“But with you, I don't know. I just never could make a move!” he went on, sitting down on the bed where Santa listened with rapt attention. The bed groaned weakly under the double load.

“I just never could. I'd hang around in the little garden in front of the house, and I even went in once. There's a blind piano player in the parlor, right? … See, that proves that I really did go in! But when I tried to ask for you my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, my legs trembled, and all I could do was get out of there. I kicked myself all the way home! And … I'm sorry Santa, but I finally spent the money on something else. Mexico City is no place to try to economize! So I've had to be content, since then, to dream about you and look at you whenever I can. Don't I look familiar? … Anyway, last night I was coming out of the Arbeu Theater, and I saw you in front of the pharmacy on Las Damas Street, the coachman was trying to get you to take some mineral salts because you were really out of it. I recognized you, and I couldn't believe my luck! Right then I spoke to you by name, and you answered, just like that, calling me tú and inviting me into your coach. You didn't have to ask me twice, let me tell you! I was in there beside you before you finished asking, and you put you head on my shoulder. The bad thing was …”

And he fell silent, twisting the towel in his hands, redder than ever.

“What was the bad thing? Tell me, dummy! What was it?”

“Yeah, okay,” said the student after a moment's reflection. “The bad thing was that the driver got mad when I ordered him to take us to the house where you live. I told him how to get there, but all the jerk did was laugh in my face and tell me that he wouldn't go anywhere unless I paid him right then. Well … I didn't have any money, but I did have my pocket watch. It's nice and big and made of nickel and runs great, so I pulled it out and offered to leave it with him as a guarantee, saying I'd find him today to pay what I owe and get my watch back. So the guy looked at it and listened to it, and I swear he almost bit the metal, the suspicious jerk, but finally he brought us to this hotel. What else was I going to do with you, all dizzy and almost asleep in the middle of the street? But … the room hasn't been paid for, and we've got to do that when we leave … Look, if you'll trust me more than the coachman did, I'll go and be back in five minutes with the half-peso room rent. Okay? And then I'll pay you in installments whatever you charge for a night, because I couldn't resist looking at you and … undressing you,” he concluded softly.