Those days were among the most pleasant that Manuel ever spent in his
whole life; the one thing that bothered him was hunger.
The weather was superb and in the mornings Manuel would go strolling
along the Retiro. The journalist whom they called Superman employed
Manuel in copying his notes and articles, and as compensation, no
doubt, let him take novels by Paul de Kock and Pigault-Lebrun, some of
them highly spiced, as for example _Nuns and Corsairs_ and
_That Rascal Gustave_.
The love theories of these two writers convinced Manuel so well that
he tried to put them into practise with the landlady's niece. During
the previous two years she had developed so fully that she was already
a woman.
One night, during the early hour after supper, either through the
influence of the spring season or in obedience to the theories of the
author of _Nuns and Corsairs_, Manuel persuaded the landlady's
girl of the advantages of a very private consultation, and a neighbour
saw the two of them depart together upstairs and enter the garret.
As they were about to shut themselves in, the neighbour surprised them
and brought them, deeply contrite, into the presence of Dona Casiana.
The thrashing that the landlady administered to her niece deprived the
girl of all desire for new adventures and the aunt of any strength to
administer another to Manuel.
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