Unusual silence reigned in the editorial rooms. Nothing was heard except
the scratching of steel pens on paper. The editors were seated around a
great table covered with oil-cloth; two or three, however, were writing
at small pine tables, set in the corners of the room.
By and by one who had a beard just beginning to turn gray, raised his
head, and said:--
"Tell me, Senor de Rivera, was not the motion determined upon for the
eighteenth?"
Miguel, who was writing at one of the special tables, replied without
lifting his head:--
"Senor Marroquin, I can't advise you too often to be more discreet. Try
to realize that all our heads are in danger, from the humblest, like
Senor Merelo y Garcia's, up to the most stately and glorious, like our
very worthy chief's."