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Updated: May 17, 2025
And the worst of it all was that not a word had been said, not a thing had been done, to which he could openly take the slightest exception. But how was this pestilent young cub of an Englishman to be got rid of? That was the question that worried Alvaros during the greater part of that night and the whole of the next day.
There is a certain Captain Alvaros, belonging to one of your infantry regiments, who had the confounded impudence to propose his marriage with Senorita Isolda, although the young lady is only about sixteen years of age, I believe; and Don Hermoso, very rightly, would not hear of it, refused the fellow point-blank, I understood, and forbade him the house."
Don Hermoso was of course, as might be expected, most indignant at the outrage, and was at first very strongly disposed to make a personal matter of it by lodging a formal complaint with the Capitan-General against Alvaros; but after listening to all that his son and Jack had to say he finally allowed himself to be dissuaded from taking so decisive a step, especially as he fully shared their doubts as to its effectiveness: but he cordially approved of Milsom's suggestion that the affair should be laid before the English Consul, and the final result of the talk was that Jack and Carlos forthwith rode into Pinar del Rio, and from thence took train to Havana, where they arrived rather late in the afternoon, yet still early enough to catch the Consul ere he left his office for the day.
Alvaros did not hesitate; there was that in the expression of Carlos' eye, and in the yearning curl of his finger round the trigger, which told the Spaniard that the least sign of hesitation would be fatal; and, with the fear of death upon him, he instantly halted and flung up his hands.
The male occupants of the house were just finishing early breakfast next morning when Senor Calderon presented himself before them, in a condition of considerable mental discomposure, with the intelligence that the prisoner had apparently contrived to effect his escape; for one of the negroes had just come up to the house with the report that, upon his opening the door of the tobacco shed to give the captive his breakfast, Alvaros was found to have disappeared, and no trace of him had thus far been discovered.
I know a good deal about Don Sebastian Alvaros, enough to assure you, Senor Singleton, that he is, as you English say, `a thorough bad egg'; and, worse than that, he is also a man of some standing and importance in official circles.
There were not very many people in the place at the moment, but it soon began to fill up; and presently the young man's heart gave a great bound, and he felt the pulses of his temples throbbing furiously, as three officers, laughing and talking loudly, entered the place and began to look about them for a table. One of these men was Alvaros; hence Jack's emotion.
The remaining details were speedily settled, the hour arranged being sunrise on the following morning, and the place the Botanical Gardens. Then de Albareda went ashore again to interview Alvaros' second and apprise him of the nature of the arrangements, promising to return to the yacht in time for dinner, and spend the night on board.
"To be both explicit and brief, then, I have called upon you this morning for the purpose of demanding the hand of your daughter, Senorita Isolda, in marriage." "To demand the hand of my daughter in marriage?" gasped Don Hermoso in amazement. "Certainly, Senor Montijo," retorted Alvaros haughtily. "Surely there is nothing so very extraordinary in making such a demand, is there?"
I shall make it my business to call upon the Capitan-General to-morrow, and will not only lay the whole case before him, but will also insist upon his taking some steps to mark his disapproval of Captain Alvaros' peculiar methods of venting his personal spite.
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