"What did he want to kill himself for?" 

"How should I know." 

"How did he do it?" 

"He hung himself with a rope." 

"Who cut him down?" 

"His niece." 

"Why did they do it?" 

"Fear for his soul." 

"How much money has he got?" "He's got plenty." 

"He must be eighty years old." 

"Anyway I should say he was eighty." 

"I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o'clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?" 

"He stays up because he likes it." 

"He's lonely. I'm not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me."

"He had a wife once too." 

"A wife would be no good to him now." 

"You can't tell. He might be better with a wife." 

"His niece looks after him. You said she cut him down." 

"I know." "I wouldn't want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing." 

"Not always. This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him." 

"I don't want to look at him. I wish he would go home. He has no regard for those who must work." 

The old man looked from his glass across the square, then over at the waiters. 

"Another brandy," he said, pointing to his glass. The waiter who was in a hurry came over. 

"Finished," he said, speaking with that omission of syntax stupid people employ when talking to drunken people or foreigners. "No more tonight. Close now." 

"Another," said the old man. 

"No. Finished." The waiter wiped the edge of the table with a towel and shook his head. 

The old man stood up, slowly counted the saucers, took a leather coin purse from his pocket and paid for the drinks, leaving half a peseta tip. The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity. 

"Why didn't you let him stay and drink?" the unhurried waiter asked. They were putting up the shutters. "It is not half-past two." 

"I want to go home to bed." 

"What is an hour?" 

"More to me than to him." 

"An hour is the same." 

"You talk like an old man yourself. He can buy a bottle and drink at home." 

"It's not the same." 

"No, it is not," agreed the waiter with a wife. He did not wish to be unjust. He was only in a hurry. 

"And you? You have no fear of going home before your usual hour?" 

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