He wished to pay the two foreign ladies some theatrical homage.

He felt that necessity of attracting attention in some gay and dashing way that characterizes Spaniards far from home.
With the agility of a mast-climber, he leaped the garden wall in one bound.

The two ladies gave a cry of surprise, as though they had witnessed some impossible maneuver.

This audacity appeared to upset the ideas of the older one, accustomed to life in disciplined towns that rigidly respect every established prohibition.

Her first movement was of flight, so as not to be mixed up in the escapade of this stranger.
But after a few steps she paused.