I tried to play indifferent, and seem at my ease; but it was no use.

The vicinity of the other group, and, in particular, of a certain

broad-shouldered member of it whom I could detect through the leaves,

and who certainly did not eat with the air of a man who felt it to be

his last breakfast, spoiled all my efforts, and nipped them even as they

budded.

"You don't eat," said Seth; "look at the villano yonder."

"I see him," said I, curtly.

"See how he lays in his prog!"

"Let him show that he can be as dexterous with the broadsword as with a

carving-knife," said I, with a tremendous effort.

"Egad! I'll tell him that," cried Seth, jumping up, and hastening

across the garden. I had not long to wait for the effect of the speech.

Scarcely had Chiseller uttered a few words than the whole party arose,

and such a volley of "Maledicion!" and "Caramba!" and other like terms I

never heard before or since.

"I knew that would make 'em blaze up," said he; "they're all ready

now,--follow me." I obeyed, and walked after him into a little paddock,

which, from the marks of feet and other signs, seemed to be a spot not

chosen for the first time for such an amusement. The others entered by

an opposite gate, and, taking off their cloaks, folded them carefully

and laid them on the benches. They were armed to the very teeth, and

really did look amazingly like the troop of brigands Drury Lane would

produce in a new melodrama.

One of the party advanced towards Seth to arrange preliminaries, while

the rest lighted their cigars and began smoking,--an example I deemed it

wise to imitate; at least, it looked cool.

As I sat, affecting to admire the landscape, and totally careless of

what was going on behind me, I overheard Seth in a warm altercation

on the subject of my sabre, which the villano's friend insisted was

at least eight or nine inches too long. Seth, however, was equally

obstinate in asserting that I had always used it, had fought repeated

duels with it; and if we could not call the principals as witnesses,

it was for certain cogent reasons that need not be mentioned. How I

chuckled at this bit of boastfulness! how I prayed that it might terrify

the enemy! Nothing of the kind; the semi-savage stepped out into the

circle, with his shirt-sleeve rolled up to the shoulder, displaying an

arm whose muscular development was like knotted cordage. As if to give a

foretaste of what he intended for me, he clove down the stout branch of

an elm-tree with a single stroke and with the ease of a man slicing a

cheese. Never did I think so meanly of a fandango as at that moment;

never was I in a mood less lenient to female coquetry!

"All's ready, Con, my hearty," whispered Seth, leaning over my shoulder;

"here's the tool."

If I had followed the instinct then strongest, I should have treated my

"friend" Seth to the first of my maiden sword. But for him--But it was

too late for regrets; and already the group had retired, leaving the

villano standing in a position of formidable defence alone in the

circle.

I can remember that I walked calmly and slowly forward to the spot

assigned me. I can remember the word being given to draw swords, and I

even yet can see the flashing steel as it glistened, and hear the clang

of the scabbards as we flung them from us; but of the encounter itself

I have only the vaguest impression. Cuts, thrusts, parries, advances and

retirings, feints and guards, are all blended up with the exclamations

of the bystanders as, in praise or censure, they followed the encounter.

At last, without knowing why, after a warm rally, my antagonist uttered

a faint cry, and tottering a few paces back, let fall his sword, and

sank heavily to the earth. I sprang forward in dread anxiety; but two of

the others held me back while they cried out, "Basta--Basta, Señhor!" I

tried to force my way past them, but they held me fast; and all that I

could see was one of the group take up the villano's arm and let it go

again, when it fell heavily to the ground with a dull bang I shall never

forget! They then threw his cloak over him, and I saw him no more.

"What are ye waitin' for, lad?" whispered Seth. "You don't want to

attend his funeral, I reckon?"

"Is he--is he------?" I could n't get the word out for worlds.

"By course he is; and so will you be, if ye don't make a bolt of it."

I have some recollection of an angry altercation between Seth and

myself,--I refusing, and he insisting on my instant flight; but it ended

somehow in my finding myself galloping along the Guajuaqualla road at a

furious pace, and, to my extreme surprise, feeling now as eager about my

safety as before I had been indifferent to it.

I became conscious of this from the sense of uneasiness I experienced

as each horseman neared me, and the danger of pursuit aroused in me the

instinct of self-preservation.

A rude sign-post at the foot of a rugged mountain path apprised me where

the "miners' trail" led off to Guajuaqualla; so, dismounting from my

"mustang," now wearied and blown by a pretty sharp pace for above seven

miles, I turned the animal loose and set off on foot. I know of no

descent so great in life as from the "saddle" to the "sole!" from the

inspiriting pleasure of being carried along at will, to the plodding

slowness of mere pedestrianism. In the one case you "shoot your sorrows

flying;" in the other, they jog alongside of you all the way, halting

with you when you lie down at noon, and taking share of the spring from

which your parched lips are refreshed. Like an underbred acquaintance,

they will not be denied; they are always "going _your_ way;" and in

their cruel civility they insist on bearing you company.

At a little cabaret of the very humblest order, I obtained some

breakfast and made purchase of a stock of bread and a gourd of wine, as

I learned that nothing was to be had before I reached "Sanchez," the hut

of an old miner, which was reckoned halfway to Guajuaqualla. This done,

again I set forth on my journey.

The scenery was wild, without being grand. There was bareness and

desolation, but no sublimity. It was evidently a tract of such inferior

fertility that few in a land so rich as this would select it for a

resting-place; and, accordingly, I came upon no signs of habitation

other than the shealings the shepherds raise at certain seasons when

migrating with their flocks among the mountains.

It was exactly the character of landscape likely to increase and thicken

the gloom of sad thoughts; and, indeed, mine wanted little assistance.

This last exploit left a weight like lead upon my heart. All my

sophistry about self-defence and wounded honor, necessity, and the like

could not cover the fact that I had taken away a man's life in a foolish

brawl, from the very outset of which the whole fault lay on _my_ side.

"So much," said I, "for trying to be a 'gentleman'. Every step in this

disastrous pursuit would seem to have a penalty attached to it; and,

after all, I am just as far from the goal as when I set out."

That day seemed a year in length; and were I to attempt to chronicle it,

the reader would confess himself convinced before I had half finished;

so that, for both our sakes, I 'll not "file my bill of particulars," as

my respected father would have said, but at once come to the hour

when the sun approached the horizon, and yet not anything like a human

dwelling came in sight; and I still plodded along, sad and weary, and

anxious for rest. If the events which I am about to record have little

in them of extraordinary interest, they at least were the turning-points

in my humble destiny, and therefore, kind reader, with your permission,

we 'll give them a chapter to themselves.

CHAPTER XXVI. THE DISCOVERY

I had walked now for nearly twelve hours without discovering any

appearance of Sanchez's cabin, in which I had hoped to pass the night.

My prairie experience assured me that I had not lost the "trail," and

yet if any light were burning for miles around, the elevated spot on

which I stood should make it visible. Although much fatigued, there was

nothing for it but to proceed, and at length I found myself in a narrow

valley which Seth had heard described as the situation in which the

miner's hut stood. It was dark and gloomy; but the hope that I was

nearing the spot cheered me, and I walked on, footsore and tired as I

was. Once or twice I thought I heard the bark of a dog. I stopped to

listen; I shouted aloud, I whistled, but to no end. After an interval,

however, the sounds were repeated, and now I could detect,--not the

bark,--but the low, plaintive wail of an animal seemingly in pain. As it

not unfrequently happens that the sheep-dogs are attacked by wolves, it

immediately occurred to me such might be the present case; so I looked

to the caps of my revolver, and hastened on in the direction of the

cries.

The wailing sounds grew fuller and louder as I advanced, and now I could

distinguish that they were the cries of an animal in grief, and not of

one in bodily pain. I increased my speed to the utmost, and suddenly I

felt the warm tongue of a dog touch my hand, and his tail brush my legs,

in sign of friendly welcome. I stopped to pat and caress him, but the

poor creature uttered another cry so full of sorrow that all other

thoughts were routed on the instant.

He now preceded me, turning at each moment as if to see that I followed,

and whining in a low, faint tone, as before. We had not long proceeded

thus, when he stopped suddenly, and set up a cry the most shrill and

heart-thrilling. I saw that we were in front of a miserable shealing,

the door of which lay open; but all was dark within. I struck a light

with my flint, and lighted a little taper. To my surprise, the hut

contained several articles of furniture; but I had not more than time to

notice them, when the dog, darting forward, placed his fore-paws upon a

low settle-bed, and gave a dismal howl. I turned and beheld the figure

of a very old man, his white beard hanging down to his chest, as he lay

in what seemed a heavy sleep. I touched him; he was cold. I placed my

hand on his heart; it was still. I tried to detect breathing; there was

none--he was quite dead!

The poor dog appeared to watch me with intense interest, as, one by one,

I tried these different signs of life; but when he saw the hand fall

heavily from my own, he again set up his cries, which now lasted for

several minutes. The scene was a sad and touching one. The poor old

miner,--for such his dress and the scattered implements of the craft

bespoke him,--forgotten by all the world save by his dog, lay in all

the seeming calm of sleep. A cup of water stood near him, and a little

wooden crucifix lay on the bed, where probably it had fallen from his

fingers. Everything around betokened great poverty. The few articles of

furniture seemed as if they had been fashioned by himself, being of the

rudest workmanship: his lamp was a dried gourd, and his one chair had

been a stump, hollowed out with a hatchet. The most striking feature

of all was a number of printed paragraphs cut from old newspapers and

magazines and nailed against the planking of the hut; and these seemed

to convey a little history of the old miner, so far, at least, as

the bent and object of his life were implied. They were all, without

exception, exaggerated and high-flown accounts of newly discovered

"Placers,"--rich mines of gold,--some in the dark plains of the Ukraine,

some in the deep forests of Mexico, some in the interior of Africa

and on the far-away shores of the Pacific. Promises of golden harvest,

visions of wealth rolling in vast abundance, great oceans of gain before

the parched and thirsting lips of toil and famine! Little thought they

who, half in the wantonness of fancy, colored these descriptions, what

seeds they were sowing in many a rugged nature! what feverish passions

they were engendering! what lures to wile men on and on, through youth

and manhood and age, with one terrible fascination to enslave them!

If many of these contained interesting scraps of adventure and

enterprise in remote and strange countries, others were merely dry

and succinct notices of the discovery of gold in particular places,

announcements which nothing short of an innate devotion to the one theme

could possibly have dwelt upon; and these, if I were to judge from the

situations they occupied, were the most favored paragraphs, and those

most frequently read over; they were the daily food with which he fed

his hope, through, doubtless, long years of suffering and toil. It was

the oil which replenished the lamp when the wick had burned to the very

socket!

How one could fancy the old Gambusino as he sat before his winter fire,

half dozing in the solitude of his uncompanionable existence, revelling

in all the illusions with which his mind was filled! With what sympathy

must he have followed his fellow-laborers in every far-away quarter of

the globe! how mourned over their disappointments, how exulted in their

successes! These little scraps and sentences were the only links that

tied him to the world--they were all that spoke to him of his own

species!

As I went about the hut, the appearance of the greatest poverty and

privation struck me on every side: his clothing, worn to very tatters,

had been mended by skins of beasts and patches of canvas; the tools

with which he worked showed marks of rude repair that proved how "he to

himself sufficed," without aid from others.

I passed the night without sleep, my mind full of the melancholy picture

before me. When day broke, I walked forth into the cool air to refresh

myself, and found, to my astonishment, that the spot had been a Placer

of once great repute,--at least so the remains around attested. The

ruined framework of miners' huts; the great massive furnaces for

smelting; huge cradles, as they are called, for gold-sifting; long

troughs, formed of hollowed trunks, for washing,--lay scattered on all

sides. The number of these showed what importance the spot had once

possessed, and the rotten condition in which they now were proved how

long it had been deserted by all save him who was now to take his rest

where, for many a weary year, he had toiled and labored.

A little cross, decorated with those insignia of torture so frequently

seen in Catholic countries,--the pincers, the scourge, and the crown of

thorns,--showed where Piety had raised an altar beside that of Mammon;

and underneath this I resolved to lay the poor old Gambusino's bones, as

in a Christian grave. I could not divest my mind of the impression that

some power, higher than mere chance, had led me to the spot to perform

those last offices to the poor outcast. Having eaten my breakfast, which

I shared with the dog, I set to work to fashion something that should

serve as a coffin. There was timber in abundance, and the old miner's

tools sufficed for all I needed. My labor, however, was only completed

as night closed in, so that I was obliged to wait for morning to finish

my task.

Wearied by my exertions, I slept soundly, and never awoke till the

bright sunbeams pierced through the chinks of the log-hut, and streamed

in amidst its dusky atmosphere; then I arose, and placed the old man

in his coffin. I sat down beside it, and as I looked at the calm, cold

features I could not help reflecting that even he had not been more an

outcast from his fellows than I was myself. If fate had cast _his_ lot

in the solitude of this dreary region, he was not more alone in the

world than _I_, who had neither home nor family. How strange was it,

too, that it should have devolved upon _me_ to pay him these last rites.

No, no; this could not be accident. The longer I dwelt upon this theme,

the more strongly was I impressed by this one conviction; and now,

looking back, after the lapse of years, that feeling is but more

confirmed by time.

Taking the shovel and the pick, I set forth to dig the grave, the

poor dog following at my heels, as though knowing in what cause I was

laboring. The earth was hard and stony, so that at first I made but

little progress; but soon I reached a clayey soft soil, which again was

succeeded by a dense, firm stratum of stones, impacted closely together,

like a pavement made by hands; indeed, it was difficult to conceive it

otherwise, the stones being so nearly of the same size, and laid down

with a regularity so striking and purposelike. I proceeded to loosen

them with the barreta, but, to my surprise, no sooner had I displaced

this layer than another exactly similar displayed itself underneath. If

this be "Nature's handiwork," thought I, "it is the strangest thing I

ever saw." I labored hard to remove this second tier, and now came down

upon a light gravelly soil, into which the barreta passed easily. Shall

I own that it was with a sense of disappointment that I perceived this?

It was not that my expectations had taken any distinct or palpable form,

but their vagueness somehow had not excluded hope!

As I struck down the iron barreta into the light earth, I sat down and

fell into a musing fit, from which the dog aroused me by licking

my hands and looking up into my face, as though reproaching me for

deserting my task. I arose at once, and set to work in right earnest.

The grave was now full five feet in depth, and needed only to be made a

little longer. It was after about an hour's hard labor, and my task

was all but completed, when the barreta struck a stone which it was

requisite to move; it was a large and heavy one, and much more firmly

impacted in the earth than I at first supposed, and it was only by

splintering it with the iron "crow" that I was able to succeed. As I

lifted the fragments and threw them away, my hands came in contact with

a soft substance underneath, that, to the feel, at least, resembled the

skin of a beast with the wool or hair on. I cleared away the earth,

and saw to my astonishment what I at once knew to be a piece of buffalo

hide, smeared over with a peculiar oil the Indians use to prevent

rotting or decomposition. I drew forth my knife and ripped it open;

a strong skin of undressed buck was now laid bare; again I applied my

knife vigorously to this, and as the sharp steel ran freely along,

a glittering heap of gold disclosed itself before me, and rolled in

fragments to my feet!

I cannot attempt to describe the emotions of that moment, as, with

a heart bursting with delight, I ran my fingers through the heaps of

shining metal, many of them larger than my closed fist. I pulled off my

cap and filled it; I opened my handkerchief, and in a few moments

that also was crammed; I stuffed my pockets; but the treasure seemed

inexhaustible. I arose, and hastened to the hut for the great canvas bag

in which the poor miner used to keep his chestnuts, and, oh, the terror

that came over me now, lest I should be seen, lest any other should

discover me! With the speed that fear alone can supply I soon filled the

sack, not alone with gold, but also with several little leather

bags, which I discovered contained gems and precious stones, emeralds

principally, with opals, sapphires, and rubies, some of a size and color

I had never seen equalled before. There were eight of these bags, marked

with some enigmatical letters, of which I did not know the meaning, nor,

in good truth, did I puzzle myself to discover. The wealth, unbounded as

it seemed, needed no explanation; there it lay glittering upon the grass

beneath the morning sun, and there I sat amidst it, as Aladdin might

have sat amidst the treasures of his mine.

As I opened the bags one after another, in eager impatience, I came upon

one filled with papers, and these I quickly discovered were receipts

for deposits of large sums placed at various times in the hands of Don

Xafire Hijaros, banker, at Guajuaqualla, by Menelaus Crick! Yes, these

were the hidden treasures for which the Black Boatswain of Anticosti

had endured the tortures of the burning iron and the steel, the

terrible agonies of the flesh pincers, and the slow, lingering pains of

paralysis. These, then, were the visions that haunted his dotage in the

very night I had seen him, as he struggled in some imaginary conflict,

and patted the ground in some fancied act of concealment! A sudden chill

ran through me as I thought by what horrible deeds of crime and blood

all this treasure might--nay, must--have been amassed! What terrible

acts of murder and assassination! Many of the gems were richly set, and

showed that they had been worn. Some of the emeralds had been extracted

from ornaments, or taken from the hilts of daggers or swords. Violence

and blood had stained them all, there could not be a doubt of it; and

now there arose within me a strange conflict, in which the thirst for

wealth warred with a feeling of superstition that whispered, "No luck

could go with gain so bought!" The perspiration rolled in great drops

down my face; my heart swelled and throbbed with its emotions; the

arteries of my temples beat with a force that seemed to smite the

very brain as I canvassed this vital question, "Dare I touch wealth so

associated with deeds of infamy?"

If my wishes arranged themselves on one side, all my fears were

marshalled on the other; and what foes can wage a more terrible

conflict! The world, with its most attractive pleasures, its thousand

fascinations, all the delusions that gold can buy and convert into

realities, beckoned here. Horrible fancies of an unknown vengeance, a

Nemesis in crime unexpiated, menaced there! May I never have to preside

in a court where the evidence is so strongly opposed, where the facts

are so equally balanced! If, at one instant, I beheld myself the

gorgeous millionnaire, launching forth into the wide ocean of unexplored

enjoyment, at the next I saw myself crawling upon the earth, maimed and

crippled like the old negro slave; a curse upon me; the cries of widowed

mothers ringing in my ears; the curses of ruined fathers tracking

me wherever I went! I cannot tell what verdict my poor empanelled

conscience might have brought in at last, but suddenly a new witness

appeared in the court and gave a most decided turn to the case. This was

no less than "the Church," whose testimony gently insinuated that if the

matter were one of difficulty, it was not yet without a solution. "It is

true, Master Con," whispered she, "that these treasures have an odor of

rapine; but let us see if the Church cannot purify them. A silver lamp

to the Virgin can throw a lustre upon deeds that have not 'loved the

light.' An embroidered petticoat can cover a great many small sins, and

the incense that rises from a gold censer, offered by pious hands, will

do much to correct the pungency of even the saltest tears."

Build a chapel, Con; endow a nunnery,--or, if you don't like shutting

up young ladies, let it be a "monkery;" make an investment in hair-cloth

shirts and cord girdles; buy shares in the grand Purgatory scheme,

and take out "next world scrip," in the shape of masses, jubilees, and

novenas. You can keep a bishop, without feeling the cost, and have

a whole candle manufactory perpetually at the service of "Our Lady,"

without being obliged to curtail one of your own wax-lights. What a

revulsion did this bright thought give to all my previous doubtings!

not only satisfying my scruples here, but suggesting very comfortable

associations for hereafter. By this proceeding, Con, thought I, you are

"hedging against hereafter;" you may be a Sardanapalus while you live,

and a saint after death: it's betting upon the "double event," with all

the odds in your favor.

I must say, for the sake of my credit, that I resolved to "do the thing

handsomely." I determined that a finer virgin should not be seen than

mine, and that if a "Saint Cregan" could be discovered in the catalogue,

I'd adopt him as my patron, at any cost. Neither would I forget the poor

old miner in my pious offerings: he should have masses said for him for

a full twelvemonth to come, and I 'd offer a silver pickaxe to any of

the calendar who would deign to accept it. In a word, there was nothing

that money could do (and what can it not?) that I would not engage to

perform, so that the Church should consent to take me into partnership.

Never was a poor head exposed to such a conflict of discordant thoughts.

Plans of pleasures and pilgrimages; gorgeous visions of enjoyment

warring with fancies of sackcloth and scourges; sumptuous dinners,

equipages, theatres, balls, and festivities mingling with fastings,

processions, and mortifications, made up a chaos only a shade above

downright insanity.

The day wore on, and it was late in the afternoon ere I bethought me

of the poor Gambusino, beside whose open grave I still sat, lost in

speculation. "Poor fellow!" said I, as I hoisted his coffin on my

shoulder, "you have got a rich pall-bearer for one who died in such

poverty; you little thought you would be borne to the grave by a

millionnaire!" As I said this--I shame to own it--there was a tinge of

self-commendation in the notion, as though inferring, "See what a noble

fellow I am! with gold and gems such as an emperor might envy, and yet

look at me, carrying a poor old miner's body to the grave just as if we

were equals!"

"It's very handsome of you, Con,--that I must say!" whispered I to

myself; but, somehow, the poor dog did not appear to take the same

exalted notion of my magnanimity, but was entirely engrossed by his

sorrow; for he lay crouching upon the earth, uttering cries the most

piteous and heartrending at each shovelful I threw in the grave.

"Cheer up, poor fellow!" said I, patting him, "you shall have a gold

collar and a clasp of real emerald." How naturally does a rich man recur

to wealth as the cure for every affliction! How difficult for him to

believe that gold is not a sovereign remedy for all disorders!

As for the dog, poor brute! he took no more heed of my consolation

than he noticed my altered condition,--of which, by his familiarity,

he showed himself totally unconscious. How differently had he behaved,

thought I, had he been a man! What sudden respect had he felt for me;

what natural reluctance to obtrude himself on me; how honored by my

notice, how distinguished by my favor! It is plain the dog is a very

inferior animal; his perceptions are not fine enough to distinguish

between the man of wealth and the pauper!

These and very similar reflections engaged me while I completed my task,

after which I carried my precious burdens off, and deposited them within

the hut. By this time I was very hungry, but had nothing to eat save the

fragments that remained from my breakfast,--a singular meal for one who,

in a fitting place, could have dined sumptuously and off vessels of gold

and silver! I had the appetite of a poor man, however, and eat heartily;

and then, taking my gourd of wine, sat down beside a little spring that

issued from the rock, to think over my future.

Perhaps my whole life--not wanting in hours of pleasure and

enjoyment--never presented anything so truly delightful as that evening.

The season of gratification which I had dreamed of, sighed, panted, and

prayed for, was now to be mine. I was at last to be a "gentleman,"--so

far, at least, as immense wealth and a very decided taste for spending

it could make me. But were these, I flatteringly asked myself, all my

qualifications? Was I not master of three or four languages? Had I not

become an expert shot, an excellent rider, a graceful dancer, with some

skill upon the guitar and the mandolin? Could I not contend in most

exercises where strength and activity were required, with any? Had I not

travelled and seen something of the world and its ways? Ay, marry, and a

little more of both than was usual for young gentlemen of fortune!

Of personal advantages it might not become me to speak; but the truth

requires me to say that Nature had dealt very handsomely by me. And

now I ask of the fair reader,--the unfair one I put out of court on

the occasion,--"Are not these very pretty chances with which to woo

fortune?" Less sanguine spirits would perhaps have sighed for more, and

asked for a hundred gifts, of whose use and value I knew nothing,--such

as birth, family influence, and the like. As for me, I was content with

the "hand of trumps" Fate had dealt me; I owned frankly that if I lost

the game, it must be for lack of skill, and not of luck.

My plans were very simple. Once at Guajuaqualla, I should find out where

Donna Maria de los Dolores lived, and then, providing myself with a

suitable equipage and servants, I should proceed to pay my addresses

in all form, affecting to have resumed my real rank and station, from

which, on our first acquaintance, a passing caprice had withdrawn me.

I anticipated, of course, very shrewd inquiries as to my family and

fortune; but I trusted to "native wit" to satisfy these, secretly

resolving at the time that I would avoid lying for the future. And _à

propos_ of this propensity, I had never indulged in it, save from that

vagrant impulse that tempts a child to scamper over the flower-plat of

a garden, instead of keeping to the gravel,--the great charm being found

in the secret that it "was wrong." And, oh, ye dear, good, excellent

souls whose instincts are always correct, who can pass knockers on doors

and not wish to wring them off; who see gas-lamps in lonely spots,

and never think of breaking them; who neither "humbug" the stupid, nor

mistify the vain; who "take life" seriously,--forgive the semi-barbarism

of our Celtic tastes, which leads us to regard "fun" as the very honey

of existence, and leads us to extract it from every flower in life's

path!

When I "lied,"--as only the great "Pinto" ever lied more atrociously,--I

was more amused by my own extravagances than were my listeners. I threw

out my inventions among stupid folk as a rich man flings his guinea

among a group of beggars, to enjoy the squabbling and contending for

such an unlooked-for prize.

And now I was going to abandon the habit, as one unsuited to the

responsibilities of a rich man's station! Oh, dear, what a sigh honest

Jack Falstaff must have heaved when he swore "he would eschew sack and

low company, and live cleanly."

I now addressed myself more practically to my work, and, seeing that it

would be quite impossible for me to carry the great bulk of my treasure

to Guajuaqualla, I replaced the canvas sack, with the gold and some of

the larger bags of the gems, in the ground, and merely took those that

contained the paper securities, and some of the more valuable emeralds,

along with me.

In parting with my wealth, even for a short absence, I confess my

feelings were very poignant. A thousand fears beset me, and I turned

to survey the spot beneath which it lay, wondering if there was any

indication to mark the concealed riches below. All, however, looked safe

and plausible; and I proceeded on my way, with a heart as easy as, I

suppose, rich men's hearts are permitted to be!

I believe the road along which I journeyed lay in the midst of a fertile

and pleasing tract,--I believe, I say; for I own I saw nothing of it.

The river along which Ï walked seemed silver, molten silver, to me;

the fruit-trees bore apples of pure gold; the stars which studded the

morning sky seemed sapphires and diamonds; the dewdrops on the grass

were opals all. If I sat down to rest myself, I instantly took one of

my precious bags from my pocket, to gaze at the bright treasures it

contained, and feast my eyes with brilliancy.

At last I found myself on the great high road, and, as the sign-post

told me, only "très léguas"--three leagues--from Guajuaqualla. For a few

copper coins I obtained a seat upon a peasant's "carro," and journeyed

along more agreeably, secretly laughing to myself at the strange

conveyance that carried "Cæsar and his fortunes."

The peasant was an old man who lived by selling watermelons, gourds, and

cucumbers in the city, and knew most of its well-known inhabitants. It

was, therefore, a good opportunity for me to learn something of those in

whom I was interested. He told me that the banker Don Xafire Hijaros had

died several years ago, but that his son Manuel carried on the business,

and was reputed to be the richest man in Guajuaqualla. It was said that

the great wealth of the house had been accumulated in ways and by means

that would not bear too close scrutiny. Large sums had been, it was

alleged, lodged in his hands by negroes and Indians working at the

mines, the owners of which were often made away with,--at least, few of

those who made large deposits ever lived to claim them. The peasant told

me several stories in illustration of this suspicion; but although

they certainly did make an impression upon me, I attributed much to the

exaggeration so common to every piece of local gossip, and I had seen

enough in the world to know how frequently successful industry meets

disparagement.

As for Don Estaban Olarez, the old man told me that he had once been

extremely rich, but that certain speculations he had entered into having

proved unfortunate, he had lost the greater part of his fortune, and

lived now in a state of comparative retirement about a league from

Guajuaqualla. This piece of news had not the depressing effect upon me

it might be supposed, since I augured that a rich son-in-law would

be less scrupulously interrogated by the broken merchant than by the

millionnaire. I even speculated on the manner I should adopt to dazzle

him by my splendor, and with what cold and cutting irony I would address

the Fra Miguel, and thank him for the considerate kindness with which

he had repaid my services. Haughty and proud, with a dash of

condescension,--"that must be my tone," said I; and so I went on,

like my prototype in the Eastern tale, ruminating upon my power and my

merciful disposition, till I had warmed my blood to a very good tyrant

pitch, from which state I was aroused by the guard at the gate of the

town asking if I had anything with me which should pay custom.

"A poor traveller with his knapsack," said I, "may surely pass freely."

"Vaya con Dios," said he, carelessly, and I entered the city.

Although the little plain in which Guajuaqualla stands is more favorable

as a site than the narrow gorge where Chihuahua is situated, the city

itself is inferior to the latter. Built irregularly, not only as chance

or caprice directed, but sharing in all the vicissitudes of speculation

which the mines afforded, great palaces stand by the side of mean

hovels, and gorgeous churches are flanked by abodes of squalid poverty.

Streets, properly speaking, there were none. Each choosing the spot for

his house at will, and as the city was founded in troubled times, when

lawless violence was unrestrained,--the fortress-like character of

the buildings was often conspicuous. Massive iron bars and stanchions

protected the windows of the ground-floors; heavy fastenings secured

the doors, whose surface was a fretwork of iron. Loop-holes for musketry

usually guarded each side of the entrance, and a "grille," like that

of a convent, showed that no stranger could be admitted uninterrogated.

Many of the houses were surrounded by regular outworks of moat and

bastion, while here and there an old rusty cannon, half hid among the

weeds, would show more pretentious, though possibly not very efficient,

means of defence.

Of shrines, holy wells, and altars there was no end. The superstitious

character of the Gambusino life had been adroitly laid hold of by the

priests, who rarely fail to turn each phase of existence to their own

profit, and, in this spot, the priestly hierarchy appeared to have

nothing so near at heart as the success of the "Placers." Here were

pictured virgins, looking blandly down at a group of very ill-favored

half-breeds, at a washing; there was an old negro presenting a massive

lump of gold to St. Joseph, who, with a sly look, seemed to promise

not to forget the donor. St. Francis himself, pick in hand, was seen

laboring at the head of a sturdy gang of workmen, and angels of all

sizes appeared to busy themselves in gold-seeking, as though it were

their natural pastime.

Upon several of the altars, pieces of solid gold and silver lay, in a

security that said much for the religious zeal of the inhabitants, while

lamps of pure silver hung in a profusion on every side,--surrounded by

votive offerings of the same metal,--such as shovels, barretas, picks,

and sieves. Nor did piety limit itself merely to incentives to "stand

well with the saints;" some most terrible examples of the opposite line

of conduct were conspicuously displayed. Pictures representing dreadful

catastrophes, by falling masses of rock, irruptions of torrents, and

down-pouring cataracts, showed what fates were ever in store for those

who "forgot the Church." And, as if to heighten the effect, whenever

a cayman or a jaguar was "sloping off" with a miner in his mouth, a

respectable saint was sure to be detected in the offing, wiping his eyes

in compassion, but not stirring a finger to his assistance.

I will not say that these specimens of pictorial piety induced any

strong religious feeling to my mind, but they certainly amused me

highly; and although hungry from a long fast, I stopped full twenty

times on my way to the Posada to gaze and wonder at them.

At the "Mono" (the "Ape"), a beast which at first _I_ mistook for a

certain historical character to whom popular prejudice always vouchsafes

a tail, I put up, and having discussed a very sumptuous breakfast, sent

for the landlord, a little dark-visaged Jew from Pernambuco.

"I hear," said I, arranging myself in an attitude of imposing elegance,

"I hear, Señhor Maestro, that my people and equipages have not arrived

yet, and I begin to feel a great anxiety for their safety. Can you learn

from any of the Muleros if they have seen two carriages, with four mules

each, on the Chihuahua road?"

"I have just inquired," said the Jew, with a sly, almost impertinent

leer, "and his Excellency's suite have not been seen."

"How provoking!" said I, impatiently. "This comes of indulging that

capricious taste for adventure which always inclines me to a solitary

ramble among mountains. And now, here I am, without clothes, baggage,

horses, servants,--in fact, with nothing that a person of my condition

is accustomed to have about him."

The Jew's face changed its expression during this speech, and, from a

look of droll malice which it wore at first, assumed an air of almost

open insolence as he said,--

"Señhor Viajador, I am too old to be imposed upon by these fooleries.

The traveller who enters an inn on his feet, with ragged clothes and

tattered shoes, takes too high a flight when he raves of equipage and

followers."

I bethought me of the lesson I once gave the mate of the transport ship

at Quebec, and I lay back indolently in my chair and stared coolly at

the Jew. "Son of Abraham," said I, with a slow intonation, "take care

what you say. I indulge in a vast variety of caprices, some of which

the severe world calls follies; but there is one which I never permit

myself,--namely, to suffer the slightest liberty on the part of an

inferior. I give you this piece of information for your guidance, since

it is possible that business with the banker Don Manuel Hijaros may

detain me a few days in this place, and I desire that the lesson be not

lost upon you."

The Jew stood, while I delivered these words, a perfect ideal of doubt

and embarrassment. The pretentious tone, contrasted with the ragged

apparel, the air of insufferable pride, with all the semblance of

poverty, and the calm composure of confidence, seemed to him singular

features in one whose apparent destitution might have suggested

humility.

"I see your embarrassment," said I, "and I forgive your error; and

now to business. I have several visits to pay in this neighborhood; my

people may not arrive for a day or two; and I cannot afford the delay of

waiting for them. Can you tell if there be anything suitable in the

way of equipage for a man of rank to be had here? Something simple, of

course, as befitting the place,--a plain carriage, with four mules,--if

Andalusian, all the better; two lazadores, or outriders, will be

sufficient, as I wish to avoid display; the liveries and equipment may

be plain also."

"There is at this moment, Señhor, the open carriage of the late

Gobernador of Guajuaqualla to be sold,--he had not used it when he was

called away by death: that and his six mules,--not Andalusian, it

is true, but of the black breed of the Habannah,--are now at your

Excellency's disposal."

"And the price," said I, not seeming to notice the half-impertinent

smile that curled his lip as he spoke.

"Three thousand crowns, Señhor,--less than half their cost."

"A mere trifle," said I, carelessly, "if the carriage please me.

"Your Excellency can see it in the court beneath."

I followed the Jew as he led the way into the open "cour," and, after

passing across it, we entered a spacious building, where, amidst a whole

hospital of ruined and dilapidated calèches, carres, and wagons, stood a

most beautiful britscka, evidently imitated from some London or Parisian

model. It was of a dark chocolate color, with rich linings of pale-blue

silk. The arms of the late Gobernador were to have been painted on

the doors, but fortunately were not begun when he died, so that the

"carroza" seemed in every respect a private one. The Jew next showed

me the team of mules, magnificent animals of fifteen and half hands in

height, and in top condition. The harness and housings were all equally

splendid and suitable.

"If your Excellency does not deem them unworthy of you," said he, with a

smile of most treacherous meaning, "they are certainly a great bargain.

I have myself advanced fifteen hundred piastres upon them."

"I'll take them," said I, curtly; "and now for the servants."

"The coachman and a few lacqueys are here still, your Excellency; but

their liveries had not been ordered when the sad event occurred."

"Send the first tailor in the place to my apartment," said I; "and if

there be a diamond merchant or a gem valuer here, let him come also."

"I am myself a dealer in precious stones, your Excellency," replied the

Jew, with a more submissive air than he had yet exhibited.

"Come with me then," said I; "for I always carry some of my less

valuable trinkets about with me, as the least cumbrous mode of taking

money." Leaving the landlord in the sitting-room, I passed into my

chamber, and speedily re-entered with a handsome emerald ring upon my

finger, and a ruby brooch of great size in my breast.

The Jew's eyes were lit up with a lustre only inferior to that of the

gems as he saw them, and in a voice tremulous with eagerness he said,

"Will your Excellency dispose of these?"

"Yes," said I, carelessly; "there are others also, which I am determined

to turn into cash. What value would you put upon this ring?"

"Five hundred crowns, Señhor, if it be really as pure as it seems."

"If that be your valuation, friend," rejoined I, "I would be a

purchaser, not a seller, in this city. That gem cost me six thousand

piastres! To be sure, something of the price must be laid to the charge

of historical associations. It was the present of the Sultan Al Hadgid

ak Meerun-ak-Roon to the Empress Matilda."

"Six thousand piastres!" echoed the Jew, whose astonishment stopped

short at the sum, without any regard for the great names I had hurled at

him.

"I believe I may have paid a trifle too much," said I, smiling; "the

Prince of Syracuse thought it dear! But then here is a much more

valuable stone, which only cost as much;" and, so saying, I took from

my pocket an immense emerald, which had once formed the ornament of a

dagger.

"Ah, Dios! that is fine," said the Jew, as he held it between him and

the light; "and, were it not for the flaw, would be a rare prize!"

"Were it not for the flaw, friend," said I, "it would still be where

it stood for upwards of eight hundred years,--in the royal crown of

Hungary, in the 'Schatzkammer' of Presburg. The Emperor Joseph had it

mounted in his own poignard; from his hands it reached the Caltons of

Auersberg; and then, at the value of six thousand piastres, by a wager,

came into my own."

"And at what price would you now dispose of it?" asked he, timidly.

"A friend might have it for ten thousand," said I, calmly; "to the world

at large the price would be twelve."

"Ah, your Excellency, such sums rest not in our humble city! You must go

to Madrid or Grenada for wealth like that."

"So I suspect," said I, coolly. "I will content myself with depositing

them with my banker for the present; to sell them here would be a

needless sacrifice of them."

"And yet, Señhor, I would willingly be the purchaser of that gem," said

he, as he stood, fascinated by the lustre of the stone, from which he

could not take his eyes. "If six thousand five hundred piastres--"

"I have said ten to a friend, my honest Israelite," interrupted I.

"I am but a poor man, your Excellency,--a poor struggling, hard-working

man,--content if he but gain the humblest profit by his labor; say,

then, seven thousand piastres, and I will sell my mules to make up the

amount."

"I will say twelve, and not a doubloon less," Señhor Judio; "but a

friend may have it for ten."

"Ah, if your 'Alteza' would but say eight! Eight thousand piastres

counted down upon the table in honest silver," said he; and the tears

stood in his eyes as he supplicated.

"Be it so," said I, "but upon one condition. Should you ever reveal

this, or should you speak of the transaction in any way, there is no

manner of evil and mischief I will not work you. If it cost me half my

fortune, I will be your ruin; for I refused to part with that same

to the Primate of Seville, and he would never forgive me if the story

should reach his ears."

The Jew wished the Patriarchs to witness his oath of secrecy; and though

each of us was well aware that the other was lying, somehow we seemed

satisfied by the exchange of our false coinage. I suppose we acted on

the same principle as the thieves who could not keep their hands out of

each other's pockets, although they knew well there was nothing there.

Whatever the Jew's suspicion of the means by which I had become

possessed of such wealth, he prudently thought that he might reap more

profit by falling in with my plans than by needlessly scrutinizing my

character; and, so far, he judged wisely.

The contract for the carriage I completed on the spot, and having

engaged the servants and ordered their liveries,--plain suits of brown,

with gold tags, aiguilettes,--I gave directions for my own wearing

apparel, in a style of costly magnificence that confirmed me in the

title of "Alteza," given by all who came in contact with me. These

occupations occupied the entire morning, and it was only late in the

afternoon that I had spare time to recreate myself by a walk in the

garden of the inn before dinner,--a promenade which, I am free to own,

was heightened in its enjoyment by the rich rustling sounds of my heavy

silk robe-dè-chambre, and the soft, downy tread of my velvet slippers

on the smooth turf. It was a delicious moment! the very birds seemed to

sing a little paean of rejoicing at my good luck; the flowers put forth

their sweetest odors as I passed; and I felt myself in ecstasy with the

whole creation, and in particular with that segment of it called Con

Cregan. And there be folk in this world would call this egotism and

vanity; ay, and by worse names too! As if it was not the very purest

philanthropy--as if my self-content did not spring from the calm

assurance that the goods of fortune were bestowed in the right

direction, and that the goddess whom men call "fickle" was in reality a

most discriminating deity!

There are no two things in creation less alike than a rich man and a

poor one! Not only do all their thoughts, feelings, and affections run

in opposite channels, but their judgments are different; and from the

habit of presenting particular aspects to the world, they come at last

to conform to the impressions conceived of them by the public. The

eccentricities of wealth are exalted into fashions,--the peculiarities

of poverty are degraded to downright vices.

"Oh, glorious metal!" exclaimed I, as I walked along, "that smooths

the roughest road of life, that makes the toughest venison savory, and

renders the rudest associates civil and compliant, what insolence and

contumely had I not met with here, in this poor 'Posada,' had I only

been what my humble dress and mean exterior denoted; and now, what is

there that I cannot exact, what demands can I make, and hear that they

are impossible!"

"His Excellency's dinner is served," said the host, as he advanced, with

many a low and obsequious salutation, to announce my dinner.

I suppose that the cookery of the "Mono" was not of the very highest

order, and that if presented before me now, it would meet but sorry

acceptance from my more educated palate; but at the time I speak of,

it seemed actually delicious. There appeared to arise faint odors, of

savory import, from dishes whose garlic would now almost suffocate me,

and I luxuriated in the flavor of wine, every glass of which would, at

this day, have put my teeth on edge. If my enjoyment was great, however,

I took care not to let it appear too palpable; on the contrary, I

criticised and condemned with all the fastidiousness of a spoiled

nature, and only condescended to taste anything on the perpetual

assurance of the host that "though very different from what his

Excellency was used to, it was exactly to the taste of the late

'Gobernador.'"

I felt all the swelling importance of wealth within me as I beheld the

cringing lacqueys and the obsequious host, who never dared to carry

himself erect in my presence; the very meats seemed to send up an

incense to my nostrils. The gentle wind that shook the orange-blossoms

seemed made to bear its odors to my senses; all Nature appeared

tributary to my enjoyment. And only to think of it! all this adulation

was for poor Con Cregan, the convict's son; the houseless street-runner

of Dublin; the cabin-boy of the yacht; the flunkey at Quebec; the

penniless wanderer in Texas; the wag of the "Noria," in Mexico. What a

revulsion, and how sudden and unexpected!

It now became a matter of deep consideration within me how I should

support this unlooked-for change of condition, without betraying

too palpably what the French would call my "antecedents." As to my

"relatives,"--forgive the poor pun,--they gave me little trouble. I had

often remarked in life that vulgar wealth never exhibits itself in a

more absurd and odious light than when indulging in pleasures of which

the sole enjoyment is the amount of the cost. The upstart rich man may

sit in a gallery of pictures where Titian, Velasquez, and Vandyck have

given him a company whose very countenances seem to despise him, while

he thinks of nothing save the price. If he listen to Malibran, the only

sense awakened is the cost of her engagement; and hence that stolid

apathy, the lustreless gaze, the unrelieved weariness, he exhibits in

society, where it is the metal of the "mind" is clinking, and not the

metal of the "mint." To a certain extent I did not incur great danger

on this head: Nature had done me some kind services, the chief of which

was, she had made me an Irishman!

There may seem--alas! there is too great cause that there should

seem--something paradoxical in this boast, now, when sorrow and

suffering are so much our portion; but I speak only of the individuality

which, above every other I have seen or heard of, invests a man with a

spirit to enjoy whatever is agreeable in life. Now, this same gift is a

great safeguard against the vulgarity of purse-pride, since the man

who launches forth upon the open sea of pleasure is rarely occupied by

thoughts of self.

As for me, I felt a kind of gluttony for every delight that gold can

purchase. What palaces I would inhabit; what equipages I would drive;

what magnificent fêtes I would give; what inimitable little dinners,

where beauty, wit, and genius alone should be gathered together;

what music should I possess in "my private band;" what exotics in

my conservatory; and how I should dispense these fascinations; what

happiness would I diffuse in the circle in which I moved, and what a

circle would that be! It was to this precise point my buoyant fancy had

brought me, as the second flask of champagne, iced almost to a crystal,

had warmed me into a glow of imaginative enthusiasm. I fancied myself

in a gilded saloon, where, amid the glare of a thousand wax-lights, a

brilliant company were assembled. I thought that at each opening of the

folding-door a servant announced some name, illustrious from position

or great in reputation, and that around me, as I stood, a group was

gathered of all that was distinguished in the world of fashion or

celebrity. "Your Royal Highness has made this the proudest day of my

life," said I, rising, and bowing reverentially before a faded old

arm-chair. "May I offer your Eminence a seat," continued I to a red

sofa-cushion I mistook for a cardinal. "Your Excellency is most heartily

welcome," said I to an empty decanter. And so did I convert every

adjunct of the chamber into some distinguished personage, even, to my

fast expiring lamp, which, with a glimmering flame and a nauseous odor,

was gradually dying away, and which I actually addressed as a great

ambassador!

After this, I conclude that I must have imagined myself in the

East,--possibly taking a cup of sherbet with the Sultan, or a chibouk

with the Khan of Tammerkabund; for when I became conscious once more, I

found myself upon the hearthrug, where I had been enjoying a delicious

sleep for some hours.

"Would his Excellency desire to see his chamber?" asked the landlord,

as, with a branch of candles, he stood in the doorway.

I waved my hand in sign of assent, and followed him.

CHAPTER XXVII. GUAJUAQUALLA

There are few things in this world gold cannot buy: but one among their

number assuredly is--"a happy dream." Now, although I went to sleep in

a great bed with damask hangings and a gilt crown upon it, my pillow

fringed with deep lace, my coverlet of satin edged with gold, I dreamed

the whole night through of strifes, combats, and encounters. At one time

my enemy would be an Indian; at another, a half-breed; now, a negro;

now, a jaguar or a rattlesnake: but with whom, or whatever the struggle,

it was always for money! Nothing else seemed to have any hold upon my

thoughts. Wealth, and wealth alone, appeared the guiding principle of my

being; and, as the penalty, I was now to learn the ceaseless anxieties,

the torturing dreads, this passion begets.

With daylight, however, I awoke, and the bright sun, streaming in,

brought the glorious reality of my happy lot before me, and reminded

me of the various duties my high state imposed. My first care was

to ascertain the amount and security of my riches; and I resolved to

proceed regularly and in the most business-like manner in the matter.

To this end I ordered my carriage, and proceeded to pay my visit to the

banker, Don Xafire.

I had devised and demolished full fifty ingenious narratives of myself

when I drove into the courtyard where the banker resided, and found

myself actually without one single satisfactory account of who I was,

whence I came, and by what means I became possessed of the formidable

papers I carried. "Let circumstances pilot the event" was my old maxim;

and, so saying, I entered.

The rattling tramp of my six mules, the cracking of whips, and the crash

of the wheels, brought many a head to the windows of the old jail-like

palace when my carriage drove up to the door, and the two outriders

stood in "a salute" at each side while I descended. "Sua Eccelenza El

Condé de Cregano" resounded through the arched hall and passages, as

an old servant in a tawdry suit of threadbare livery led the way to Don

Xafire's private apartment.

After a brief wait in a large but meagrely furnished chamber, an old

man--or a middle-aged one, with a look of age--entered, and, with a

profusion of ceremonial, in which he assured me that his house, his

wife, his oxen, his mules, his asses, and in fact everything "that was

his," stood at my disposal, asked to what fortunate event he owed the

honor of my visit.

"I am the representative, Señhor Xafire," said I, "of the great house of

Cregan and Company, of which doubtless you have heard, whose ships walk

the waters of the icy seas, and lay at anchor amid the perfumes of the

spice islands, and whose traffic unites two hemispheres."

"May they always be prosperous!" said the polite Spaniard, bowing.

"They have hitherto enjoyed that blessing," responded I, almost

thankfully. "Even as the youngest member of the firm, I have nothing

to complain of on the score of prosperity." I smiled, took forth a most

gorgeous snuff-box, all glittering with brilliants, and, presenting it

to the Spaniard, laid it carelessly on the table. After a brief pause,

to let the splendor settle down into his heart, I proceeded to inform

him that in the course of commercial transactions a vast number of

bills, receipts for deposits and other securities, had fallen into our

hands, upon many of which we had advanced large sums, seeing that they

bore the name of that most respectable house, the Bank of Don Xafire, of

Guajuaqualla. "These would," I added, "have been dispersed through the

various channels of trade, had it not been the wish of my partners to

open distinct relations with your house, and consequently they have

retained the papers until a favorable occasion presented itself of

personally making the proposition. This happy opportunity has arisen

by our recent purchase of the great gold mines of the 'Arguareche' for

seventy millions of piastres, of which you may have read in the 'Faros

de la Habanas.'"

He bowed a humble negative; and I went on to state that, our mining

operations requiring co-operation and assistance, we desired to open

relations with the great house of Don Xafire, whose good fame was well

established on the 'Change of Liverpool.

"You spoke of paper securities and such like, Señhor; may I ask of what

nature they are?"

"You shall see them, Don Xafire," said I, opening a very magnificent

pocket-book, and presenting first a receipt, dated forty-eight years

back, for the sum of twelve thousand piastres in silver, and four bags,

weighing two hundred and eighty pounds of gold dust, from the hands

of Menelaus Crick, of the mines of Hajoras, near Guajuaqualla. The

Spaniard's dark cheek trembled, and a faint tinge of sickly yellow

seemed to replace the dusky olive of his tint, as he said, "This is

but waste paper, Señhor, and I trust your excellent house has advanced

nothing on its credit."

"On the contrary, Señhor Banquiero," responded I, "we have given the

full sum, being much advised thereto by competent counsel."

The battle was now opened, and the combat begun.

It is needless I should weary my reader by recapitulating the tissue of

inventions in which, as in a garment, I wrapped myself. I saw quickly

that if _I_ was a rogue, so was my antagonist, and that for every

stratagem _I_ possessed, _he_ was equally ready with another. At last,

pushed hard by his evasions, equivocations, and subterfuges, I was

driven to utter a shadowy kind of menace, in which I artfully contrived

to mix the name of the General Santa Anna,--a word, in those days, of

more than talismanic power.

"And this reminds me," said I, "that one of my suite who lost his way,

and was taken prisoner in the Rocky Mountains, committed to my charge a

letter, in which I fancy the General is interested." This was a random

shot, but it struck the bull's-eye through the very centre. The Señhora

Dias's letter was enclosed in an envelope, in which a few words only

were written; but these, few as they were, were sufficient to create

considerable emotion in Don Xafire, who retired into a window to read

and re-read them.

Another shot, thought I, and he's disabled! "It is needless, then,

Don Xafire, to prolong an interview which promises so little. I will

therefore take my leave; my next communication will reach you through

the General Santa Anna."

"May I not crave a little time for consideration, Señhor?" said he,

humbly. "These are weighty considerations; there may be other demands

still heavier in store for us of the same kind."

"You are right, Señhor; there are other and still heavier claims, as you

very properly opine. Some of them I have here with me; others are in the

hands of our house; but all shall be forthcoming, I assure you."

"What may be the gross amount, Señhor?" said the banker, trying, but

very ineffectually, to look at his ease.

"Without pretending to minute accuracy, I should guess the sum at

something like seven hundred thousand piastres,--this, exclusive

of certain claims for compensation usual in cases of inquiry. You

understand me, I believe." The last menace was a shot in the very centre

of his magazine, and so the little usurer felt it, as he fidgeted among

his papers and concealed his face from me.

"Come, Señhor Xafire," said I, with the air of a man who means to

deal mercifully, and not to crush the victim in his power, "I will be

moderate with you. These bills and receipts shall be all placed in

your hands on payment of the sums due, without any demand for interest

whatever. We will not speak of the other claims at all. The transaction

shall be strictly in honor between us, and nothing shall ever transpire

to your disadvantage regarding it. Is this enough?"

The struggle in the banker's mind was a difficult one; but after several

hours passed in going over the papers, after much discussion, and some

altercation, I gained the day; and when I arose to take my leave, it was

with my pocket-book stuffed full of bills on Pernambuco, Mexico,

Santa Cruz, and the Havannah, with letters of credit, bonds, and other

securities; the whole amounting to four hundred thousand piastres. The

remaining sum of three hundred thousand, I had agreed to leave in Don

Xafire's hands at reasonable interest. In fact, I was but too happy

in the possession of so much to think twice about what became of the

remainder.

I presented my friend Xafire with my ruby brooch, as a souvenir,--not,

indeed, that he needed anything to remind him of our acquaintance; and

we parted with all the regrets of brothers about to separate.

"You will stay some days with us here, I hope?" said he, as he conducted

me to my carriage.

"I intend a short visit to some of the old 'Placers' in your

neighborhood," replied I, "after which I mean to return here;" and so,

with a last embrace, we parted.

My next care was to pay a visit to Don Estaban, for I was burning with

anxiety to see Donna Maria once more, and to open my campaign as a

rich suitor for her hand. The day chosen for this expedition seemed

a fortunate one, for the road, which led through a succession of

vineyards, was thronged with townspeople and peasants in gay holiday

dresses, all wending their way in the same direction with ourselves. I

asked the reason, and heard that it was the _fête_ of the Virgin de los

Dolores, whose chapel was on the estate of Don Estaban. I bethought me

of the time when I had planned a pilgrimage to that same shrine,--little

suspecting that I was to make it in my carriage, with six mules and two

outriders!

In less than an hour's drive we came in sight of Don Estaban's villa,

built on the side of a richly wooded mountain, and certainly not

betraying any signs of the reduced fortune of which I had heard. A

series of gardens, all terraced in the mountain, lay in front, among

which fountains were playing and _jets d'eau_ springing. A small lake

spread its calm surface beneath, reflecting the whole scene as in a

mirror, with its feathery palm-trees and blossoming mimosas, beneath

whose shade hundreds of visitors were loitering or sitting, while the

tinkling sounds of guitar and mandolin broke the stillness.

It was a strange and curious sight; for while pleasure seemed to

hold unbounded sway on every side, the procession of priests in rich

vestments, the smoke of censers, the red robes of acolytes, mingled with

the throng, and the deep chanting of the liturgies was blended with the

laughter of children and the merry sounds of light-hearted joy. "I have

come in the very nick of time," thought I, "to complete this scene of

festivity;" and finding that my carriage could only advance slowly along

the crowded avenue, I descended, and proceeded on foot, merely attended

by two lacqueys to make way for me in front.

A lively controversy ran among the spectators at each side of me, of

which I was evidently the subject, some averring that I was there as a

portion of the pageant, an integral feature in the procession; others,

with equal discrimination, insisting that my presence was a polite

attention on the part of Our Lady de "Los Dolores," who had sent an

illustrious personage to grace the festival as her representative. On

one point all were agreed,--that my appearance amongst them was a favor

which a whole life of devotion to me could not repay; and so rapidly

was this impression propagated that it sped up the long approach through

various groups and knots of people, and actually reached the villa

itself long before my august person arrived at the outer court.

Never was dignity--at least such dignity as mine--intrusted to better

hands than those of my "Caçadores." They swaggered along, pushing back

the crowds on each side as though it were a profanation to press too

closely upon me. They flourished their great gold-headed canes as if

they would smash the skulls of those whose eager curiosity outstepped

the reverence due to me; and when at length we reached the gates of the

court-yard, they announced my name with a grandeur and pomp of utterance

that, I own it frankly, actually appalled myself! I had not, however,

much time given me for such weaknesses, as, directly in front of the

villa, at a table spread beneath an awning of blue silk, sat a goodly

company, whose splendor of dress and profusion of jewellery bespoke them

the great guests of the occasion. The host--it was easy to detect him

by the elevated seat he occupied--rose as I came forward, and, with a

humility I never can praise too highly, assured me that if any choice

were permitted him in the matter, he would prefer dying on the spot, now

that his worldly honors could never exceed the triumph of that day;

that all the happiness of the festivity was as gloom and darkness to his

soul, compared to the brilliancy my presence diffused; and not only was

everything he owned mine from that moment forth, but, he ardently hoped

he might have a long line of grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be

my slaves in succeeding generations.

While the worthy man poured forth these "truths" in all the flourish

of his purest Castilian, and while I listened to them with the

condescending urbanity with which a sovereign may be presumed to hear

the strains of some national melody in their praise, as pleasant, though

somewhat stale, another individual was added to the group, whose

cunning features evinced nothing either of the host's reverence or of

my grandeur. This was Fra Miguel, the Friar, who, in a costume of

extraordinary simplicity, stood staring fixedly at me.

"Il Condé de Cregauo!" repeated Don Estaban. "I have surely heard the

name before. Your highness is doubtless a grandee of Spain?"

"Of the first class!" said I, with a slight cough; for the confounded

Friar never took his eyes off me.

"And we have met before, Señhor Condé," said he, with a most equivocal

stress upon the last words. "How pleasant for me to thank the Condé for

what I believed I owed to the mere wayfarer." These words he uttered in

a whisper close to my own ear.

"Better that, than ungratefully desert a benefactor!" said I, in the

same low tone; then, turning to Don Estaban, who stood amazed at our

dramatic asides, I told him pretty much what I had already related to

the banker at Guajuaqualla; only adding that during an excursion which

it was my caprice to make alone and unaccompanied, I had been able

to render a slight service to his fair daughter, Donna Maria de Los

Dolores, and that I could not pass the neighborhood without inquiring

after her health, and craving permission to kiss her hand.

"Is this the Señhor Cregan of the 'Rio del Crocodielo '?" cried Don

Estaban, in rapture.

"The same whom we left in safe keeping with our Brothers of Mercy, at

Bexar!" exclaimed the Friar, in affected amazement.

"The very same, Fra Miguel, whom you humanely consigned to the Lazaretto

of Bexar,--an establishment which has as little relation to 'mercy' as

need be; the same who, having resumed the rank and station that belong

to him, can afford to forget your cold-hearted desertion."

"San Joachim of Ulloa knows if I did not pay for masses for your soul's

repose!" exclaimed he.

"A very little care of me in this world," said I, "had been to the full

as agreeable as all your solicitations for me in the next; and as for

San Joachim," added I, "no witness can be received as evidence who will

not appear in court."

"It is a pleasure to see your Excellency in the perfect enjoyment of

your faculties," said the Fra, with a deceitful smile; but I paid little

attention to his sneer, and turned willingly to Don Estaban, whose

grateful acknowledgments were beyond all bounds. He vowed that he owed

his daughter's life to my heroism, and that he and she, and all that

were theirs, were mine.

"Very gratifying tidings these," thought I, "for a man who only asks for

an 'instalment of his debt,' and will be satisfied with the lady."

"Maria shall tell you so herself," added Don Estaban, in a perfect

paroxysm of grateful emotion. "Don Lopez y Cuesta y Goloso can never

forget your noble conduct." Not caring much how retentive the memory of

the aforesaid hidalgo might prove,--whom I at once set down as an uncle

or a godfather,--I hastened after the host to where his daughter sat at

the table. I had but time to see that she was dressed in black, with a

profusion of diamonds scattered, not only through her hair, but over her

dress, when she arose, and, ere I could prevent it, fell at my feet and

covered my hands with kisses, calling me her "Salvador," in a voice of

the wildest enthusiasm,--an emotion which seemed most electrically to

seize upon the whole company; for I was now laid hold of by every

limb, and hugged, kissed, and embraced by a score of people, the large

majority of whom, I grieve to say, were the very hardest specimens of

what is called the softer sex.

One member of the company maintained a look of cold distrust towards me,

the very opposite of all this cordiality. This was Don Lopez, who did

not need this air of dislike to appear to my eyes the ugliest mortal I

had ever beheld. He was exceedingly short of stature, but of an immense

breadth; and yet, even with this, his head was far too big for his body.

A huge spherical mass, party-colored with habits of debauch, looked like

a terrestrial globe, of which the mouth represented the equator. His

attempts at embellishment had even made him more horrible; for he wore

a great wig, with long curls flowing upon his shoulders, and his immense

moustachios were curled into a series of circles, like a ram's horn. His

nose had been divided across the middle by what seemed the slash of a

cutlass, the cicatrix remaining of an angry red color, amid the florid

hue of the countenance.

The expression of these benign features did not disgrace their symmetry.

It was a cross between a scowl and a sneer; the eyes and brow performed

the former, the mouth assuming the latter function.

Blushing with shame and trembling with emotion, Maria led me towards

him, and, in accents I can never forget, told how I had rescued her in

the passage of the Crocodile River. The wretch scowled more darkly

than before, as he listened, and when she ended, he muttered something

between his bloated lips that sounded marvellously like "Picaro!"

"Your godfather scarcely seems so grateful as one might expect,

Señhora," said I.

"Muerte de Dios!" he burst out, "I am her husband."

Whether it was the simple fact so palpably brought forward, the manner

of its announcement, or the terrible curse that involuntarily fell from

my lips, I know not, but Donna Maria fell down in a swoon. Fainting,

among foreigners, I have often found, is regarded next door to actually

dying; and so it was here. A scene of terror and dismay burst forth that

soon converted the festivity into an uproar of wild confusion. Every one

screamed for aid, and dashed water in his neighbor's face. The few who

retained any presence of mind filled out large bumpers of wine, and

drank them off. Meanwhile, Donna Maria was sufficiently recovered to be

conducted into the house, whither she was followed by her "marido," Don

Lopez, whose last look as he passed me was one of insulting defiance.

The cause of order having triumphed, as the newspapers say, I was led to

one side by Don Estaban, who in a few words told me that Don Lopez was

a special envoy from the Court of Madrid, come out to arrange some

disputed question of a debt between the two countries; that he was a

Grandee d'Espana, a Golden Fleece, and I don't know what besides; his

title of Donna Maria's husband being more than enough to swallow up

every other consideration with me. The ceremony had been performed

that very morning. It was the wedding breakfast I had thrown into such

confusion and dismay.

Don Estaban, in his triumphal narrative of his daughter's great

elevation in rank, of the proud place she would occupy in the proud

court of the Escurial, her wealth, her splendor, and her dignity, could

not repress the fatherly sorrow he felt at such a disproportioned union;

nor could he say anything of his son-in-law but what concerned his

immense fortune. "Had it been you, Señhor Condé," cried he, throwing

himself into my arms,--"you, young, handsome, and well-born as you are,

I had been happy."

"Is it too late, Don Estaban?" said I, passionately. "I have wealth

that does not yield to Don Lopez, and Maria is not--at least, she was

not--indifferent regarding me."

"Oh, it is too late, far too late!" cried the father, wringing his

hands.

"Let me speak with Maria herself. Let me also speak with this Don

Lopez. I may be able to make him understand reason, however dull his

comprehension."

"This cannot be, Señhor Caballero," said another voice. It was Fra

Miguel, who, having heard all that passed, now joined the colloquy.

"Nothing short of a dispensation from the Holy See could annul the

marriage, and Don Lopez is not likely to ask for one."

"I will not suffer it," cried I, in desperation. "I would rather carry

her away by force than permit such a desecration."

"Hush! for the love of the Virgin, Señhor," cried Don Estaban. "Don

Lopez is captain of the Alguazils of the Guard, and a Grand Inquisitor."

"What signifies that in Mexico?" said I, boldly.

"More than you think for, Señhor," whispered Fra Miguel. "We have not

ceased to be good Catholics, although we are no longer subjects of Old

Spain." There was an air of cool menace in the way these words were

spoken that made me feel very ill at ease. I soon rallied, however,

and, drawing the Friar to one side, said, "How many crowns will buy a

candelabrum worthy of your chapel?"

He looked at me fixedly for a few seconds, and his shrewd features

assumed a character of almost comic cunning. "The Virgin de los Dolores

is too simple for such luxuries, Señhor Condé," said he, with a sly

drollery.

"Would she not condescend to wear a few gems in her petticoat?" asked I,

with the easy assurance of one not to be balked.

"She has no pleasure in such vanities," said the Fra, with an

hypocritical casting down of his eyes.

"Would she not accept of an embroidered handkerchief," said I, "to

dry her tears? I have known one of this pattern to possess the most

extraordinary powers of consolation;" and as I spoke I drew forth a

bank-note of some amount, and gently drew it across his knuckles.

A slight tremor shook his frame, and a short, convulsive motion was

perceptible in the hand I had "galvanized;" but in an instant, with his

habitual calm smile and mellow voice, he said, "Your piety will bring

a blessing upon you, Señhor, but our poor shrine is unused to such

princely donations."

"Confound the old hypocrite," muttered I to myself; "what is he at?--Fra

Miguel," said I, assuming the business-like manner of a man who could

not afford to lose time, "the Virgin may be, and doubtless is, all that

you say of her; but there must needs be many excellent and devout men

here, yourself doubtless among the number, who see numberless objects

of charity, for whom their hearts bleed in vain. Take this, and remember

that he who gave it, only asks as a return your prayers and good

wishes."

The Friar deposited the present in some inscrutable fold of his loose

garment, and then, drawing himself proudly up, said, "Well, now what is

it?"

"Am I too late?" asked I, with the same purpose-like tone.

"Of course you are; the ceremony is finished, the contracts are signed

and witnessed. In an hour they will be away on their road to the

Havannah."

"You have no consolation to offer me,--no hope?"

"None of an earthly character," said he, with a half-closed eye.

"Confound your hypocrisy!" cried I, in a rage.

"Don't be profane," said he, calmly. "What I have said is true. Heaven

will some day take Don Lopez,--he is too good for this wicked world; and

then, who knows what may happen?"

This was but sorry comfort, waiting for the bride to become a widow;

but, alas, I had no better! Besides it had cost me a heavy sum to

obtain, and accordingly I prized it the more highly.

If _my_ anxieties were acute, apparently Don Lopez's mind was not in

a state of perfect serenity. He stormed and raved at everybody and

everything. He saw, or, what was pretty much the same thing, he fancied

he saw, a plot in the whole business, and swore he would bring the

vengeance of the Holy Office upon everybody concerned in it. In this

blessed frame of mind the departure of the newly wedded pair took place

in spite of all my entreaties; Don Lopez drove away with his young

bride,--the last I beheld of her was a white hand waving a handkerchief

from the window of the carriage. I looked, and--she was gone!

If some were kind-hearted enough to pity me, the large majority of the

company felt very differently, and bore anything but friendly feelings

to one who had marred the festivities and cut short--Heaven could

only tell by what number of days--the eating, dancing, singing, and

merriment.

The old ladies were peculiarly severe in their comments, averring that

no well-bred man would have thought of interfering with a marriage. It

was quite time enough to talk of his passion when the others were six or

eight months married!

Of the younger ladies, a few condoled with me, praised my heroism and

my constancy, and threw out sly hints that when I tried my luck next,

fortune might possibly be more generous to me. Don Estaban himself

appeared to sympathize sincerely with my sorrow, and evinced the

warmest sense of gratitude for the past. Even the Fra tried a little

good-nature; but it sat ill upon him, and it was easy to see that he

entertained a great mistrust of me.

From the brief experience of what I suffered in these few days, I am

decidedly of opinion that rich men are far more impatient under reverses

and disappointments than poor ones! It was a marvellous change for one

like me, whose earlier years, it is unnecessary to remind the reader,

were not passed in the lap of that comfortable wet nurse called

"affluence;" and yet with all this brilliant present and still more

fascinating future, at the very first instance of an opposition to my

will, I grew sad, dispirited, and morose. I should have been very angry

with myself for my ingratitude, but that I set it all down to the score

of love; and so I went about the house, visiting each room where Donna

Maria used to sit, reading her books, gazing at her picture, and feeding

my mind with a hundred fancies which the next moment of thought told me

were now impossible.

Don Estaban, whose grief for the loss of his daughter was in a manner

divided with mine, would not suffer me to leave him; and although the

place itself served to keep open the wound of my regret, and the Fra's

presence was anything but conciliatory, I passed several days at the

villa.

It would have been the greatest relief to me could I have persuaded

myself to be candid with Don Estaban, and told him frankly the true

story of my life. I felt that all the consolations which he offered me

were of no avail, simply because I had misled him! The ingenious tissue

of fiction in which I enveloped myself was a web so thin that it tore

whenever I stirred, and my whole time was spent, as it were, in

darning, patching, and piecing the frail garment with which I covered my

nakedness.

A dozen times every day I jumped up, determined to reveal my humble

history; but as regularly did a sentiment of false shame hold me back,

and a dread of old Fra Miguel's malicious leer, should he hear the

story. Another, and a strange feeling, too, influenced me. My imaginary

rank, birth, and station had, from the mere force of repetition, grown

to be a portion of myself. I had played the part with such applause

before the world that I could not find in my heart to retire behind the

scenes and resume the humble dress of my real condition.

By way of distracting my gloomy thoughts, I made little excursions in

the surrounding country, in one of which I contrived to revisit the

"placer," and carry away all the treasure which I had left behind me.

This was much more considerable than I had at first believed, the gems

being of a size and beauty far beyond any I had ever seen before; while

the gold, in actual coined money, amounted to a large sum.

Affecting to have changed my original intention of investing a great

capital in the mines of Mexico, and resolved instead to return to

Europe, I consulted Don Estaban as to the safest hands in which to

deposit my money. He named a certain wealthy firm at the Havannah, and

gave me a letter of introduction to them, requesting for me all the

attention in their power to bestow; and so we parted.

It was with sincere sorrow I shook his hand for the last time; his

cordiality was free-hearted and affectionate; and I carry with me,

to this hour, the memory of his wise counsels and honest precepts, as

treasures, not the least costly, I brought away with me from the New

World.

I arrived safely at the Havannah, travelling in princely state with

two carriages and a great baggage-wagon guarded by four mounted

"carabinieros" who had taken a solemn oath at the shrine of a certain

Saint Magalano to eat any bandits who should molest us,--a feat of

digestion which I was not sorry their devotion was spared.

The bankers to whom Don Estaban's letters introduced me were most

profuse in their offers of attention, and treated me with all the

civilities reserved for the most favored client. I only accepted,

however, one invitation to dinner, to meet the great official

dignitaries of the place, and the use of their box each evening at

the opera, affecting to make delicacy of health the reason of not

frequenting society,--a pretext I had often remarked in use among people

of wealth and distinction, among whose privileges there is that of being

sick without suffering.

There was a French packet-ship to sail for Malaga in about ten days

after my arrival; and as I knew that Don Lopez intended to leave that

port for Europe, I quietly waited in the Havannah, determined to be his

fellow-traveller. In preparing for this voyage, every thought of my

mind was occupied, resolved to outdo the old Spaniard in luxury and

magnificence. I ordered the most costly clothes, I engaged the most

accomplished servants, I bespoke everything which could make the

tediousness of the sea less irksome, even to the services of a

distinguished performer on the guitar, who was about to visit Europe,

and engaged to begin his journey under such distinguished patronage as

that of the Condé de Cregano.

What wonderful speculations did I revel in as I pictured to myself

Don Lopez's ineffectual rage, and his fair wife's satisfaction, when I

should first make my appearance on deck,--an appearance which I artfully

devised should not take place until we were some days at sea! What

agonies of jealousy should I not inflict upon the old Castilian! what

delicate flatteries should I not offer up to the Donna! I had laid in

a store of moss-rose plants, to present her with a fresh bouquet every

morning; and then I would serenade her each night beneath the very

window of her cabin. So perfectly had I arranged all these details to

my own satisfaction that the voyage began to appear a mere pleasure

excursion, every portion of whose enjoyment originated with me, and all

whose blanks and disappointments owed their paternity to Don Lopez; so

that, following up these self-created convictions in my usual sanguine

manner, I firmly persuaded myself that the worthy husband would either

go mad or jump overboard before we landed at Malaga. Let not the reader

fall into the error of supposing that hatred to Don Lopez was uppermost

in my thoughts,--far from it; I wished him in heaven every hour of the

twenty-four, and would willingly have devoted one-half of my fortune

to make a saint of him in the next world, rather than make a martyr in

this.

I was walking one evening in my banker's garden, chatting pleasantly

on indifferent topics, when, on ascending a little eminence, we came

in view of the sea. It was a calm and lovely evening, a very light land

breeze was just rippling the waters of the bay, fringing the blue with

white, when we saw the graceful spars of a small sloop of war emerge

from beneath the shadow of the tall cliffs and stand out to sea.

"The 'Moschetta,'" said he, "has got a fair wind, and will be out of

sight of land by daybreak."

"Whither is she bound?" asked I, carelessly.

"For Cadiz," said he; "she came into port only this morning, and is

already off again."

"With despatches, perhaps?" I remarked, with the same tone of

indifference.

"No, Señhor; she came to convey Don Lopez y Geloso, the Spanish

ambassador, back to Madrid."

"And is he on board of her now?" screamed I, in a perfect paroxysm of

terror. "Is _she_ too?"

"He embarked about an hour ago, with his bride and suite," said the

astonished banker, who evidently was not quite sure of his guest's

sanity.

Overwhelmed by these tidings, which gave at once the death-blow to all

my plans, I could not speak, but sat down upon a seat, my gaze fixed

upon the vessel which carried all my dearest hopes.

"You probably desired to see his Excellency before he sailed?" said the

banker, timidly, after waiting a long time in the expectation that I

would speak.

"Most anxiously did I desire it," said I, shrouding my sorrow under an

affectation of important state solicitude.

"What a misfortune," exclaimed he, "that you should have missed him! In

all likelihood, had you seen him, he would have agreed to our terms."

"You are right," said I, shaking my head sententiously, and neither

guessing nor caring what he alluded to.

"So that he would have accepted the guarantee," exclaimed the banker,

with increased excitement.

"He would have accepted the guarantee," echoed I, without the remotest

idea of what the words could mean.

"Oh, Madré de Dios, what an unhappy mischance is this! Is it yet too

late? Alas! the breeze is freshening,--the sloop is already sinking

beyond the horizon; to overtake her would be impossible! And you say

that the guarantee would have been accepted?"

"You may rely upon it," said I, the more confidently as I saw that the

ship was far beyond the chance of pursuit.

"What a benefactor to this country you might have been, Señhor, had you

done us this service!" cried the banker, with enthusiasm.

"Well, it is too late to think of it now," said I, rather captiously;

for I began to be worried with the mystification.

"Of course, for the present it is too late; but when you arrive in

Europe, Señhor Condé, when you are once more in the land where your

natural influence holds sway, may we entertain the hope that you will

regard our case with the same favorable eyes?"

"Yes, yes," said I, with impatience, "if I see no reason to change my

opinions."

"Upon the subject of the original loan there can be no doubt, Señhor

Condé."

"Perhaps not," said I; "but these are questions I must decline entering

upon. You will yourself perceive that any discussion of them would be

inconvenient and indiscreet."

The diplomatic reserve of this answer checked the warmth of his

importunity, and he bashfully withdrew, leaving me to the undisturbed

consideration of my own thoughts.

I sat till it was already near midnight, gazing on the sea, my eyes

still turned to the track by which the vessel had disappeared, and at

last rose to retire, when, to my amazement, I perceived my friend the

banker, accompanied by another person, approaching towards me.

"Señhor Condé," said he, in a mysterious whisper, "this is his

Excellency the Governor;" and with these words, uttered in all the

reverence of awe, he retired, leaving me face to face with a tall,

dignified-looking personage, whose figure was concealed in the folds of

a great cloak.

In all the formal politeness of his rank and country, the Governor

begged I would be seated, and took his place beside me. He explained how

the banker, one of the richest and most respected men in the Havannah,

had informed him of my gracious intentions respecting them, and the sad

mishap by which my mediation was foiled. He entered at length into the

question of the debt, and all its financial difficulties,--which, even

had they been far less intricate and complicated, would have puzzled a

head which never had the bump arithmetical. How he himself saw his way

through the labyrinth, I know not; but had the sum been a moderate

one, I vow I would rather have paid it myself than investigate it

any farther, such an inextricable mass of complications, doubles, and

difficulties did it involve.

"Thus, you perceive," said he, at the close of a formidable sum of

figures, "that these eighteen millions made no part of the old loan, but

were, in fact, the first deposit of what is called the 'Cuba debt;' not

that it ever should have had that name, which more properly belonged to

the original Poyais three-and-a-half--You understand me?"

"Perfectly; proceed."

"That being the case, our liability is reduced to the sum of

twenty-seven millions on the old four-and-a-quarters."

"Clearly so."

"Now we approach the difficult part of the matter," said he, "and I must

entreat your most marked attention; for here lies the point which has

hitherto proved the stumbling-block in the way of every negotiation."

I promised the strictest attention, and kept my word till I found myself

in a maze of figures where compound interest and decimal fractions

danced a reel together, whose evolutions would have driven Mr. Babbage

distracted; while the Governor, now grown "warm in the harness," kept

exclaiming at every instant, "Do you see how the 'Ladrones' want to

cheat us here? Do you perceive what the Picaros intend by that?"

If I could not follow his arithmetic, I could at least sympathize in his

enthusiasm; and I praised the honor of the Mexicans, while I denounced

"the cause of roguery" over the face of the globe, to his heart's

content.

"You are satisfied about the original debt, Señhor Condé?" at last said

he, after a "four-mile heat" of explanation.

"Most thoroughly," said I, bowing.

"You'd not wish for anything farther on that head?"

"Not a syllable."

"And as to the Cuba instalment, you see the way in which the first scrip

became entangled in the Chihuahua 'fives,' don't you?"

"Plain as my hand before me."

"Then, of course, you acknowledge our right to the reserve fund?"

"I don't see how it can be disputed," said I.

"And yet that is precisely what the Madrid Government contest!"

"What injustice!" exclaimed I.

"Evident as it is to your enlightened understanding, Señhor Condé, you

are, nevertheless, the first man I have ever found to take the right

view of this transaction. It is a real pleasure to discuss a state

question with a great man."

Hereupon we both burst forth into an animated duet of compliments, in

which, I am bound to confess, the Governor was the victor.

"And now, Señhor Condé," said he, after a long volley of panegyric, "may

we reckon upon your support in this affair?"

"You must understand, first of all, Excellenza," replied I, "that I am

not in any way an official personage. I am,"--here I smiled with a most

fascinating air of mock humility,--"I am, so to speak, a humble--a very

humble--individual, of unpretending rank and small fortune."

"Ah, Señhor Condé," sighed the Governor, for he had heard of my ingots

from the banker.

"Being as I say," resumed I, "my influence is naturally small. If I

am listened to in a matter of political importance, I owe the courtesy

rather to the memory of my family's services than to any insignificant

merits I may possess. The cause of justice is, however, never weak, no

matter how humble the means of him who asserts it. Such as I am, rely

upon me."

We embraced here, and the Governor shed a few official tears at the

thought of so soon separating from one he regarded as more than his

brother.

"We feel, Señhor Condé," said he, "how inadequate any recognition of

ours must be for services such as yours. We are a young country and a

Republic; honors we have none to bestow,--wealth is already your own; we

have nothing to offer, therefore, but our gratitude."

"Be it so," thought I; "the burden will not increase my luggage."

"This box will remind you, however, of an interview, and recall one who

deems this the happiest, as it is the proudest, hour of his life;" here

he presented me with a splendid gold snuff-box containing a miniature of

the President, surrounded by enormous diamonds.

Resolving not to be outdone in generosity, and at least not to be guilty

of dishonesty before my own conscience, I insisted upon the Governor's

acceptance of my watch,--a very costly repeater, studded with precious

stones.

"The arms of my family--the Cregans are Irish--will bring me to your

recollection," said I, pointing to a very magnificent heraldic display

on the timepiece, wherein figured the ancient crown of Ireland over

a shield, in one compartment of which was an "eye winking," the motto

being the Gaelic word "Nabocklish," signifying "Maybe not," ironically.

I will not dwell upon the other particulars of an interview which lasted

till nigh morning. It will be sufficient to mention that I was presented

with letters of introduction and recommendation to the Mexican Ministers

at Paris and Madrid, instructing them to show me every attention, and

desiring them to extend to me their entire confidence, particularly to

furnish me with introductions to any official personages with whom

I desired to be acquainted. This was all that I wanted; for I was

immensely rich, and only needed permission to pass the door of the

"great world," to mingle in that society for which my heart yearned and

longed unceasingly.

Some of my readers will smile at the simplicity which believed these

passports necessary, and was ignorant that wealth alone is wanting to

attain any position, to frequent any society, to be the intimate of any

set in Europe, and that the rich man is other than he was in classic

days,--"Honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum."

I have lived to be wiser, and to see vulgarity, coarseness, meanness,

knavery, nay, even convicted guilt, the favored guests of royal saloons.

The moral indictments against crime have to the full as many flaws as

the legal ones; and we see, in every society, men, and women too, as

notoriously criminal as though they wore the red-and-yellow livery

of the galleys. Physicians tell us that every drug whose sanitary

properties are acknowledged in medicine, contains some ingredients of

a noxious or poisonous nature. May not something similar exist in the

moral world? and even in the very healthiest mixture, may not some

"bitter principle" be found to lurk?

CHAPTER XXVII. THE VOYAGE OF THE 'ACADIE'

I was not sorry to leave the Havannah on the following day. I did not

desire another interview with my "friend" the Governor, but rather felt

impatient to escape a repetition of his arithmetic and the story of the

"original debt."

Desirous of supporting my character as a great personage, and at the

same time to secure for myself the pleasure of being unmolested during

the voyage, I obtained the sole right to the entire cabin accommodation

of the "Acadie" for myself and suite; my equipages, baggage, and some

eight or ten Mexican horses occupying the deck.

A salute of honor was fired as I ascended the ladder, and replied to by

the forts,--a recognition of my dignity at which I took occasion to seem

offended; assuring the captain that I was travelling in the strictest

incognito; leaving it to his powers of calculation to compute what

amount of retinue and followers I should have when journeying in the

full blaze of acknowledged identity.

I sat upon the poop-deck as they weighed the anchor, contrasting in my

mind my present condition with that of my first marine experiences on

board the "Firefly." I am richer, thought I. Am I better? Have I become

more generous, more truthful, more considerate, more forgiving?

Has my knowledge of the world developed more of good in me, or of evil;

have my own successes ministered rather to my self-esteem than to my

gratefulness; and have I learned to think meanly of all who have been

beaten in the race of fortune? Alas! there was not a count of this

indictment to which I dared plead "Not guilty." I had seen knavery

thrive too often, not to feel a kind of respect for its ability; I saw

honesty too often worsted, not to feel something like contempt for its

meekness. It was difficult to feel a reverence for poverty, whose traits

were frequently ridiculous; and it was hard to censure wealth, which

dispensed its abundance in splendid hospitalities. Oh, the cunning

sophistries by which we cover up our real feelings in this life,

smothering every healthy impulse and every generous aspiration, under

the guise of some "conventionality."

My conscience was less lenient than I expected. I cut but a sorry figure

"in the dock," and was obliged to throw myself upon the mercy of the

court. I will be more considerate in future, said I to myself; I will

be less exacting with my servants, and more forgiving to their

delinquencies; I will try and remember that there is an acid property in

poverty that sours even the sweetest "milk of human kindness." I will

be trustful, too,--a "gentleman" ought not to be suspicious; it is

eminently becoming a Bow Street officer, but suits not the atmosphere

of good society. These excellent resolutions were to a certain extent "à

propos;" for just as "the foresail began to draw," a boat came alongside

and hailed the ship. I did not deign any attention to a circumstance

so trivial to "one of my condition," and never noticed the conversation

which in very animated tones was kept up between the captain and the

stranger, until the former, approaching me with the most profound

humility, and asking forgiveness for the great liberty he was about

to take, said that a gentleman whom urgent business recalled to Europe

humbly entreated permission to take his passage on board the "Acadie."

"Are you not aware it is impossible, my good friend?" said I,

listlessly. "The accommodation is lamentably restricted, as it is; my

secretary's cabin is like a dog-kennel, and my second cook has actually

to lie round a corner, like a snake."

The captain reddened, and bit his lip in silence.

"As for myself," said I, heroically, "I never complain. Let me have any

little cabin for my bed, a small bath-room, a place to lounge in during

the day, with a few easy sofas, and a snug crib for a dinner-room, and

I can always rough it. It was part of my father's system never to make

Sybarites of his boys." This I asserted with all the sturdy vehemence of

truth.

"We will do everything to make your Excellency comfortable," said the

captain, who clearly could not see the reasons for my self-praise. "And

as to the Consul, what shall we say to him?"

"Consul, did you say?" said I.

"Yes, Señhor Condé, he is the French Consul for the Republic of

'Campecho.'" That this was a State I had never heard of before, was

quite true; yet it was clearly one which the French Government were

better informed upon, and deigned to recognize by an official agent.

"Hold on there a bit!" shouted out the captain to the boat's crew.

"What shall I say, Señhor Condé? The Chevalier de la Boutonerie is very

anxious on the subject."

"Let this man have his passage," said I, indolently, and lighted a

cigar, as if to turn my thoughts in another direction, not even noticing

the new arrival, who was hoisted up the side with his portmanteau in a

very undignified fashion for an official character. He soon, however,

baffled this indifference on my part, by advancing towards me, and, in a

manner where considerable ease and tact were evident, thanked me for my

polite consideration regarding him, and expressed a hope that he might

not in any way inconvenience me during the voyage.

Now, the Chevalier was not in himself a very prepossessing personage,

while his dress was of the very shabbiest, being a worn-out suit of

black, covered by a coarse brown Mexican mantle; and yet his fluency,

his quiet assurance, his seeming self-satisfaction, gained an ascendancy

over me at once. I saw that he was a master in a walk in which I myself

had so long been a student, and that he was a consummate adept in the

"art of impudence."

And how mistaken is the world at large in the meaning of that art!

How prone to call the unblushing effrontery of every underbred man

impudence! The rudeness that dares any speech, or adventures upon

any familiarity; the soulless, heartless, selfish intrusiveness that

scruples not to invade any society,--these are not impudence, or they

are such specimens of the quality as men only possess in common with

inferior animals. I speak of that educated, cultivated "impudence"

which, never abashed by an inferiority, felt acutely, is resolved to

overbear worldly prejudices by the exercise of gifts that assert a

mastery over others,--a power of rising, by the expansive force of

self-esteem, into something almost estimable. Ordinary mortals tell lies

at intervals, _per saltum_, as the doctors say; but these people's

whole life is a lie. The Chevalier was a fine specimen of the class,

and seemed as indifferent to a hundred little adverse circumstances as

though everything around him went well and pleasantly.

There was a suave dignity in the way he moved a very dubious hand

over his unshaven chin, in the graceful negligence he exhibited when

disposing the folds of his threadbare cloak, in the jaunty lightness

with which, after saluting, he replaced his miserable hat on the favored

side of his head, that conveyed the whole story of the man.

What a model for my imitation had he been, thought I, if I had seen him

in the outset of life! what a study he had presented! And yet there he

was, evidently in needy circumstances, pressed on by even urgent want,

and I, Con Cregan, the outcast, the poor, friendless street-runner, had

become a "millionnaire."

I don't know how it was, but certainly I felt marvellously ill at ease

with my new friend. A real aristocrat, with all the airs of assumption

and haughtiness, would have been a blessing compared with the submissive

softness of the "Chevalier." Through all his flattery there seemed a

sly consciousness that his honeyed words were a snare, and his smile

a delusion; and I could never divest myself of the feeling that he saw

into the very secret of my heart, and knew me thoroughly.

I must become his dupe, thought I, or it is all over with me. The fellow

will detect me for a "parvenu" long before we reach Malaga!

No man born and bred to affluence could have acquired the keen insight

into life that I possessed. I must mask this knowledge, then, if I would

still be thought a "born gentleman." This was a wise resolve,--at least,

its effects were immediately such as I hoped for. The Chevalier's little

sly sarcasms, his half-insinuated "équivoques," were changed for a tone

of wonder and admiration for all I said. How one so young could have

seen and learned so much!--what natural gifts I must possess!--how

remarkably just my views were!--how striking the force of my

observations!--and all this while I was discoursing what certainly does

not usually pass for "consummate wisdom." I soon saw that the Chevalier

set me down for a fool; and from that moment we changed places,--_he_

became the dupe versus _me_. To be sure, the contrivance cost me

something, as we usually spent the evenings at piquet or écarté, and the

consul was the luckiest of men; to use his own phrase, applied to one he

once spoke of, "savait corriger la fortune."

Although he spoke freely of the fashionable world of Paris and London,

with all whose celebrities he affected a near intimacy, he rarely

touched upon his New World experiences, and blinked all allusion

whatever to the republic of "Campecho." His own history was comprised in

the brief fact that he was the cadet of a great family of Provence,--all

your French rogues, I remark, come from the South of France,--that he

had once held a high diplomatic rank, from which, in consequence of the

fall of a ministry, he was degraded, and, after many vicissitudes

of fortune, he had become Consul-General at Campecho. "My friends,"

continued he, "are now looking up again in the world, so that I

entertain hopes of something better than perpetual banishment."

Of English people, their habits, modes of life, and thought, the

Chevalier spoke to me with a freedom he never would have used if he

had not believed me to be a Spaniard, and only connected with Ireland

through the remote chain of ancestry. This deceit of mine was one he

never penetrated, and I often thought over the fact with satisfaction.

To encourage his frankness on the subject of my country, I affected to

know nothing, or next to nothing, of England; and gradually he grew to

be more communicative, and at last spoke with an unguarded freedom which

soon opened to me a clew of his real history.

It was one day as we walked the deck together that, after discussing the

tastes and pursuits of the wealthy English, he began to talk of their

passion for sport, and especially horse-racing. The character of this

national pastime he appeared to understand perfectly, not as a

mere foreigner who had witnessed a Derby or a Doncaster, but as one

conversant with the traditions of the turf or the private life of the

jockey and the trainer.

I saw that he colored all his descriptions with a tint meant to excite

an interest within me for these sports. He drew a picture of an "Ascot

meeting," wherein were assembled all the ingredients that could excite

the curiosity and gratify the ambition of a wealthy, high-spirited

youth; and he dilated with enthusiasm upon his own first impressions of

these scenes, mingled with half-regrets of how many of his once friends

had quitted the "Turf" since he last saw it!

He spoke familiarly of those whose names I had often read in newspapers

as the great leaders of the "sporting world," and affected to have known

them all on terms of intimacy and friendship. Even had the theme been

less attractive to me, I would have encouraged it for other reasons, a

strange glimmering suspicion ever haunting my mind that I had heard of

the worthy Chevalier before, and under another title; and so completely

had this idea gained possession of me that I could think of nothing

else.

At length, after we had been some weeks at sea, the welcome cry of

"Land!" was given from the mast-head; but as the weather was hazy and

thick, we were compelled to shorten sail, and made comparatively little

way through the water; so that at nightfall we saw that another day must

elapse ere we touched mother earth again.

The Chevalier and the Captain both dined with me; the latter, however,

soon repaired to the deck, leaving us in _tête-à-tête_. It was in all

likelihood the last evening we should ever pass together, and I felt a

most eager longing to ascertain the truth of my vague suspicions. Chance

gave me the opportunity. We had been playing cards, and luck--contrary

to custom, and in part owing to my always shuffling the cards _after_ my

adversary--had deserted _him_ and taken _my_ side. At first this seemed

to amuse him, and he merely complimented me upon my fortune, and smiled

blandly at my success. After a while, however, his continued losses

began to irritate him, and I could see that his habitual command of

temper was yielding to a peevish, captious spirit he had never exhibited

previously.

"Shall we double our stake?" said he, after a long run of ill-luck.

"If _you_ prefer it, of course," said I. And we played on, but ever with

the same result.

"Come," cried he, at last, "I 'll wager fifty Napoleons on this game."

The bet was made, and he lost it! With the like fortune he played on and

on, till at last, as day was dawning, he had not only lost all that he

had won from me during the voyage, but a considerable sum besides, and

for which he gave me his check upon a well-known banker at Paris.

"Shall I tell you your fortune, Monsieur le Comte?" said he, in a tone

of bitterness that almost startled me.

"With all my heart," said I, laughing. "Are you skilful as a

necromancer?"

"I can at least decipher what the cards indicate," said he. "There is no

great skill in reading, where the print is legible." With these words,

he shuffled the cards, dividing them into two or three packets; the

first card of each he turned on the face. "Let me premise, Count," said

he, "before I begin, that you will not take anything in bad part which I

may reveal to you, otherwise I'll be silent. You are free to believe, or

not to believe, what I tell you; but you cannot reasonably be angry if

unpleasant discoveries await you."

"Go on fearlessly," said I; "I'll not promise implicit faith in

everything, but I 'll pledge myself to keep my temper."

He began at once drawing forth every third card of each heap, and

disposing them in a circle, side by side. When they were so arranged, he

bent over, as if to study them, concealing his eyes from me by his

hand; but at the same time, as I could perceive, keenly watching my

face between his fingers. "There is some great mistake here," said he

at length, in a voice of irritation. "I have drawn the cards wrong,

somehow; it must be so, since the interpretation is clear as print. What

an absurd blunder, too!" and he seemed as if about to dash the cards up

in a heap, from a sense of angry disappointment.

"Nay, nay," cried I, interposing. "Let us hear what they say, even

though we may dispute the testimony."

"If it were less ridiculous it might be offensive," said he, smiling;

"but being as it is, it is really good laughing-matter."

"I am quite impatient,--pray read on."

"Of course it is too absurd for anything but ridicule," said he,

smiling, but, as I thought, with a most malicious expression. "You

perceive here this four of clubs, which, as the first card we turn,

assumes to indicate your commencement in life. Now, only fancy, Monsieur

le Comte, what this most insolent little demon would insinuate. Really,

I cannot continue. Well, well, be it so. This card would say that you

were not only born without rank or title, but actually in a condition

of the very meanest and most humble poverty. Isn't that excellent?"

said he, bursting out into a fit of immoderate laughter, in which the

spiteful glance of his keen eyes seemed to pierce through and through

me.

As for me, I laughed too; but what a laugh it was! Never was a burst

of natural sorrow so poignant in suffering as that forced laugh, when,

covered with shame, I sat there, beneath the sarcastic insolence of the

wretch, who seemed to gloat over the tortures he was inflicting.

"I can scarcely expect that this opening will inspire you with much

confidence in the oracle," said he; "the first step a falsehood,

promises ill for the remainder of the journey."

"If not very veracious," said I, "it is at least very amusing. Pray

continue."

"What would the old counts of your ancestry have said to such a

profanation?" cried the Chevalier. "By Saint Denis, I would not

have been the man to asperse their blood thus, in their old halls at

Grenada!"

"_We_ live in a less haughty age," said I, affecting a smile of

indifference, and motioning to him to proceed.

"What follows is the very commonest of that nonsense which is revealed

in all lowly fortunes. You are, as usual, the victim of cold and hunger,

suffering from destitution and want. Then there are indications of a

bold spirit, ambitious and energetic, bursting out through all the gloom

of your dark condition, and a small whispered word in your ear, tells

you to hope!" While the Chevalier rattled out this "rodomontade" at a

much greater length than I have time or patience to repeat, his eyes

never quitted me, but seemed to sparkle with a fiend-like intelligence

of what was passing within me. As he concluded, he mixed up the cards

together, merely muttering, half aloud, "adventures and escapes by land

and sea. Abundance of hard luck, to be all compensated for one day, when

wealth in all its richest profusion is showered upon you." Then, dashing

the cards from him in affected anger, he said, "It is enough to make men

despise themselves, the way in which they yield credence to such rank

tomfoolery! but I assure you, Count, however contemptible the oracle has

shown herself to-day, I have on more than one occasion been present at

the most startling revelations,--not alone as regarded the past, but the

future also."

"I can easily believe it, Chevalier," replied I, with a great effort to

seem philosophically calm. "One must not reject everything that has not

the stamp of reason upon it; and even what I have listened to to-day,

absurd as it is, has not shaken my faith in the divination of the cards.

Perhaps this fancy of mine is the remnant of a childish superstition,

which I owe in great part to my old nurse. She was a Moor by birth, and

imbued with all the traditions and superstitions of her own romantic

land."

There was a most sneering expression on the Chevalier's face as I

uttered these words. I paid no attention to it, however, but went on:

"From the venerable dame I myself attained to some knowledge of 'destiny

reading,' of which I remember once or twice in life to have afforded

very singular proofs. _My_ skill, however, usually preferred unravelling

the 'future' to the 'present.'"

"Speculation is always easier than recital," said the Chevalier, dryly.

"Very true," said I; "and in reading the past I have ever found how want

of sufficient skill has prevented my giving to the great fact of a

story the due and necessary connection; so that, indeed, I appear as if

distinct events alone were revealed to me, without clew to what preceded

or followed them. I see destiny as a traveller sees a landscape by

fitful flashes of lightning at night, great tracts of country suddenly

displayed in all the blaze of noonday, but lost to sight the next moment

forever! Such humble powers as these are, I am well aware, unworthy to

bear competition with your more cultivated gifts; but if, with all

their imperfections, you are disposed to accept their exercise, they are

sincerely at your service."

The Chevalier, I suspect, acceded to this proposal in the belief that it

was an effort on my part to turn the topic from myself to _him_, for

he neither seemed to believe in my skill, nor feel any interest in its

exercise.

Affecting to follow implicitly the old Moorish woman's precepts, I

prepared myself for my task by putting on a great mantle with a hood,

which, when drawn forward, effectually concealed the wearer's face.

This was a precaution I took the better to study his face, while my own

remained hid from view.

"You are certainly far more imposing as a prophet than I can pretend to

be," said he, laughing, as he lighted a cigar, and lay back indolently

to await my revelations. I made a great display of knowledge in

shuffling and arranging the cards, the better to think over what I was

about; and at last, disposing some dozen in certain mystic positions

before me, I began.

"You startled _me_, Chevalier, by a discovery which only wanted truth

to make it very remarkable. Let me now repay _you_ by another which I

shrewdly suspect to be in the same condition. There are four cards now

before me, whose meaning is most positive, and which distinctly assert

that you, Chevalier de la Boutonerie, are no chevalier at all!"

"This is capital." said he, filling out a glass of wine and drinking it

off with the most consummate coolness.

"And here," said I, not heeding his affected ease,--"here is another

still stranger revelation, which says that you are not a Frenchman, but

a native of a land which latterly has taken upon it to supply the rest

of the world with adventurers,--in plain words, a Pole."

"It is true that my father, who held a command in the Imperial army,

lived some years in that country," said he, hastily; "but I have yet to

learn that he forfeited his nationality by so doing."

"I only know what the cards tell me," said I, spreading out a mass of

them before me, and pretending to study them attentively; "and here is a

complication which would need a cleverer expositor than I am. Of all

the tangled webs ever I essayed to unravel, this is the knottiest. Why,

really, Chevalier, yours must have been a life of more than ordinary

vicissitude, or else my prophetic skill has suffered sadly from disuse."

"Judging from what you have just told me, I rather lean to the latter

explanation," said he, swallowing down two glasses of wine with great

rapidity.

"I suspect such to be the case, indeed," said I, "for otherwise I could

scarcely have such difficulty in reading these mystic signs, once so

familiar to me, and from which I can now only pick up a stray phrase

here and there. Thus I see what implies a high diplomatic employment,

and yet, immediately after, I perceive that this is either a mistake of

mine, or the thing itself a cheat and a deception."

"It surely does not require divination to tell a diplomatic agent that

he has served on a foreign mission," said the Chevalier, with a sneer.

"Perhaps not, but I see here vestiges of strange occurrences in which

this fact is concerned. A fleeting picture passes now before my eyes:

I see a race-course, with its crowds of people and its throng of

carriages, and the horses are led out to be saddled, and all is

expectation and eagerness, and--what! This is most singular! the vision

has passed away, and I am looking at two figures who stand side by side

in a richly furnished room, a man and a woman. _She_ is weeping, and

_he_ consoling her. Stay! He lifts his head--the man is yourself,

Chevalier!"

"Indeed!" said he; but this time the word was uttered in a faint voice,

while a pallor that was almost lividness colored his dark features.

"She murmurs a name; I almost caught it," exclaimed I, as if

carried away by the rapt excitement of prophecy. "Yes! I hear it now

perfectly,--the name is Alexis!"

A fearful oath burst from the Chevalier, and with a bound lie sprung to

his feet, and dashed his closed fists against his brow. "Away with

your jugglery, have done with your miserable cheat, sir,--that can only

terrify women and children. Speak out like a man: who are you, and what

are you?"

"What means this outrage, sir? How have you forgotten yourself so far

as to _use_ this language to _me?_" said I, throwing back the mantle and

standing full before him.

"Let us have no more acting, sir, whether it be as prophet or bully,"

said he, sternly. "You affect to know _me_, who I am, and whence I have

come. Make the game equal between us, or it may be worse for you."

"You threaten me, then," said I, calmly.

"I do," was the answer.

"It is therefore open war between us?"

"I never said so," replied he, with a most cutting irony of manner;

"but whatever secret malice can do,--and you shall soon know what it

means,--I pledge myself you will not find yourself forgotten."

"Agreed, then; now leave me, sir."