Sitting in the chamber that had been assigned to her, Señorita Lolita listened to her father’s ravings, and found herself confronted with a situation. Of course, she could not wed Don Vega now. She had given her lips and her love to another, a man whose face she never had seen, a rogue pursued by soldiery—and she had spoken truly when she had said that a Pulido loved but once.
She tried to explain it all to herself, saying that it was a generous impulse that had forced her to give her lips to the man; and she told herself that it was not the truth, that her heart had been stirred when first he spoke to her at her father’s hacienda during the siesta hour.
She was not prepared yet to tell her parents of the love that had come into her life, for it was sweet to keep it a secret; and, moreover, she dreaded the shock to them, and half feared that her father might cause her to be sent away to some place where she never would see Señor Zorro again.
She crossed to a window and gazed out at the plaza—and she saw Don Diego approaching in the distance. He rode slowly, as if greatly fatigued, and his two native servants rode a short distance behind him.
Men called to him as he neared the house, and he waved his hand at them languidly in response to their greeting. He dismounted slowly, one of the natives holding the stirrup and assisting him, brushed the dust from his clothes, and started toward the door.
Don Carlos and his wife were upon their feet to greet him, their faces beaming, for they had been accepted anew into society the evening before, and knew it was because they were Don Diego’s house guests.
“I regret that I was not here when you arrived,” Don Diego said, “but I trust that you have been made comfortable in my poor house.”
“More than comfortable in this gorgeous palace!” Don Carlos exclaimed.
“Then you have been fortunate, for the saints know I have been uncomfortable enough.”
“How is that, Don Diego?” Doña Catalina asked.
“My work at the hacienda done, I rode as far as the place of Fray Felipe, there to spend the night in quiet. But as we were about to retire, there came a thundering noise at the door, and this Sergeant Gonzales and a troop of soldiers entered. It appears that they had been chasing the highwayman called Señor Zorro, and had lost him in the darkness!”
In the other room, a dainty señorita gave thanks for that.
“These are turbulent times,” Don Diego continued, sighing and mopping the perspiration from his forehead. “The noisy fellows were with us an hour or more, and then continued the chase. And because of what they had said of violence, I endured a horrible nightmare, so got very little rest. And this morning I was forced to continue to Reina de Los Angeles!”
“You have a difficult time,” Don Carlos said. “Señor Zorro was here, caballero, in your house, before the soldiers chased him.”
“What is this intelligence?” Don Diego cried, sitting up straight in his chair and betraying sudden interest.
“Undoubtedly he came to steal, else to abduct you and hold you for ransom,” Doña Catalina observed. “But I scarcely think that he stole. Don Carlos and myself were visiting friends, and Señorita Lolita remained here alone. There—there is a distressing affair to report to you—”
“I beg of you to proceed,” Don Diego said.
“While we were gone, Captain Ramón, of the presidio, called. He was informed we were absent, but he forced his way into the house and made himself obnoxious to the señorita. This Señor Zorro came in and forced the captain to apologize, and then drove him away.”
“Well, that is what I call a pretty bandit!” Don Diego exclaimed. “The señorita suffers from the experience?”
“Indeed, no!” said Doña Catalina. “She was of the opinion that Captain Ramón had taken too much wine. I shall call her.”
Doña Catalina went to the door of the chamber and called her daughter, and Lolita came into the room and greeted Don Diego as became a proper maiden.
“It makes me desolate to know that you received an insult in my house,” Don Diego said. “I shall consider the affair.”
Doña Catalina made a motion to her husband, and they went to a far corner to sit, that the young folk might be somewhat alone, which seemed to please Don Diego, but not the señorita.
XIX
Captain Ramón Apologizes
“Captain Ramón is a beast!” the girl said, in a voice not too loud.
“He is a worthless fellow,” Don Diego agreed.
“He—that is—he wished to kiss me,” she said.
“And you did not let him, of course.”
“Señor!”
“I—confound it, I did not mean that! Certainly you did not let him! I trust that you slapped his face.”
“I did,” said the señorita. “And then he struggled with me, and he told me that I should not be so particular, since I was daughter of a man who stood in the bad graces of the governor.”
“Why, the infernal brute!” Don Diego exclaimed.
“Is that all you have to say about it, caballero?”
“I cannot use oaths in your presence, of course.”
“Do you not understand, señor? This man came into your house, and insulted the girl you have asked to be your wife!”
“Confound the rascal! When next I see his excellency, I shall ask him to remove the officer to some other post.”
“Oh!” the girl cried. “Have you no spirit at all? Have him removed? Were you a proper man, Don Diego, you would go to the presidio, you would call this Captain Ramón to account, you would pass your sword through his body, and call upon all to witness that a man could not insult the señorita you admired and escape the consequences.”
“It is such an exertion to fight!” he said. “Let us not speak of violence. Perhaps I shall see the fellow and rebuke him.”
“Rebuke him!” the
