'Fully sufficient. To meet
Luis once is to meet him forever. He is always the same. But some
others--not so. You have been shipwrecked, yes? You lost everything?
Ah-h, that is most hard luck, but do not despair. I, too, was a
sailor--one time. One time only, gracias a Dios! My ancestors, I think,
were of the land entirely. The sea-sickness--pir-r-h--no, no, not for
me. But do not mind. But pardon, senor'--he turned to Ferrero--'attend
to me, Ferrero. I am grieved to-day. It is the senora again. What
matters it whether a man is a muletero, gaucho, toreador, or what?
Torellas, now, has been all--so have I, her brother-in-law--or a seller
of hats or a member of the cabinet? What, I ask you'--he turned to
Cogan--'are we senor? We are men or we are not? So? Very well, let us
say no more, but find a cafe and have our coffee. It has been very dusty
to-day--very.'
"Two cups of coffee, and Juan was talking to Cogan like a brother. And
he could talk like a highspeed dynamo. 'A man--can he be no greater than
a man, I ask you, sir? Luis, he will be glad to see you, if you came in
rags--no matter--he is always the same, always. But the senora--pir-r-h.
That is it--you have it--Proud! A good woman, mind'--Juan leaned over
and tapped Cogan's arm to let him know there must be no mistake on that
point--'the best of women, but'--he sighed--'Luis, he is from home six
months in the year, and she it is who has the training of Valera.
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