In vain did Mercedes scan the broad bosom of the Pacific Ocean in search
of something to say that would be soothing to Clarence's feelings, very
proper for her to utter, and very acceptable to her mamma's sentiments,
had she been there to hear it. But that vast sea was dark and mute. It
did not respond. It only made her shudder to think of its awful silence
that was so solemn, but not in the least comforting. It was so dark, so
limitless, so cold. She turned her eyes to the luminous wake trailed by
the steamer where such wealth of diamonds was wasted. "Fitful
scintillations and then all lost in gloom," she said, adding: "No, all
is not wasted, those bright diamonds are not as evanescent as we, they
will sink, but reappear again and remain there always to gladden or
amuse poor travelers for ages to come; yes, when our two poor hearts
have ceased forever to throb with joy or pain."
"Is it not, then, wrong when life is so flitting to refuse pure and holy
happiness which God has permitted to the children of man?"
"We will be talking bookish, like Corina Holman, if we sit here alone
with the silent Pacific. Let us go to find Elvira," said she, rising.
"Ah, there she is now!"
Elvira was bidding good night to her two lady friends who stood at the
door of their state-room, and (as all ladies must) had something very
interesting to say at the last moment.
"And so I am to be patient whether there is hope or not," said Clarence.
"You said you would speak with papa. You forget how very kind he is to
everybody in general, and how partial to you in particular."
"Yes, he is most generous, almost too noble for this world."
"I have often thought that, but as he is past fifty, I trust that a kind
Providence will spare him to us for many years yet."
"Of course, he will be spared to you. If no good man could live, then
the gift of life would be a brand upon man's forehead. But a character
as his, is truly very rare. He comes nearer to my standard of excellence
than any other man I ever saw, and I revere and love him for it."
"I shall treasure those words in my heart, believe me. Let them remain
there forever," she said, her voice vibrating with emotion.
"Well, well, and where is George?" said Elvira, looking around for her
missing husband.
"He went to the captain's room to play cribbage about two minutes after
you left," said Mercedes.
"Good chaperone he is; and what have you been talking about here like
two little owls who know they musn't jump into the water because they
are not ducks?"
"One isn't, any way," Clarence said, smiling.
"As my married experience is yet fresh and limited, I don't know whether
it would be proper or not for us three to take a turn on deck and see
whether George is enjoying himself. What do you think, Mr. Darrell,
would a husband object to that?"
"I should say not. Why should he? To my way of thinking no husband of
ordinary good sense could object to his wife showing that interest in
him. Mr. Mechlin will not, I am sure."
"Let Mr. Darrell take a look first," suggested Mercedes.
Clarence arose to go, Elvira said: "Only pass by, as if by accident, and
we'll go or not, according to circumstances."
When Clarence had gone beyond hearing, Elvira said: "He looks pale
again, have you made him unhappy?"
"I have not made him happy, that is sure, and I am miserable, but you
know mamma's feelings, what can I do? Oh, what can I do?" said she,
putting her arms around her sister and the hot tears she had been
repressing flowed fast. "I am so sorry I have to make him so unhappy."
"I must say I feel sorry for him myself. I am not sure that mamma does
him justice," Elvira observed reflectively.
"And to think that papa himself told him to follow me."
"Is that so?"
"Yes; and he is disappointed, but what can I do, dear, when mamma told
me _not to encourage_ him?"
"I certainly am under no pledge, and papa's authority is entitled to as
much respect as mamma's," Elvira said significantly.
"That is true, but you see mamma made me promise not to _encourage_
him," said Mercedes with sad insistence.
"Yes, and Rosa and Lota urged her to it. There is George now."
"I will go to my room; they will see by my red eyes that I cried."
"Go and bathe them. Drink some water, too, and come back."
"And I'll bring you some by way of an excuse."
"Why did Mercedes run off?" George asked.
"She will be back in a minute; she went to take a glass of water."
"Oh! why did she not tell me to bring it to her?" said Clarence
regretfully. "I ought to have thought of bringing it. Wouldn't she
rather have a glass of wine or lemonade? and you, too, Mrs. Mechlin? I
shall take it as a favor if you will accept. A glass of champagne with
ice I think would do very well for all of us; don't you think so Mr.
Mechlin?"
"Yes, champagne with ice would be very nice, provided the champagne be
good," George replied.
"Let us try any way," said Clarence, going to order the wine. George and
Elvira watched him, and when out of hearing George said:
"Don't you know I like that young man very much. What is your mother's
objection to him?"
"His family, I believe, or rather his father."
"Old Darrell looks like a decent, honorable sort of a man to me.
Certainly Clarence is very gentlemanly, and (what is equally to be
considered) Mercedes likes him more than is good for her peace of mind
if she is not to have him."
"My poor little sister, she is so unhappy, and, just think of it, papa
told Clarence to come, to follow Mercedes and propose to her."
"He did? That is just like him. Doubtless he thought of the times when
he would ride eighty miles to go and serenade Dona Josefa, and his
sympathies all went to Darrell. It is a pity your mother doesn't feel as
kindly."
"And what makes me feel more for Mercedes is, that she loves Clarence
dearly, but in obedience to mamma's wishes she will not even give him
any encouragement at all."
"Then _we_ must, that's all. Only let us first be sure that she loves
him."
"Oh, as to that, if you had only seen her beautiful eyes filled with
such sad tears because she cannot accept his love, you would have no
doubts as to her feelings."
"Then my course is clear. I am a Christian gentleman and will not see
savage torture inflicted on my blue-eyed _hermanita_. I think I know how
to fix it up."
"What will you do?"
"_Quien sabe_ just this minute, but it will be _something_, depend upon
it. There he is now," and Clarence came, followed by a waiter bringing
the champagne and ice. He looked disappointed at not finding Mercedes.
"That little sister of ours I fear has given us the slip. I think I'll
go and fetch her bodily," George said, rising to go.
"No; let me go," said Elvira. When George was left alone with Clarence
he said:
"I fear that Mercedes is very unhappy, she left when she saw us coming,
Elvira says, because she feared her eyes showed traces of tears."
Clarence clenched his hands as if he would like to throttle all bad luck
in general, and this one in particular, looked haggard, but remained
silent. George continued:
"Spanish girls are trained to strict filial obedience, and it is a good
thing when not carried too far. Now, Mercedes made to her mother some
very foolish promise, and if her heart was to break into little pieces
she would not swerve--not she--though she be fully aware that her
happiness would be wrecked for ever, she would not disobey her mother."
"But is it alone her mother's wishes? In obeying her mother, does she
not follow her own inclination?"
George laughed, saying: "She must be a strange girl, indeed, if she
weeps so bitterly and is so unhappy to follow her inclination."
"Oh, if I only could think that! Are you sure?"
"Why did Dona Josefa wish to send her away? Only for the hope that she
might get over her love for you. Mercedes is not yet eighteen, and,
being so young, her mother thought that by sending her away from you and
yours, she might forget you. Only such hope as that could have prevailed
upon Dona Josefa to part with her baby. Spanish mothers will never let a
daughter go out of the maternal sight until they are married; but for
the fear that Mercita's attachment to you might become incurable if not
effaced early, the mother was ready to sacrifice her feelings. For it
was a terrible sacrifice, it was like pulling her heart strings to send
her baby off."
"Oh, how she must hate me then to have such strong objections to me,"
said Clarence, sadly.
"No, she does not hate you"--and George hesitated.
"Yes, I know she thinks I have done something wrong or dishonorable, but
what that is, I have not the slightest idea."
"Excuse me for saying so, but I think it was a mistake not to tell
her--and Mercedes also--that you bought the land you occupy. Dona Josefa
cannot think it is honorable to take up land as your father did. She
cannot understand how any law of Congress can authorize a man to take
the property of another against his will and without paying for it."
"And she is perfectly right. I see the mistake now, and I regret it more
than words can tell. You knew why I asked Don Mariano not to mention
that I had paid him."
"Yes, Gabriel told me first, and he, too, thinks it is a mistake to let
the Alamar ladies have a wrong idea of you. He thinks you do an
injustice to yourself. We were talking about it when Don Mariano joined
us, and he agreed with Gabriel and said that he would speak to you about
it very soon. Doesn't any of your family know about it?"
"Yes, Everett and mother do. She would not have come down if I had not
told her I paid for the land. But she and I thought that for the present
we had better say nothing about it to father, knowing how sensitive he
is about his views of '_Squatter rights_?' He has had so much trouble
about those same rights."
"I suppose you will have to tell him soon--I mean when the attorney
general dismisses the appeal."
"When will that be, do you think?"
"Just as soon as the Supreme Court is in session. It would have been
done last fall had not the solicitor general interfered in the most
absurd and arbitrary manner."
"I heard he had, and I heard the settlers rejoicing about it, but I
never knew how it happened--I would like to hear."
"Well, ladies and gentlemen," said Elvira, coming, "if my eloquence and
persuasive powers were not of the unprecedented quality they really are,
I would never have been able to persuade the senorita to come. Would you
believe it? she was actually in bed for the night."
"Ah!" Clarence exclaimed, regretfully.
"Yes, I told her that if she didn't come, you would take the champagne
to her room, and this so frightened her, that she began to dress herself
immediately, but the poor little thing trembles as if she had the ague.
I gave her a cashmere wrapper and soft shawl to wrap up and not take
cold."
"Go and tell her we have good news for her," suggested George.
"She'll think you are jesting," Elvira answered.
"Not if you tell her that we know what it is that Dona Josefa has
against Darrell, and we'll make it all right."
"Oh, don't deceive the poor little thing when she seems as if all her
strength is already gone from her," Elvira said.
"But we are not deceiving her," George insisted.
"Hush! here she comes," Elvira said, and Mercedes slowly approached
them. "Come, sweet Baby, these gentlemen say they have some awful nice
news for you."
"News that the wine is good, I suppose, but I don't like wine," she
said.
"No, it isn't the wine," George said, rising for Mercedes to take his
place. "Sit down here between Darrell and myself and you shall hear all
about it."
"What is it?" Mercedes asked, looking from one to the other.
"I can't tell you, little sister, for they haven't told me," Elvira
said.
"Darrell, you fill the glasses now while I tell these senoritas what
sort of a black sheep Dona Josefa thinks you are, and so thinking,
objects to you." Clarence proceeded to put ice into the glasses, while
George continued: "The objection is, that she believes the Darrells are
'_squatters_,' like all the others at the rancho, whereas Clarence
bought their land from Don Mariano and paid for it even before they
built their house."
"Oh! I am so glad to hear that!" Elvira exclaimed with a sigh of relief.
"But why don't papa tell it to mamma? It is an injustice to the Darrells
to let her ignore it."
"It is my fault, Mrs. Mechlin," Clarence said; "my father holds the
accepted but very erroneous popular opinions about '_squatter rights_,'
and I, to avoid painful discussions with him, requested Senor Alamar not
to say, for the present, that I had paid for the land."
"You see, little sister, how, after all, you have not been loving a
squatter? What a pity," said George, putting his arm around Mercedes,
who buried her face in the lappels of his coat. "It isn't half so
romantic to love a plain gentleman as to love a brigand, or, at least, a
squatter."
"Dona Josefa's objection to me is perfectly proper and correct. I would
not let a daughter of mine marry a squatter no more than to marry a
tramp. I shall, of course, request Don Mariano to put me right in her
estimation, and tell her I do not feel authorized by Congress to steal
land, though my father and many other honest men hold different opinions
about it."
"There! Do you hear that? Let us have a bumper, and drown the squatter
in champagne! Exit tramp! Enter gentleman! Here is to Baby's health,"
said George.
All emptied their glasses, except Mercedes, whose hand shook so
violently that she spilled more wine than she drank.
"Don't lose your courage now," Elvira said to her.
"I believe pussy is regretting she lost her squatter. Isn't that so,
pussy? You have not said one word. Are you regretting that, after all,
you cannot sacrifice to love your patrician pride by marrying a
land-shark, thus proving you are a heroine?"
"Oh, what a silly boy," she said, laughing.
"Really, I think our romance is spoiled. It would have been so
fine--like a dime novel--to have carried you off bodily by order of
infuriated, cruel parents, and on arriving at New York marry you, at the
point of a loaded revolver, to a bald-headed, millionaire! Your midnight
shrieks would have made the blood of the passers-by curdle! Then
Clarence would have rushed in and stabbed the millionaire, and you,
falling across his prostrate body, said: 'Tramp or not, I am thine!'"
"Oh, George, stop your nonsense," Elvira said.
"Whereas now," George went on, "the unpoetical fact comes out that
Darrell is a decent sort of a fellow, and there is no reason why a
proper girl shouldn't have him for her husband; and our romance is
stripped of its thrilling features, as the hero will not steal, even
when Congress tells him to. And that is the _denouement_, with the
addition only that I am hungry. What have you got to eat in those two
little baskets that Tano brought on board, and which smell so nice?"
"Ah, yes, I had forgotten. Mamma put up a nice lunch, thinking we might
want it if we felt sick, or didn't want to go to the table. I'll go and
bring it," said Elvira, setting down her glass, and rising.
"Let me go," said George, "as I am the hungry one."
"Bring both baskets. Let us see what they have. Ah, I was forgetting, I
have the three little silver plates in my satchel; we must have those,"
added Elvira, following her husband.
"Can you forgive my stupidity? See what a world of anxious thoughts we
would have avoided by explaining to Dona Josefa everything," said
Clarence to Mercedes.
"Yes, it was unfortunate. But you will return soon and ask papa to tell
her all, will you not?"
"Indeed I will, by the next steamer; and will have better heart to await
your return. My precious angel, don't ever forget how devotedly I
idolize you! Will you let me send you a ring, if your mother allows me?"
"Couldn't you _bring_ it yourself?"
"Oh, Mercedes, my beloved! how happy you make me!"
"Look here," said George, groping in the dark; "Where are the magic
baskets? I don't smell them."
"I knew you wouldn't, that is why I came to find them."
"Look here! if you follow a fellow like that, you'll get kissed," said
he, taking his wife in his arms, and covering her face with kisses.
"Stop, George, some one might pass who didn't know you are my husband."
"That's so," said he, desisting. "But the fact of the matter is, that I
want to kiss you all the time, you are so pretty and such a sweet
darling. Give me the basket, and let your hungry husband go before he
eats you up."
"Here they are. I'll carry the plates and knives."
"Tano said something about boned turkey, _a la espanola_, stuffed with
mashed almonds and '_ajonjoli_,'" said George, setting the baskets on a
chair before Clarence; "and something about a '_tortita de aceituna_,'
with sweet marjoram, and I think we got them, to judge by their
fragrance."
"Shall I go and order more wine?" asked Clarence.
"Oh, no, no," said Elvira, "this is plenty."
"How strange it is that I haven't felt this wine at all," said Mercedes;
"one-half glass only will make my face unpleasantly warm always, for
that reason I dislike wines; but see, I drank this whole glassful, and I
don't feel it any more than if it was water."
"But don't you feel warmer? You were shivering when you came from your
room," George said.
"Yes, I feel better," she said, timidly.
"Now eat a little and you will sleep better. Take one of these
'_empanaditas de pollo_,'" said Elvira, offering one.
"Give me one," George said. "I know them by experience, and the trouble
about them is that you can never have enough, though you feel you have
eaten too many. Try them, Darrell, and when you have filled our glasses
I'll satisfy your curiosity, telling you why the Solicitor General would
not dismiss the appeal of the squatters."
"Yes, I want to know all about that," said Clarence, filling the
glasses.