Part 4 (1/2)

”Perhaps. As to the exercise of it--why not? _Vive la bagatelle!_”

”It is useless to argue with you. Are you going to let that girl alone?”

”She is the only girl in the Californias whom I shall not let alone.”

I could have shaken him. ”To what end? And her brother? I have often wondered which would rule you in a crisis, your head or your pa.s.sions.”

”It would depend upon the crisis. I am afraid you are right,--that altiloquent Reinaldo will give trouble.”

”Is it true that he has been conspiring with Carillo, and that an extraordinary and secret session of the Departmental Junta has been called?”

He looked down upon me with his grimmest smile. ”You curious little woman! You must not put your white fingers into the Departmental pie.

If you had been a man, with as good a brain as you have for a woman, you would have been an ornament to our politics. But as it is--pardon me--the better for our balancing country the less you have to do with it.”

I could feel my eyes snap. ”You respect no woman's mind,” I said, savagely; ”nothing but the woman in her. But I will not quarrel with you. Tell that baby over there to come and waltz with me.”

At dawn, as we entered our room, I seized Chonita by the shoulders and shook her. ”What did you mean by such a performance?” I demanded. ”It was unprecedented!”

She threw back her head and laughed. ”I could not help it,” she said.

”First I felt an irresistible desire to show Monterey that I dared do anything I chose. And then I have a wild something in me which has often threatened to break loose before; and to-night it did. It was that man. He made me.”

”_Ay, Dios!”_ I thought, ”it has begun already.”

VII.

The festivities were to last a week, every one taking part but Alvarado and Dona Martina. The latter was not strong enough, the governor cared more for duty than for pleasure.

The next day we had a merienda on the hills behind the town. The green pine woods were gay with the bright colors of the young people. Here and there a caballero dashed up and down to show his horsemans.h.i.+p and the silver and embroidered silk of his saddle. Silver, too, were his jingling spurs, the eagles on his sombrero, the b.u.t.tons on his colorous silken jacket. Horses, without exception handsomely trapped, were tethered everywhere, pawing the ground or nibbling the gra.s.s. The girls wore white or flowered silk or muslin gowns, and rebosos about their heads; the brown ugly duenas, ever at their sides, were foils they would gladly have dispensed with. The tinkle of the guitar never ceased, and the sweet voices of the girls and the rich voices of the men broke forth with the joyous spontaneity of the birds' songs about them.

Chonita wore a white silk gown, I remember flowered with blue,--large blue lilies. The reboso matched the gown. As soon as we arrived--we were a little late--she was surrounded by caballeros who hardly knew whether to like her or not, but who adhered to the knowledge that she was Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, the most famous beauty of the South.

”_Dios!_ but thou art beautiful,” murmured one, his dreamy eyes dwelling on her s.h.i.+ning hair.

”_Gracias_, senor.” She whispered it as bashfully as the maidens to whom he was accustomed, her eyes fixed upon a rose she held.

”Wilt thou not stay with us here in Monterey?”

She raised her eyes slowly,--he could not but feel the effort,--gave him one bewildering glance, half appealing, half protesting, then dropped them suddenly.

”Wilt thou stay with me?” panted the caballero.

”Ay, senor! thou must not speak like that. Some one will hear thee.”

”I care not! G.o.d of my life! I care not! Wilt thou marry me?”

”Thou must not speak to me of marriage, senor. It is to my father thou must speak. Would I, a Californian maiden, betroth myself without his knowledge?”

”Holy heaven! I will! But give me one word that thou lovest me,--one word!”

She lifted her chin saucily and turned to another caballero, who, I doubt not, proposed also. Estenega, who had watched her, laughed.