"
"No. The one I was looking for is dead."
"Then your case is all cleared up?"
"Yes. But I need money. Don Telmo was ready to lend me ten thousand
duros on condition that I'd give him half of the fortune as soon as I
entered into possession of it, if I won. But I refused."
"How foolish."
"What's more, he wants me to marry his niece."
"And you didn't want to?"
"No."
"But she's pretty."
"Yes. But she's not to my taste."
"What? Are you still thinking of the Baroness's daughter?"
"How could I forget her! I've seen her. She is exquisite."
"Yes. She's certainly good-looking."
"Only good-looking! Don't blaspheme. The moment I saw her, my mind was
made up. It's sink or swim for me."
"You run the risk of being left with nothing."
"I know that. I don't care. All or nothing. The Hastings have always
been men of will and resolution. And I'm inspired by the example of
one of my relatives. It's an invigorating case of pertinacity. You'll
see."
"My uncle, the brother of my grandfather, was employed in a London
business house and learned, through a sailor, that a chest filled with
silver had been dug up on one of the islands in the Pacific; it was
supposed that it came from a vessel that had left Peru for the
Philippines. My uncle succeeded in finding out the exact spot where
the ship had been wrecked, and at once he gave up his position and
went off to the Philippines.
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