“How now, señor?” said he; “What mean you by this rudeness?”

“Ha! Is it you, Medina?” replied the newcomer, whom Lorenzo by his voice now recognized for Don Christoval; “You are the luckiest fellow in the universe, not to have left the church before my return. In, in! my dear lad! They will be here immediately!”

“Who will be here?”

“The old hen and all her pretty little chickens! In, I say, and then you shall know the whole history.”

Lorenzo followed him into the cathedral, and they concealed themselves behind the statue of St. Francis.

“And now,” said our hero, “may I take the liberty of asking, what is the meaning of all this haste and rapture?”