John Pomfret, traveling down the Guadalquivir in Spain on his way to propose to Marie Daguilar, met the gaudily dressed Marquis d’Almavivas on the boat, and mistook him for a bullfighter. Assuming that such an ignorant fellow knew no English, John examined his costume minutely, even twisting off one of the buttons, and commented volubly to his companion on the improvidence of spending money so dangerously earned on personal adornment. Arriving at his destination, he was greatly embarrassed, on receiving an invitation to a splendid entertainment, to find that his host was the man he had treated so rudely.