"Invitation?" Rafael looked quickly from one to the other. "I am very sure Señora Bryton failed to receive your invitation. She confessed herself in despair if her cousin should not be here on her arrival."
"But Señor? Bryton was told to bring her here."
"Oh--h!" He was silent a moment and then he smiled reassuringly. "I see how it is! He thinks she will remain over only one day and does not like to put you to trouble; but the poor lady down there alone is no doubt very uncomfortable--perhaps unhappy. If your daughters could call and see her--I would accompany them. In fact, for the cousin of Don Eduardo I will do anything I may be allowed to do."
"Sure," agreed Alvara; "it is the right thing for a lady to ask her;--if only Dolores and Madalena have not ridden to the beach--"
He went into the house to see, and Teresa looked at Rafael and shrugged her shoulders.
"Thou hast told a part, but not all, my Rafael," she said, quietly. "Is the so good Señor Bryton not so good at last? Does he want his brother's wife to see only himself?"
"Then we could play him a fine trick--fine! He is jealous, that is all. She rode down with me, and of course, when I learned who she was, we talked--you saw! Well, our Americano likes to be the only man. He means to send her away to-morrow,--he is so angry because she marry his brother! Of course she goes, unless we keep her. It would be a good trick to play if we could walk down there, and--"
"We will go," decided Teresa, promptly; "at once we will go before he comes back from the corral. His brother's wife--eh? I ask myself if those people--the Americanos--are so much better than our own men, Rafael. I want no scandal and will help you with none; but if you take from him the woman he wants, I will make you a present--a fine one."
"It is a bargain!" he agreed. "I promise to earn the gift. He is a good enough fellow, but much too conceited; we will cure him!"
As Alvara came out on the veranda to tell them Dolores and Madalena were away, and to ask Teresa to call on the stranger in their stead, Teresa and Rafael were on the street.
"It is a good thing to do," he thought, contentedly rolling a cigarro and looking after them. "It is a kindness to Don Eduardo's cousin, and it is good for Teresa. For the first time since the death of Miguel she is smiling. Yes, it is a good thing."