"Ferrero reintroduced Cogan to Juan as one who knew his brother Luis.

"'But I met him only once,' added Cogan.

"'Once? It is sufficient,' assured Juan. 'Fully sufficient. To meet
Luis once is to meet him forever. He is always the same. But some
others--not so. You have been shipwrecked, yes? You lost everything?
Ah-h, that is most hard luck, but do not despair. I, too, was a
sailor--one time. One time only, gracias a Dios! My ancestors, I think,
were of the land entirely. The sea-sickness--pir-r-h--no, no, not for
me. But do not mind. But pardon, señor'--he turned to Ferrero--'attend
to me, Ferrero. I am grieved to-day. It is the señora again. What
matters it whether a man is a muletero, gaucho, toreador, or what?
Torellas, now, has been all--so have I, her brother-in-law--or a seller
of hats or a member of the cabinet? What, I ask you'--he turned to
Cogan--'are we señor? We are men or we are not? So? Very well, let us
say no more, but find a café and have our coffee. It has been very dusty
to-day--very.'

"Two cups of coffee, and Juan was talking to Cogan like a brother. And
he could talk like a highspeed dynamo. 'A man--can he be no greater than
a man, I ask you, sir? Luis, he will be glad to see you, if you came in
rags--no matter--he is always the same, always. But the señora--pir-r-h.
That is it--you have it--Proud! A good woman, mind'--Juan leaned over
and tapped Cogan's arm to let him know there must be no mistake on that
point--'the best of women, but'--he sighed--'Luis, he is from home six
months in the year, and she it is who has the training of Valera. And
once she was as like her father as--oh, and such a heart! But she will
become--I fear it now--like her mother. And her mother does not want
Torellas.