“I shall get two sets of rooms in different parts of the town,” she said to me.  “In one I shall live as Aurora de Guzman, with my maid, who must play the part of an aunt.  In the other, I shall be Don Felix de Mendoc, a gallant cavalier, and you must be my valet.”

We set off for Salamanca at daybreak, and arrived before Don Luis.  Aurora took a furnished mansion in the fashionable quarter, and I called at the principal inns, and found the one where Don Luis had arranged to stay, Aurora then hid her pretty brown tresses under a wig, and put on a dashing cavalier’s costume, and came and engaged a room at the place where her lover was.

“So you have come to study at the university, sir?” said the innkeeper.  “How lucky!  Another gallant young nobleman has just taken a room here for the same purpose.  You will be able to dine together and entertain one another.”

He introduced his two guests, and they quickly became fast friends.

“Do you know, Don Felix, you’re uncommonly good-looking,” said Don Luis, as they sat talking over the wine.  “Between us we shall set on fire the hearts of the pretty girls of Salamanca.”

“There’s really a lovely girl staying in the town,” said my mistress.  “She’s a cousin of mine, Aurora de Guzman.  We are said to resemble each other in a remarkable way.”

“Then she must be a beautiful creature,” said Don Luis, “for you have fine, regular features and an admirable colour.  When can I see this paragon?”

“This afternoon, if you like,” said my mistress.

They went together to the mansion, where the maid received them, dressed as an elderly noblewoman.

“I’m very sorry, Don Felix,” said the maid, “but my niece has a bad headache, and she has gone to lie down.”

“Very well,” said the pretended cousin.  “I will just introduce my friend, Don Luis, to you.  Tell Aurora we will call to-morrow morning.”

Don Luis was much interested in the lovely girl whom he had not been able to see.  He talked about her to his companion late into the night.  The next day, as they were about to set out to visit her, I rushed in, as arranged, with a note for my mistress.

“What a nuisance!” she said.  “Here is some urgent business I must at once attend to.  Don Luis, just run round and tell my cousin that I cannot come until this afternoon!”

Don Luis retired to put some final touches to his dress, and my mistress hurried off with me to her mansion, and there, with the help of her maid, she quickly got into her proper clothes.  She received Don Luis very kindly, and they talked together for quite two hours.  Don Luis then went away, and Aurora slipped into her cavalier’s costume and met him at the inn.

“My dear Felix,” said Don Luis, “your cousin is an adorable lady.  I’m madly in love with her.  If I can only win her, I’ll marry and settle down on my estates.”

Aurora gazed at him very tenderly, and then, with a gay laugh, she shook off her wig and let her curls fall about her shoulders.