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He drew forward a chair, and Estella, obeying his gesture, sat down and so far controlled her feelings as to eat a little. 'Do queens always feed on old birds such as this? asked Concha discontentedly; and Vincente, spreading out his napkin, laughed with gay good humour. 'Before the dawn, he said to Conyngham, 'we may all be great men, and the good Concha here on the high road to a bishopric.
The ghost of this still lingered over him, in the movement of his slender hands, the sharp upflinging of his chin; but it was no more than a memento of a gay and utterly lost past. The weariness, Charles began to realize, was the result of more than a spent physical and mental being Vincente was ill. He had acquired a fever, it was brought out, in the jungles of Camagüey.
Among the many leaders who had attempted in vain to overcome by skill and patriotism the thousand difficulties placed in their way by successive unstable, insincere Ministers of War, General Vincente occupied an honoured place. This mild-mannered tactician enjoyed the enviable reputation of being alike unconquerable and incorruptible.
Who lies down with dogs gets up with fleas. He paused, tapping his snuffbox, and at that moment the door opened to admit General Vincente. 'Oh! the Padre! cried the cheerful soldier. 'But what a sun, eh? It is cool here, however, and Estella's room is always a quiet one.
And General Vincente had the air of constantly assuring his subordinates that they need not mind him. The house to which he conducted Conyngham stood on the broad main street, immediately opposite a cluster of shops where leather bottles were manufactured and sold. It was a large gloomy house with a patio devoid of fountain and even of the usual orange trees in green boxes.
The remark was addressed to General Vincente, although the speaker appeared to be demanding Conyngham's attention in the first instance. The learned gentlemen of the Bar thus often address the jury through the ears of the judge. General Vincente had seated himself at the table and was drawing his scented pocket-handkerchief across his moustache reflectively.
His custom was simply to open the Bible and point to certain parts, and say, "Read that; if this book was written by God's command and I am sure it was that's what he says, not I." Padre Vincente might not have called himself a Protestant, but he certainly preached the gospel, and the people under his charge were the best conducted and happiest in the neighbourhood.
So many have, on the contrary, the misfortune to be always absent when they are required, and the world soon learns to progress without them. 'That man that Larralde is in Ronda, said Senora Barenna, bursting in on the General's solitude. Vincente smiled, and nevertheless exchanged a quick glance with Concha, who confirmed the news by a movement of his shaggy eyebrows.
A manor, formerly granted by Charles V. to Don Vincente Robles, of Andalusia, of pious and ascetic memory, it had commended itself to Judge Peyton, of Kentucky, a modern heretic pioneer of bookish tastes and secluded habits, who had bought it of Don Vincente's descendants.
Nothing, Vincente insisted, could be done now; they must wait and draw into their cause every possible ultimate assistance and understanding. If the truth were known, he repeated again and again, the world would be at their feet.
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