Pablito, whose face was now as white without the soap as it had been with it, then uttered such a cry of horror and misery that Piscis, whose eyes had been suspiciously fixed upon the barber, now jumped up suddenly and caught him by the arms; Pablo sprang from his seat, and the master and all his employees cried out simultaneously:
"Seize the murderer!" exclaimed Pablito, springing upon Cosme, who was as pale as death under his arrest. In one instant the gay young man, still cold with fear, told them what had happened, and poor Cosme was kicked out of the shop by the master, who did not wish to lose the best customer in the town.
Gonzalo, recollecting that the blister had not been attended to which had been put on him the previous day, rang the bell violently. He was lying on his back in bed, gazing at the arabesques on the ceiling, the room being well lighted by two windows. He was not in his own bedroom, but in his sitting-room, where a bed was put up the first day he was taken ill. Ventura had objected to leaving their room, and as they could not both be there he had been the one to move. The illness had proved as serious as it was sudden--it was erysipelas, causing inflammation in his face, hands, and legs, which had nearly cost him his life.
It had been kept from his head by strong applications to his legs, and the doctor put blisters on various parts of his body.
"What do you want, sir?" said the maid, half opening the door.
At the end of a minute the servant reappeared, and said:
The young man waited, and in ten minutes' time the fair head of his wife appeared at the door.
"What do you want, my love?" she asked without coming in, and in a tone too careless to accord with the tenderness of the words.
"Come in. It is eleven o'clock, and the blister has not been attended to yet."
"I thought you would wait for the doctor to do it," she said as she hesitatingly entered the room, resplendent in a magnificent blue silk dress.
"He did not say he would come and take it off; besides, it hurts me very much."
The girl approached the bed, and after a few moments' silence she put her hand upon her husband's head and said:
"Won't it be better to wait for the doctor to do it?"
"No, no," he returned, now fairly cross; "it is hurting very much. Fetch the lint and the ointment and a pair of sharp scissors."