“What!  Are you her mother?”

“Yes; Nina, that horrible woman, is my daughter.”

“Really?  Everybody says you are her sister.”

“That is the horrible part of it, everybody is right.”

“Explain yourself”

“Yes, though it is to my shame.  She is my sister and my daughter, for she is the daughter of my father.”

“What! your father loved you?”

“I do not know whether the scoundrel loved me, but he treated me as his wife.  I was sixteen then.  She is the daughter of the crime, and God knows she is sufficient punishment for it.  My father died to escape her vengeance; may he also escape the vengeance of God.  I should have strangled her in her cradle, but maybe I shall strangle her yet.  If I do not, she will kill me.”

I remained dumb at the conclusion of this dreadful story, which bore all the marks of truth.

“Does Nina know that you are her mother?”

“Her own father told her the secret when she was twelve, after he had initiated her into the life she has been living ever since.  He would have made her a mother in her turn if he had not killed himself the same year, maybe to escape the gallows.”

“How did the Conte de Ricla fall in love with her?”

“It is a short story and a curious one.  Two years ago she came to Barcelona from Portugal, and was placed in one of the ballets for the sake of her pretty face, for as to talents she had none, and could only do the rebaltade (a sort of skip and pirouette) properly.

“The first evening she danced she was loudly applauded by the pit, for as she did the rebaltade she shewed her drawers up to her waist.  In Spain any actress who shews her drawers on the stage is liable to a fine of a crown.  Nina knew nothing about this, and, hearing the applause, treated the audience to another skip of the same kind, but at the end of the ballet she was told to pay two crowns for her immodesty.  Nina cursed and swore, but she had to give in.  What do you think she did to elude the law, and at the same time avenge herself?”

“Danced badly, perhaps.”

“She danced without any drawers at all, and did her rebdltade as before, which caused such an effervescence of high spirits in the house as had never been known at Barcelona.

“The Conte de Ricla had seen her from his box, and was divided between horror and admiration, and sent for the inspector to tell him that this impudent creature must be punished.

“‘In the mean time,’ said he, ‘bring her before me.’

“Presently Nina appeared in the viceroy’s box, and asked him, impudently, what he wanted with her.

“‘You are an immodest woman, and have failed in your duty to the public.’

“’What have I done?

“‘You performed the same skip as before.’

“’Yes, but I haven’t broken your law, for no one can have seen my drawers as I took the precaution not to put any on.  What more can I do for your cursed law, which has cost me two crowns already?  Just tell me.’