CHAPTER XIX COMPLICATIONS.

Lo?ck ended his narrative. The ranchero's story had been a long one. Don Jaime listened, to it from one end to the other without interruption, with a cold and impassive face, but with flashing eyes.

"Is that all?" he asked Lo?ck, turning to him.

"Yes, all, Excellency."

"In what way were you so well informed of the slightest details of this awful catastrophe?"

"It was Domingo himself who related the events to me; he was half mad with rage and grief, and knowing that I was going to you, he ordered me to repeat to you—"

Don Jaime sharply interrupted him.

"Very good; did Domingo give you no other message for me?" he asked, fixing on him a fiery glance.

The ranchero became confused.

"Excellency," he stammered.

"Confound the Briton," the adventurer exclaimed; "what cause have you to tremble so? Come, speak or choke."

"Excellency," he said resolutely, "I am afraid I have done a stupid thing."

"By Heaven! I suspected it, if only from your air of contrition. Well, what is this folly?"

"It is," he continued, "that Domingo appeared in such despair at not knowing where to find you—he seemed to have such a desire to speak to you, that—"

"That you could not hold your tongue, and revealed to him—"

"Where you live; yes, Excellency."

After this confession, the ranchero bowed his head, as if he felt inwardly convinced that he had committed a great fault. There was a silence.

"Of course you told him under what name I concealed myself in this house?" don Jaime continued a moment after.

"Hang it!" Lo?ck said simply, "if I had not done so he would have had a difficulty in finding you, Excellency."

"That is true; he is coming then?"

"I fear it."

"It is well."

Don Jaime walked up and down the room reflecting, then approaching Lo?ck, who was still motionless at his place, he asked him—

"Did you come alone to Mexico?"

"López accompanied me, Excellency; but I have left him at a pulquería near the Belén gate, where he is waiting for me."

"Good, you will join him there, but say nothing to him; in an hour, not sooner, you will return here with him, perhaps I shall want you both."

"Good," he said, rubbing his hands; "all right, Excellency, we shall come."

"Now, be off."

"Pardon, Excellency, I have a note to deliver to you."

"A note! From whom?"

Lo?ck felt in his dolman, drew out a carefully sealed letter, and handed it to don Jaime.

"Here it is," he said.

The adventurer took a glance at the address.

"Don Estevan!" he exclaimed with a cry of joy, and eagerly broke the seal.

The note, though short, was written in cypher—it was to the following effect:—

"Everything is going on admirably; our man is coming of his own accord to the bait held out to him. Saturday, midnight, Peral."

"Hope!" "Córdoba."

Don Jaime tore the note up into imperceptible pieces.

"What day is this?" he suddenly asked Lo?ck.

"Today?" he repeated, startled by this question, which he did not at all anticipate.

"Ass! I suppose I did not mean yesterday or tomorrow."

"That is true, Excellency—this is Tuesday."

"Why could you not say so at once?"

Don Jaime again walked up and down the room in deep thought.

"Can I go?" Lo?ck ventured.

"You ought to have gone ten minutes ago," he answered sharply.

The ranchero did not require a repetition of this injunction. He bowed, and retired. Don Jaime remained alone, but at the end of a minute the door opened, and the two ladies came in again. Their faces were anxious, and they timidly approached the adventurer.

"You have received bad news, don Jaime?" do?a María asked.

"Alas! Yes, sister," he answered, "very bad indeed." "May we hear it?"

"I have no reason for concealing it from you; and, besides, it concerns people whom you love."

"Heavens!" said do?a Carmen, clasping her hands, "Can it be Dolores?"

"Dolores—yes, my child," don Jaime answered; "Dolores, your friend; the Hacienda del Arenal has been surprised and burnt by the Juarists."

"Oh, Heavens!" the two ladies exclaimed sorrowfully; "Poor Dolores! And don Andrés?"

"He is dangerously wounded,"

"Thank God, he is not dead."

"He is not much better."

"Where are they at this moment?"

"Sheltered in Puebla, where they arrived under the escort of some of their peons, commanded by Leo Carral."

"Oh! He is a devoted servant."

"But had he been alone, I doubt whether he would have succeeded in saving his masters; fortunately don Andrés had at the hacienda two French gentlemen, the Count de la Saulay."

"The gentleman who is going to marry Dolores?" do?a Carmen said eagerly.

"Yes, and the Baron Charles de Meriadec, attaché to the French Embassy; it appears that these two young men performed prodigies of valour, and that it was through their bravery that our friends escaped the horrible fate which threatened them."

"May God bless them!" do?a María exclaimed; "Though I do not know them, I already feel an interest in them as if they were old friends."

"You will soon know one of them at least."

"Ah!" the young lady said curiously.

"Yes, I expect Baron de Meriadec at any moment."

"We will receive him to the best of our ability."

"I wish you to do so."

"But Dolores cannot remain in Puebla."

"That is my opinion. I intend to go to her."

"Why could she not come to us?" do?a Carmen said; "She would be in safety here, and her father should not want for a nurse."

"What you are saying, Carmen, is very judicious; perhaps it would be as well for her to live for some time with you. I will think over it; before all, I must see don Andrés, that I may convince myself of the state he is in, and whether he can be removed."

"Brother," do?a María observed, "I notice that you have told us about Dolores and her father, but you have not said a word about don Melchior."

Don Jaime's face suddenly grew dark at this remark, and his features were contracted.

"Can any misfortune have happened to him?" do?a María exclaimed.

"Would to Heaven it were so!" he replied with a sadness mingled with anger; "Never speak to me about that man—he is a monster."

"Great Heaven! You terrify me, don Jaime."

"I told you, I think, that the Hacienda del Arenal was surprised by the guerilleros."

"Yes," she said, quivering with emotion.

"Do you know who commanded the Juarists and served as their guide? Don Melchior de la Cruz."

"Oh!" the two ladies exclaimed in horror.

"Afterwards, when don Andrés and his daughter obtained permission to retire safe and sound to Puebla, a man laid a snare for them a short distance from the town, and treacherously attacked them: this man was once again don Melchior."

"Oh, this is horrible!" They said, as they hid their faces in their hands and burst into sobs.

"Is it not?" he continued; "The more horrible, as don Melchior had coldly calculated on his father's death, that he wished by a parricide to seize his sister's fortune, a fortune to which he had no claim, and which the approaching marriage of do?a Dolores will entirely strip from him, or, at least, he believed so."

"This man is a monster!" said do?a María.

The two ladies were terrified by this announcement. Their intimacy with the de la Cruz family was great, the two younger ladies having been almost brought up together; they loved each other like sisters, although though do?a Carmen was a little older than do?a Dolores, hence the news of the misfortune which had so suddenly burst on don Andrés filled them with grief. Do?a María warmly urged don Jaime to have don Andrés and his daughter conveyed to Mexico and lodged in her house, when do?a Dolores would find that care and consolation which she must need so greatly after such a disaster.

"I will see, I will strive to satisfy you," don Jaime replied; "still, I dare not promise you anything as yet. I intend to start this very day for Puebla, and if I were not expecting a visit from Baron de Meriadec I should set out at once."

"It would be the first time," do?a María said gently, "that I should see you leave us almost without regret."

Don Jaime smiled. At this moment they heard the outer gate opened, and a horse's hoofs re-echo in the zaguán.

"Here is the baron," said the adventurer, and he went to meet his visitor.

It was really Dominique. Don Jaime offered him his hand, and giving him a significant glance, said in French, which language the ladies spoke very well—

"You are welcome, my dear baron; I was impatiently expecting you."

The young man understood that he was to retain his incognito till fresh orders.

"I am really sorry at having kept you waiting, my dear don Jaime," he answered, "but I have come at full speed from Puebla, and do not tell you anything new in saying that it is a long journey."

"I know it," don Jaime remarked with a smile; "but let me introduce you to two ladies who desire to know you, and let us not remain any longer here."

"Ladies," don Jaime said as he entered, "allow me to introduce to you Baron Charles de Meriadec, attaché to the French Embassy, one of my best friends, to whom I have before alluded. My dear baron, I have the honour to present to you do?a María, my sister, and do?a Carmen, my niece."

Although the adventurer omitted, no doubt purposely, one-half of the ladies' names, the young man did not appear to notice it, and bowed respectfully.

"Now," don Jaime resumed gaily, "you are one of the family; you are acquainted with our Spanish hospitality: if you require anything, speak; we are all at your service."

They sat down, and while taking refreshments, conversed—

"You can speak quite openly, baron," don Jaime said; "these ladies are aware of the frightful events at the hacienda."

"More frightful than you suppose, I fancy," the young man said; "and since you take an interest in this unhappy family, I am afraid to add to your grief, and be a messenger of evil tidings."

"We are intimately connected with don Andrés de la Cruz and his charming daughter," do?a María observed.

"In that case, madam, forgive me if I have only bad news to impart to you."

The young man hesitated.

"Oh, speak! Speak!"

"I have only a few words to say: the Juarists have seized Puebla; the town surrendered to the first summons."

"The cowards!" the adventurer said, smiting the table with his fist.

"Were you ignorant of it?"

"Yes; I believed it to be still held by Miramón."

"The first business of the Juarists was, according to their invariable custom, to plunder and imprison the foreigners, and more especially the Spaniards residing in the town. Some were even shot without the pretence of a trial; the prisons are crowded; they have been obliged to employ several convents in which to bestow their prisoners. Terror reigns in Puebla."

"Go on, my friend; and don Andrés?"

"Don Andrés, as, of course, you are aware, is dangerously wounded."

"Yes, I know it."

"His state admits of but slight hopes; the governor of the town, in spite of the representations of the notables and the entreaties of all honest people, had don Andrés arrested as convicted of high treason—those are the very words of the warrant—in spite of the tears of his daughter and all his friends, he had been removed to the dungeons of the old Inquisition; the house occupied by don Andrés has been plundered and destroyed."

"Why, this is frightful! It is barbarity!"

"Oh, that is nothing as yet."

"How, nothing?"

"Don Andrés was tried, and as he protested his innocence, in spite of all the efforts of the judges to make him condemn himself, he was subjected to torture."

"To torture!" the hearers exclaimed with a start of horror.

"Yes; this wounded, dying old man was suspended by the thumbs, and received the strappado on two different occasions. In spite of this martyrdom his torturers did not succeed in making him confess the crimes with which they charge him, and of which he is innocent."

"Oh, this surpasses all credence!" don Jaime exclaimed; "And of course the hapless man is dead?"

"Not yet; or, at least, he was not so on my departure from Puebla. He had not even been condemned, for his murderers are in no hurry; time is their own, and they are playing with their victim."

"And Dolores!" do?a Carmen exclaimed; "Poor Dolores! How she must suffer!"

"Do?a Dolores has disappeared; she has been carried off."

"Disappeared!" don Jaime shouted in a voice of thunder; "And you still live to tell me of it?"

"I did all I could to be killed," he replied simply, "but did not succeed."

"Ah! I will find her again," the adventurer continued, "and the count, what is he doing?"

"He is in a state of despair and is seeking her, aided by Leo Carral: while I came to you."

"You did well: I shall not fail you. Then the count and Leo Carral have remained in Puebla?"

"Leo Carral alone. The count was obliged to fly in order to escape the pursuit of the Juarists and has taken shelter at the rancho with his servants: every day his youngest valet Ibarru, I think that is his name, goes to the town to arrange measures with the majordomo."

"Was it from your own impulse that you came to me?"

"Yes, but I first consulted with the count, as I did not like to act without having his advice."

"You were right, sister, prepare a suitable apartment for do?a Dolores."

"You will bring her back then?" the two ladies exclaimed.

"Yes, or perish."

"Shall we be off?" the young man cried impatiently.

"In a moment, I expect Lo?ck and López."

"Is Lo?ck here?"

"It may be he who brought me the news about the surprise of the hacienda."

"It was I who sent him."

"I am aware of it. Your horse is fatigued, you will leave it here, when it will be taken care of, and I will give you another."

"Very good."

"Of course you heard the names of don Andrés' principal persecutors?"

"They are three in number, the first is the first secretary, the tool of the new governor, his name is don Antonio de Cacerbar."

"You have a lucky hand," the adventurer said ironically, "that is the man whose life you so philanthropically saved."

The young man uttered a roar like a tiger, "I will kill him," he said hoarsely.

Don Jaime gave him a glance of surprise.

"Then, you hate him thoroughly?" he asked him.

"Even his death will not satisfy me: the man's conduct is strange: he suddenly arrived in the town two days after the army: he only appeared and then went off again, leaving behind him a long train of blood."

"We shall find him again: who is the second?"

"Have you not guessed him already?"

"Don Melchior, I suppose."

"Yes."

"In that case, I know where to find do?a Dolores: it was he who carried her off."

"It is probable."

"And the third?"

"The third is a young man with a handsome face, soft voice, and noble manners, more terrible than both the others, it is said, though he has no official title: he seems to hold great power and passes for a secret agent of Juárez."

"His name?"

"Don Diego Izaguirre."

The adventurer's face brightened.

"Good," he said with a smile, "the affair is not so desperate as I feared; we shall succeed."

"Do you think so?"

"I am sure of it."

"May heaven hear you!" the two ladies exclaimed with clasped hands.

Do?a María, ever since the arrival of the pretended baron, had been suffering from an extraordinary feeling, while the young man was conversing with don Jaime. She gazed at him with strange intentness, she felt her eyes fill with tears and her bosom oppressed, she could not at all understand the emotion which was caused her by the sight and voice of this elegant young man, whom she now saw for the first time; in vain did she search her recollections to discover where she had already heard his voice, whose accent had something so sweetly sympathetic about it that went straight to her heart. She studied the handsome manly face of the vaquero, as if she were to discover in his features a fugitive resemblance to someone she had formerly known: but everything was a chaos in her memory, an insurmountable barrier seemed to be raised between the present and the past, as if to prove to her that she was allowing herself to be overpowered by a wild hope, and that the man who was before her, was really a stranger to her. Don Jaime attentively followed on do?a María's face the different feelings that were in turn reflected on it; but whatever his opinion on the subject might be, he remained cold, impassive, and apparently indifferent to the interludes of this family drama, which, however, must interest him to the highest degree. Lo?ck arrived followed by López: a fresh horse was saddled for Dominique.

"Let us go," the adventurer said as he rose, "time presses."

The young man took leave of the ladies.

"You will return, will you not, sir?" do?a María graciously asked him.

"You are a thousand times too kind, madam," he answered, "I shall consider it a happiness to avail myself of your delightful invitation."

They left the room, do?a María seized her brother's arm.

"One word, don Jaime," she said to him in a trembling voice.

"Speak, sister."

"Do you know this young man?"

"Intimately."

"Is he really a French gentleman?"

"He passes for such," he replied, looking at her intently.

"I was mad," she murmured, as she let go the arm she had hitherto held, and heaved a sigh.

Don Jaime went out without another word. Ere long the hoofs of the four horses urged at their full speed could be heard clattering in the street.