Don Carlos went to the doorway and called his wife and daughter, and the former smiled upon Don Diego in encouragement, and the latter smiled also, yet with fear and trembling. For she had given her heart to the unknown Señor Zorro, and could love no other man, and could not wed where she did not love, not even to save her father from poverty.
Don Diego conducted the señorita to a bench at one end of the veranda, and started to talk of things in general, plucking at the strings of his guitar as he did so, while Don Carlos and his wife removed themselves to the other end of the veranda and hoped that things would go well.
Señorita Lolita was glad that Don Diego did not speak of marriage as he had done before. Instead, he told of what had happened in the pueblo, of Fray Felipe’s whipping, and of how Señor Zorro had punished the magistrado, and fought a dozen men, and made his escape. Despite his air of languor, Don Diego spoke in an interesting manner, and the señorita found herself liking him more than before.
He told, too, of how he had gone to his father’s hacienda, and of how the caballeros had spent the night there, drinking and making merry; but he said nothing of Señor Zorro’s visit and the league that had been formed, having taken his oath not to do so.
“My father threatens to disinherit me if I do not get me a wife within a specified time,” Don Diego said then. “Would you like to see me lose my father’s estate, señorita?”
“Certainly not,” she replied. “There are many girls who would be proud to wed you, Don Diego.”
“But not you?”
“Certainly, I would be proud. But can a girl help it if her heart does not speak? Would you wish a wife who did not love you? Think of the long years you would have to spend beside her, and no love to make them endurable.”
“You do not think, then, that you ever could learn to love me, señorita?”
Suddenly the girl faced him and spoke in lower tones, and earnestly.
“You are a caballero of the blood, señor. I may trust you?”
“To death, señorita!”
“Then I have something to tell you. And I ask that you let it remain your secret. It is an explanation in a way.”
“Proceed, señorita.”
“If my heart bade me do so, nothing would please me more than to become your wife, señor, for I know that it would mend my father’s fortunes. But perhaps I am too honest to wed where I do not love. There is one great reason why I cannot love you.”
“There is some other man in your heart?”
“You have guessed it, señor. My heart is filled with his image. You would not want me for wife in such case. My parents do not know. You must keep my secret. I swear by the saints that I have spoken the truth.”
“The man is worthy?”
“I feel sure that he is, caballero. Did he prove to be otherwise, I should grieve my life away, yet I never could love another man. You understand now?”
“I understand fully, señorita. May I express the hope that you will find him worthy and in time the man of your choice?”
“I knew you would be the true caballero!”
“And if things should go amiss, and you need a friend, command me, señorita.”
“My father must not suspect at the present time. We must let him think that you still seek me, and I will pretend to be thinking more of you than before. And gradually you can cease your visits—”
“I understand, señorita. Yet that leaves me in bad case. I have asked your father for permission to woo you, and if I go to wooing another girl now, I will have him about my ears in just anger. And if I do not woo another girl, I shall have my own father upbraiding me! It is a sorry state!”
“Perhaps it will not be for long, señor.”
“Ha! I have it! What does a man do when he is disappointed in love? He mopes, he pulls a long face, he refuses to partake of the actions and excitements of the times!
“Señorita, you have saved me in a way. I shall languish because you do not return my love. Then men will think they know the reason when I dream in the sun and meditate instead of riding and fighting like a fool! I shall be allowed to go my way in peace, and there shall be a romantic glamour cast about me. An excellent thought!”
“Señor, you are incorrigible!” the Señorita Lolita exclaimed, laughing.
Don Carlos and Doña Catalina heard that laugh, looked around, and then exchanged quick glances. Don Diego Vega was getting along famously with the señorita, they thought.
Then Don Diego continued the deception by playing his guitar and singing a verse of a song that had to do with bright eyes and love. Don Carlos and his wife glanced at each other again, this time in apprehension, and wished that he would stop, for the scion of the Vegas had many superiors as musician and vocalist, and they feared that he might lose what ground he had gained in the señorita’s estimation.
But if Lolita thought little of the caballero’s singing, she said nothing to that effect, and she did not act displeased. There was some more conversation; and just before the siesta hour Don Diego bade them buenas dias and rode away in his gorgeous carriage. From the turn in the driveway, he waved back at them.
XXVII
Orders for Arrest
Captain Ramón’s courier, sent north with the letter for the governor, had dreams of gay times in San Francisco de Asis before returning to his presidio at Reina de Los Angeles. He knew a certain señorita there whose beauty caused his heart to burn.
So he rode like a fiend after leaving his comandante’s office, changed mounts at
