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Smithson mused thus, alone and in the darkness, Montesma and Lady Lesbia were wandering arm in arm in another and lovelier part of the grounds, where golden lights were scattered like Cuban fire-flies among the foliage of seringa and magnolia, arbutus and rhododendron, while at intervals a sudden flush of rosier light was shed over garden and river, as if by enchantment, surprising a couple here and there in the midst of a flirtation which had begun in darkness.
They dwelt obstinately, unceasingly upon Montesma, the man whose influence had awakened the slumbering soul from its torpor, had stirred the deeps of a passionate nature. Slave-dealer, gambler, adventurer, liar his name blackened by the suspicion of a still darker crime.
The river was not yet crossed, but her feet were on the margin, wet with the ripple of the stream. The fatal die was not yet cast, but the dice-box was in her hand ready for the throw. Lesbia and Montesma danced together not too often, three waltzes out of sixteen but when they were so waltzing they were the cynosure of the room.
'I have an idea, Maulevrier. The more we know about this man Montesma, I think you called him 'Gomez de Montesma. 'The more fully we are acquainted with Don Gomez de Montesma's antecedents the better we shall be able to cope with him, if we come to handy-grips. It's too late to start for Cowes, but it is not too late to do something.
The story had been known by very few perhaps completely known only by one man; and that man was Gomez de Montesma. For the last fifteen years the most fervent desire of Horace Smithson's heart had been the hope that tropical nature, in any one of her various disagreeable forms, would be obliging enough to make an end of Gomez. But the forces of nature had not worked on Mr. Smithson's side.
'Good-night, said Montesma, as they clasped hands; 'good-night; and then in a lower voice he said, 'Well, have you decided at last? Shall it be? She looked at him for a moment or so, pale in the starlight, and then murmured an almost inaudible syllable. 'Yes. He bent quickly and pressed his lips upon her gloved hand, and when Mr.
Sampayo, pleasantly. 'Was that Argentiferous Copper Company in sixty-four yours or his? 'There were a good many people concerned in it. 'No doubt; it takes a good many people to work that kind of thing, but I fancy you and Montesma were about the only two who came out of it pleasantly. And he and you did a little in the shipping line, didn't you African produce? However, that's an old song.
At these words of Lady Kirkbank's, flung out at random, Montesma blanched, and his deep black eye met hers with a strangely sinister look. 'Yes, she cried, hysterically 'kill her, kill her! You look as if you could do it. Lesbia nestled closer to her lover's heart. 'How dare you say such things to him, she cried, angrily.
'You can talk at your ease here, said Montesma, facing the two men with a diabolical recklessness and insolence of manner. 'Not one of these fellows on board knows a dozen sentences of English. 'I would rather talk below, if it is all the same to you, Señor; and I should be glad to speak to Lady Lesbia alone. 'That you shall not do unless she desires it, answered Montesma.
How swiftly it shot from his ken, flashing in and out among the yachts, where the lamps were burning dimly in that clear radiance of new-born day. Montesma gave a tremendous yawn as he took out his cigar-case, and he and Mr.