“I esteem myself happy,” said he, “in having had it in my power to render you this little service; and I shall think myself eternally obliged to my daughter for detaining me so late at the convent of St. Clare. The high esteem in which I have ever held the Marquis de las Cisternas, though accident has not permitted our being so intimate as I could wish, makes me rejoice in the opportunity of making his son’s acquaintance. I am certain that my brother in whose house you now are, will lament his not being at Madrid to receive you himself: but in the duke’s absence I am master of the family, and may assure you in his name, that everything in the Hotel de Medina is perfectly at your disposal.”