own amusement. "Let's see, Moneada," Amparito said to him one day in the gallery at Don Calixto's. "What are your political plans?" "You wouldn't understand them," replied Caesar. "Why not? Do you think I am so stupid?" "No. It is merely that politics are not a matter for children." "Ah!
"This one is for you," to the mayor's son; "this one for you," and she gave Alzugaray a yellow one; "this one for you," and she gave Caesar a red one; "and this one for me," and she put a similar flower in her bosom. "And the rest of us?" asked Don Calixto. "I don't give you chrysanthemums, because your wives would be jealous," replied Amparito.
He had always felt a great repugnance for that sharpers' and skinflints' business; but he yielded to please Amparito, and set up his office and took an assistant who was very skillful in legal tricks. Caesar was often to be found writing in the office, when Amparito opened the door. "Do you want to come here a moment?" she would say. "Yes. What is it?" "Look and see how this hat suits me.
Caesar used to reply to these invitations with a courteous refusal. Amparito, who was doubtless accustomed to seeing everybody in town fluttering about her, was wounded at this indifference and took every chance to see Caesar, and then shot her wit at him and was sharply impertinent. The young creature was more intelligent than she had at first appeared and she spoke very plainly.
"You are an extremist, for I can assure you that you were actually rude to her." "Actually rude, I don't think; but I admit that I was cool and not very amiable." "And why were you?" "First, because it is politic of me, since Don Calixto's family do not care for Amparito; and secondly, because the little creature didn't please me, either." "And why didn't she please you? For no reason at all?"
Amparito gave him her hand, and Caesar kissed it. The old servant was dumfounded. Amparito burst out laughing. "He is my beau. Hadn't you noticed it before?" "No," said the old woman with a gesture of violent negation. Amparito laughed again and disappeared. The first days of his engagement Caesar was constantly in-tranquil and uneasy.
Amparito took the glass, wet her lips in it, and looked at Alzugaray maliciously. After eating and having coffee, as the two married ladies and the girls were inert from so long a meal, they arose, and Alzugaray, the mayor's son, and Amparito's father followed them. Don Calixto, the judge, and Caesar remained at table. The priest had gone to sleep.
"I?" exclaimed Caesar. "Yes, you do hate me." "I! I have never hated you.... Quite the contrary." "Whenever you see me you get away, and just now you looked at me as if you were terrified. Have you such a grudge against me for a joke I played on you long ago?" "I, a grudge! No. It is because I have the impression, Amparito, that you want to upset my plans, to make game of me. Why do you?"
On saying this, Amparito burst into tears, and she had to lean against the gallery window, to hide her face and dissemble her emotion. Caesar took her hand, and as she did not turn her head, he seized her other, too. She looked at him with her eyes shining and full of tears; and in that look there was so much attachment, so much distress, that Caesar felt a weakness in his whole frame.
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