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"The last time I saw Eugenie Montijo she was one of the reigning belles of Madrid; and she and her giddy circle had swept away my charming young friend, the beautiful and accomplished , into their career of fashionable dissipation. Now Eugenie is upon a throne, and a voluntary recluse in a convent of one of the most rigorous orders!
"Yes, Senor, unfortunately we have had visitors on one occasion; and that visit may very possibly now that you come to mention it have had something to do with the disappearance of Senor Montijo and his family. It occurred some three weeks ago; and the visitors consisted of an officer of cavalry and a dozen troopers.
The messenger, Jorge Carnero whose absolute fidelity to the cause of Free Cuba Marti guaranteed was the man who had discovered the Spaniards' knowledge of the expedition and their arrangement for quashing it at the psychological moment; and he had been sent on to Montijo, as bearer of Marti's letter asking for help, in order that he might personally give Don Hermoso all the information possible.
His reverie was interrupted by the arrival of Milsom, who, having taken the Thetis into Havana harbour and snugly berthed her there, and further made every possible provision for her safety, had turned her over to the capable care of Perkins, her chief mate, and had now come on by train as far as Pinar del Rio, and from thence by Don Hermoso's carriage, to pay his promised visit to the hacienda Montijo.
And the third Napoleon, in announcing his coming marriage with Mlle. de Montijo, used the very word "parvenu" in speaking of himself and of his family. His frankness won the hearts of the French people and helped to reconcile them to a marriage in which the bride was barely noble. In English history there are two great names to conjure by, at least to the imaginative.
Even the Capitan-General has drawn blank: he is ignorant or pretends to be of what has happened to our friends; and the most that I have been able to get out of him is the statement which we may take for what it is worth that he has issued no order for the arrest of any member of the Montijo family.
And during the whole of this time, thanks to the fact that the secret had been kept from everybody but sympathisers whose discretion might be relied on, the rescue and return of the Montijo family remained unsuspected by the Spanish authorities.
The week passed, and the arrangements of the family had so far advanced that their heavy baggage, dispatched in advance, was actually on its way to Havana, for shipment on board the yacht, and was to be followed by the family and Jack on the following day, when toward the end of the afternoon a horseman dashed up to the door of the house, his clothing thick with dust and his horse reeking with sweat, and demanded instant audience with Senor Montijo on business of the utmost importance; and his demand was enforced by the utterance of a password which secured his prompt admission, Don Hermoso being at the moment engaged in his office, where he was completing with his overseer the final arrangements to be observed in his absence.
This circumstance, when confided to the prince president, disposed him to be interested in the young lady. She and her mother were often at the Élysée, at Fontainebleau, and at Compiègne. Mademoiselle de Montijo was a superb horsewoman, and riding was the emperor's especial personal accomplishment.
Nevertheless, he sent orders to the count de Montijo, his ambassador at London, to communicate to his Britannic majesty the motives which had induced him to take these resolutions. In the meantime he detached a powerful armament to Italy, where they invested the Imperial fortress of Aula, the garrison of which was obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war.
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