Poor Camilla understood what I meant.  It is a costly matter to satisfy the Spanish police.  She gave me the ring, and then, with a sigh, she opened a casket and handed the sergeant everything it contained—­a necklace of beautiful pearls, a pair of fine earrings, and some other jewels.

“Isn’t this better than calling in the police?” said the sergeant when we had left the house.  “There are the jewels.  Two hundred ducats’ worth, I’ll be bound!”

No doubt, dear reader, you have seen through this little plot.  The supposed sergeant was my old friend, Fabrice, and his five men were five young barbers of his acquaintance.  They quickly changed their clothes, and we all went to an inn and spent a merry evening together.

II.—­In Male Attire

A few days afterwards I took up the plan which I had formed at Burgos, and bravely set out for Madrid in the hope of making my fortune there.  But my money did not last long, for on reaching the capital I fell in with a wild company of fashionable actors and actresses.

As my purse grew lighter my conscience became tenderer, and at length I humbly accepted the position of lackey in the house of a rich old nobleman, Don Vincent de Guzman.  He was a widower, with an only child, Aurora—­a lovely, gay, and accomplished girl of twenty-six years of age.

I had hardly been with him a month when he died, leaving his daughter mistress of all his wealth, and free to do what she liked with it.  To my surprise, Aurora then began to distinguish me from all the other servants.  I could see by the way she looked at me that there was something about me that attracted her.  Great ladies, I knew, sometimes fall in love with their lackeys, and one evening my hopes were raised to the highest pitch; for Aurora’s maid then whispered to me that somebody would like to talk to me alone at midnight in the garden.  Full of wild impatience, I arrived at the spot two hours before the time.  Oh, those two hours!  They seemed two eternities.

At midnight Aurora appeared, and I threw myself at her feet, exclaiming, “Oh, my dear lady!  Even in my wildest dreams of love I never thought of such happiness as this!”

“Don’t talk so loud!” said Aurora, stepping back and laughing.  “You will rouse all the household.  So you thought I was in love with you?  My dear boy, I am in love with somebody else.  Knowing how clever and ingenious you are, I want you to come at once with me to Salamanca and help me to win my love.”

Naturally, I was much disconcerted by this strange turn of affairs.  However, I managed to recover myself and listen to my mistress.  She had fallen in love with a gallant young nobleman, Don Luis Pacheco, who was unaware of the passion he inspired.  He was going the next day to Salamanca to study at the university, and Aurora had resolved to go there also, dressed as a young nobleman, and make his acquaintance.  She had fallen in love with him at sight, and had never found an opportunity to speak to him.