She shrugged her shoulders.
'Whoever you marry is a matter of complete indifference to me.
You know of course that Dona Pilar will have no fortune.'
'Yes, madam.
I have a good place and I can keep my wife.
I love her.'
'I can't blame you for that.
She is a beautiful girl.
But I think it only right to tell you that I have a rooted objection to married coachmen.
On your wedding-day you leave my service.
That is all I had to say to you.
You can go.'
She began to look at the daily paper that had just arrived from Paris, but Jose, as she expected, did not stir.
He stared down at the floor.
Presently the countess looked up.
'What are you waiting for?'
'I never knew madam would send me away,' he answered in a troubled tone.
'I have no doubt you'll find another place.'
'Yes, but . . .'
'Well, what is it?' she asked sharply.
He sighed miserably.
'There's not a pair of mules in the whole of Spain to come up to ours.
They're almost human beings.
They understand every word I say to them.'
The countess gave him a smile that would have turned the head of anyone who was not madly in love already.
'I'm afraid you must choose between me and your betrothed.'
He shifted from one foot to the other.
He put his hand to his pocket to get himself a cigarette, but then, remembering where he was, restrained the gesture.
He glanced at the countess and that peculiar shrewd smile came over his face which those who have lived in Andalusia know so well.
'In that case, I can't hesitate.
Pilar must see that this alters my position entirely.
One can get a wife any day of the week, but a place like this is found only once in a lifetime.
I should be a fool to throw it up for a woman.'
That was the end of the adventure. JosГ© LeГіn continued to drive the Countess de Marbella, but she noticed when they sped up and down the Delicias that henceforward as many eyes were turned on her handsome coachman as on her latest hat: and a year later Pilar married the Marques de San Esteban.