"Before answering, Don Torribio, I must demand a clearer explanation."
"And you shall have it. Reprisals are what the Spaniards most dread in an Indian insurrection; that is to say, a massacre of the whites. My carriage with a Mexican would be a gage of peace from us to them--a pledge for the future security of their commerce, and the observance of the relations to be established between us. Our path is marked out, however the chiefs of the tribes may object. Neither the Tigercat nor I will deviate from it a hair's breadth. Señorita, I address this frank and loyal question to you: Will you grant me your hand?"
"Why should you press so grave a matter at such a moment, Don Torribio?" was her answer "Are you not sure of me?"
Don Torribio Quiroga frowned. "Always the same reply," he said. "Child, you are playing with the lion! If I had not been your shield these ten days past, you would have been slain ere now. Do you fancy me ignorant of your petty machinations, or ensnared by your childish calculations? You are playing for life or death, silly one; you are caught yourself in the net you spread for me. You are in my power! It is for me to dictate my conditions. Tomorrow you will espouse me; the heads of your father and of Don Fernando shall answer for your compliance!" Seizing a crystal vase of water, he filled his glass, and emptied it at a draught; while Doña Hermosa gazed at him with a strange expression in her eyes. "In an hour," said he, dashing the glass to pieces on the table, "you will attend the ceremony. You shall be beside me. I will it so!"
"Farewell!" he exclaimed, in a husky voice; and, casting another glance at her, he left the room. The girl rose hastily, seized the vase, and emptied its contents, murmuring: "Don Torribio! Don Torribio! thou hast thyself told me, that between cup and lip stood death!"
"Now for the finishing stroke!" said Don Pedro
At a sign from his daughter, he went out upon the terrace, and placed two stands, filled with flowers, close to the balustrade. This appeared to be a signal; for they had hardly been moved a minute, when Manuela hastily entered the room, saying, "He is here!"
"Let him come!" said Don Pedro and his daughter.
The hacendero, having charged Manuela to be on the watch, carefully closed the doors, seated himself close to the _mayor domo_, and said in a whisper, "What news have you brought, Estevan?"