Evening star. [volume], May 05, 1907, Sunday star, Page 13, Image 41

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
THE CA
By C. N. and A.
Synopsis of Preceding Chapters at End of This Instalment 1
CHAPTER XL I
Maria del Pilar to the Rescue j
Ak T last, when the general confusion had sub- -j
sided, I was able to impress upon the de
lightful pair that, if they would speak only t
Jt jL very slowly, and kindly trouble them- c
selves, when giving a word of three t
sv11?Kle<i tn r>rnnniinre at. least two of them fa *
punctilious habit disapproved in Andalusia), Waring t
would be able to join the conversation. With true s
Spanish good heartedness they did their best. Dick
also did his best, with a conscientious American j
pronunciation; but where tongues halted, eyes j
spoke a universal language, and we all got on so
well that in ten minutes we might have known each j.
other for ten years. y
By the end of those minutes we were asked to the ]
O'Donnels' sitting room, which had been furbished i
up out of a bed room; and there Dick brought the g
famous letter of introduction and the white paper c
parcel tied with pink ribbon. c
My name had not been mentioned by Angele. <
I was merely a "friend of Mr. WaringV; and, it 1
seemed, I had been designated vaguely thus in a c
previous letter in which our arrival had been prophe- e
sied. This had been Angele's way of leaving it open I
? *-* ao T corl V\i 1 + riATtr 1
JAJi IliC IU lliUUUUCV in voLii ao j. L/ivaovu , uui> iiv/tt X
there was no secret with which I would not have a
felt myself safe in trusting our old friends the t
O'Donnels, so I gave them my real name. t
The Cherub's face lit up. "I knew your father g
well," said he. "We learned soldiering together as c
boys, though he was four or five years my senior, s
and the hero of my youth. Our ideas," he coughed
in an instant's embarrassment, "were different, e
This separated us. cut 1 never iorgot mm. tie t
was a great man; and it is an event to meet his son. t
When I saw you down stairs in the dining room, it
was like going back for thirty years. Such a young t
man as you are now, was your father when I had ?
my last sight of him. You are his living portrait." f
ti? j. ii- : ?
l ne next imug w?ta
that at Dick's request
I was telling them everything;
and as Pilar
listened to the story
which prefaced my ern
Cnoin V*Q?* ??T?OC
l ci11u iu wpain, jivi v j vo,
which had been stars,
became suns. When I aSKHT
spoke Carmona's name, ^^HR:
she and her father ut- aHHHHi
tered an exclamation.
"The Duke of Car- 'SHhhK
mona!" echoed the Cher- flHHH
"He!" cried Pilar.
And they looked at each 1,
For a single second, I
asked myselt it my
frankness had been a
mistake.
know the
Duke?" I asked. |?9HSHNH|MBH
"Santa Maria! but do
??o l^nnur Viim f " KrootVipH
the girl. wish we
could tell you no."
"You don't like him?" 1
" Do we the Duke. ^
pa^?"
ine goou Vyneruu
shook his head porten- jfl
tously. "The Duke
Carmona a bad man."
he said. "He has
done any harm.
"nt, p;ur
v/ii vii ; a iu?x vuv
him short. "He has not
driven a
one of my best
"My daughter refers
to a sad story," ex
plained her father. In
Madrid it made a stir at ^IM(6PRmBPI85(f
the time. He jilted a
school friend of Pilar- 5r >
cita's. That is almost
an unheard of thing in
Spain; but he did it. Then I Heard a F?
ti . t :i..
a iic vuuii^ gui a laiuuy
got into trouble at court?an insignificant affair;but 1
the Duke is ambitious of favor. He had something
to retrieve, after the scandal during the Spanish- 1
American War, when he was quite a young man?
not more than twenty-four?and?"
"You mean the story that he speculated in 1
horses?bought wretched crocks cheap and sold them '
to the army lor the cavalry, with the connivance of
the vets he is supposed to have bribed?"
"Yes. He managed to clear himself; but the
in.A !.?- \fr0..r* PKI11J.- At
. . i-. . .
lr of di
M. WILLIAMSON
kf I
oyalties looked at him coldly, and "'/Sppp
le was not a man to bear that. raKr*?
fhe father of the girl?Pilarcita's
rier '1?was at one time much
si ii. . xr* . . _?
iKea Dy xne young iving, ana peo- sffsgsgs
)le thought it was his motive for
;ngaging himself. With the first fiKi|p
>reath of the storm the Duke was JvHSsB
)ff; and the discarded fiancee en- llfMP
prpH a novirp tVip ronvpnt
vhere she and my daughter went
o school. That is why Pilarcita
a much dislikes him."
"But it is not all!" cried the
jirl. "What about the gray bull, S^^-5
x>or Corcito?"
Colonel O'Donnel laughed his
jentle, chuckling laugh. "Our Jg|j|^||
iJ liuov iu a uuu laiiii wi 111^/ .
Duke's, near Seville," he explained :
ind as I have allowed this Pilar:ita
to grow up a wild girl, very
lifferent from the young ladies of
? -it _ _i. _ _i_ . .1 i 1 x . .1. ?fw?
jevme sne snouia emulate, sne :
las made friends of the Duke's
rattle. There was, some years ago, * ^BW8
t gray bull that was as tame with
ler as a pet dog; but it took a dis- ^
ike to the Duke, who came to have
l look at his bulls once, and at
acked him. The saying is that
he Moorish blood in the Carmonas
;ives them a cruel temper. At all events, Carmona
ould not forgive the bull its disrespect, and had it
ent off to the slaughter house.'!
"There is nothing he wouldn't do against an enmv.
or to train a thine that he wanted." said Pilar.
urning to me. "Take care, now he wants somehing
you want!"
"It has been so between our families for generaions,"
I said. "My grandfather ran away with the
;irl his grandfather wanted to marry, and my
ather and his in their vouth harl a furious 1aw?nit '
"Which won?"
asked the girl.
"My father."
" Be sure he will
jfc> remember," said
she. "Oh, how I
wish we could help
you! It would be
: such a revenge upon
him for poor
Eulalia and for
^111 ME& Corcito! Papa,
i - '^?1 gH93Kt?|^K?. can't we do some
tningr
HBk "If we could,"
echoed the Cherub,
"for his father's
son!"
9HHES^n|HB|HB', |\ Suddenly the
girl jumped up and
HH9|BH9K' clapped her hands.
"Oh, I have
thought of the
Hf thing! she cned.
W "It would be like
F a play." But her
face fell. "I don't
know how to propose
it," said she.
" Perhaps you and
*?_ nr : i j
K-7 1U1. VI WUU1U
r disapprove. And
' how could we invite
ourselves?"
She stopped;
but I made her go
on. "Please tell
us." I said. "It
HHHgB? is sure to be a
splendid plan. And
PPI anything associatWB?
W ed with you would
bring luck."
"This would be
very much associated
with us," said
jswszmvi. she laughing; for
the idea is that, in
stead of going
home by rail as we
int Sound Overhead. meant to do, day
after to-morrow,
we bo on in vour car with you, pretending to be
Mr. Waring's guests, and you supposed to be my
brother Cristoval. I only wish Crist6val was here,
*1, ??a I,?
UUL kixcic w ao cl jtgiintiuai i, auu nv, uau iu
Leave us. He will come in later, and you shall meet
him, and hear what he says to the plan. He would
walk through fire to please Angele. And this would
Ka nnltr tn rriiro nn Viic 1o'>iro r\f at 1pact tVip CfAlnIT
V111J llV glVV U ? V V* UW *V?*.JV V?v b b
home with us?and lending you his uniform, which
I am sure would fit you perfectly.".
iSTINY
T I could not help laugh'ng
at the way she ais^posed
of her brother and
his plans, to say nothing
?>Iof those she was making
for me; but she rushed
SSSMiga^* on, anxious to justify her
counsel.
"You don't understand
yet," she insisted. "You
wZWBxMBbSwB see. Dana and I have met
athe Duke in Madrid, at
pjji|friends' houses. I have
scarcely spoken to him,
r'mlTi"ii4 for Spanish girls don't
have much chance to talk
with men; but he will remember
me, and papa
B* too. The lucky thing is,
. he has never seen my
brother since Cristdval
PHSaSSKigP was a little boy, and
then no more than once
:a or twice. He must know,
if he stops to think, that
bShHF^E-' papa has a son?that's
all And you say the
- Duke saw von onlv at
... the fancy dress ball, in
a Romeo costume, with
a fair wig. When Lady
Monica gave that start
^BBjpHBwg^WBEr forward, and looked at
you in the automobile,
? " - although you had made
you^ car different, he fancied
you might be in it,
ana tv^rapned to have the man he suspected kept
back at Irun. Well, it was clever of you to change
with your chauffeur; but all the same, if you go on,
dressed as a chauffeur, you can never have a chance
to get near Lady Monica. And it you appear as
yourself, even though the Duke isn't sure it is you,
he will keep Lady Monica out of your way. And
her mother will help him, as she wants them to
marry. But think how different for my brother!
We all happen to meet?suppose it's in the cathedral
?and papa says, 'How do you do? You don't
remember <Jnst6valt' He would simply have to
accept you as Crist6val, although he might find
Cristoval rather like that troublesome Marquds de
Casa Triana."
"Casa Triana is also Cristoval," I laughed.
" Ramon Cristdval."
"All the better. We shouldn't any of us have to
T alwavc cairl ic flip lurlfipst. saint. fr%
have for a patron. See how he is offering his help
to you? And oh, did you know he's the patron saint
of automobilists? To-morrow I'll give you a Crist<5val
medal to nail on your car. They are made on
purpose. My brother can go to Biarritz, where he
will see Angdle; so it will be nice all round. And
imagine yourself in his uniform, walking with us in
the cathedral, where the Duke is sure to take Lady
Monica and her mother?otherwise, why stop at
Burgos? One comes for that, and nothing else, unless
one has a little brother in the garrison. Now,
what do you say, Don Ramon?"
"I say_you are an angel!" I replied with prompt
ness. " But I also say that Colonel U'JJonnel won't
allow such an arrangement."
"Oh, won't he?" exclaimed Pilar. "Do you
think I'm an ordinary girl of Southern Spain, who
says 'Yes, yes,' and 'No, no,' as her parents wish,
and looks down on the ground while life passes? It is
* ? ? ? * + i r .1 ? ai
my irisn neart wnicn Keeps ray iatner ana Dromer
alive; and when I want to do a thing, they hurry
to let me do it, lest I have a fit, of which I would be
capable."
"As you are a Crist6val," said the Cherub mildly,
"it might be managed, if you liked, without our
having to go more than an extra time to confession.
I could wear the sin uoon mv conscience, if vou
could; and if you could wear also the uniform of
my son."
"I'd like to see Carmona's face when you are
introduced," remarked Dick in his slow Spanish.
"You will see it," exclaimed Pilar.
Just then the door opened, and the other Cnstoval
came in.
CHAPTER XII.
Under a Balcony
LIKED the brother because he had his" sister's
1 eyes, and liked him still better lor nis entnusiastic
desire to help the last of the Casa Trianas.
Whether his enthusiasm was for the sake of Casa
Triana, or Angele de la Mole, was a detail. It had
the samp effect nnon mv affairs: and. having taken
very little time for reflection, I let myself be Lurried
away on the tide.
Brother Cristoval was, perhaps, not sorry to make
an unexpected flight to Biarritz, with news of Dick
and me as an excuse, instead of spending his leave
1 rw* 1 < ^11 j __ _
tameiy at nome. mere was, at an events, a suspicious
alacrity about the way in which he agreed
to disappear as early as possible the following day.
As he was wearing the uniform which was to be
made over to me, it was decided that he should bring