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At that very moment a page hurried to my side and handed me a card. "Manuel Villasante was waiting to see me! "I went out to him most reluctantly. He greeted me with enthusiasm; his delight amounting almost to rapture. I am afraid I did not meet him half way, nor anywhere near it. He did not appear to notice it. "'My dear, dear friend, said he, 'this is a sublime moment!
"'Senor, said he gravely, 'knowing your sentiments, I came here to-day for advice. There is much more to be told. Every moment is precious. To-morrow in New York "'Stop! I thundered, 'you have gone too far already! There is some mistake. You are laboring under a delusion. I will tell you frankly, Villasante, that you misjudge me.
"While dressing for dinner there came a discreet knock at the door, and Manuel Villasante glided in. "I was distinctly annoyed. "'Pardon this intrusion, Senor, he said courteously, 'also what I may have said to you this afternoon. I was excited distressed wounded to the heart! Perhaps I forgot myself. Let us forget it all, and be good friends once more, and he held out his hand with a smile.
And what could I do to save him? My hands were completely tied. "The Villasante family and I were under the same roof, all of us being at the Arlington, but I hoped to avoid seeing them. Certainly, after my talk with Manuel, a meeting would be anything but agreeable. With these and a thousand other perplexing thoughts I left the House, hailed a cab, and was hurried to my hotel.
Yes, I remembered them all very well and the night on the veranda, with the moon shining softly through the vines, the music floating out to us from the ballroom, the innumerable bumpers with Manuel Villasante, Carlos Amezaga, Alejandro Menendez, and others of the Cuban colony at the hotel.
In the same year we find the treasurer, Blas de Villasante, in an Inquisition dungeon, because, though married in Spain, he cohabited with a native woman an offense too common at that time not to leave room for suspicion that the treasurer must have made himself obnoxious to the Holy Office in some other way.
Robson a filibuster? Impossible! "'Why so? asked the Cuban coldly. "'Hell, man! I said, 'don't you realize what it all means? certain failure, disgrace, death! My God, what folly! "'Never, never! shouted Villasante, waving his arms. 'Glory awaits them! The plaudits of the world! The embraces and blessings of a freed people! Laurel wreaths shall crown their brows!
Of course, I remembered Mercedes, and old Villasante, her fat papa, and Manuel the brother, and Alejandro the cousin.
He is the one who causes most strife and unrest in the island, ... everybody says that it would be well if he were removed." In 1524 Villasante accused him of malversation of public funds. In 1531 he appears as Governor of Trinidad, accused of capturing natives of the neighboring continent, branding them and selling them as slaves.
"'That's great! said I, with a burst of false enthusiasm, 'great! never heard anything better in my life! Villasante, old fellow, put it there! I admire your ner feeling! And we clasped hands. "'And you will join them? I added. "'No, not yet, he said, with an expressive shrug; 'I am more needed elsewhere; here in New York.
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