“Then let me look up Ramon.  He and I will approach the General together.”  She gave him her neatly gloved hand.  “Things are never so bad as they seem.”

“And I thank you for your promptness, which alone, perhaps, has saved our hopes and our ambitions.”  He escorted his caller to her carriage, then hurriedly returned to his office.

That afternoon Kirk received a formal communication from the banker which filled him with dismay.  It ran: 

My dear Mr. Anthony,—­To my extreme distress, I hear a rumor that Gertrudis is to become your wife.  I assure you that neither she nor I blame you in the least for this unfortunate report; but since busy tongues will wag upon the slightest excuse, we feel it best that no further occasion for gossip should be given, I am sure you will co-operate with us.

Sincerely and respectfully, your friend, Andres Garavel.

A sense of betrayal crept over him as he read.  What the letter signified, beyond the fact that Mr. Garavel had changed his mind, he could not make out, and he resolved to go at once and demand an explanation.  But at the bank he was told that the proprietor had gone home, and he drove to the house only to learn that Senor Garavel and his daughter had left for Las Savannas not half an hour before.  So, back through the city he urged his driver, across the bridge, and out along the country road.

Darkness had settled when he returned, raging at the trickery that had been practised upon him.  If they thought to gain their point by sending him on wildgoose chases like this, they were greatly mistaken.  He proposed to have Chiquita now, if he had to burst his way to her through barred doors.  Never in all his easy, careless life had anything of moment been denied him, never had he felt such bitterness of thwarted longing.  Reared in a way to foster a disregard of all restraint and a contempt for other people’s rights, he was in a fitting mood for any reckless project, and the mere thought that they should undertake to coerce an Anthony filled him with grim amusement.  He had yielded to their left-handed customs out of courtesy; it was time now to show his strength.

What folly he might have committed it is hard to tell, but he was prevented from putting any extravagant plan into operation by a message from the girl herself.

As he dismissed his coachman and turned toward his quarters, Stephanie came to him out of the shadows.

“I have been waiting,” she said.

“Where is Chiquita?  Tell me quickly.”

“She is at the house.  She wants to see you.”

“Of course she does.  I knew this wasn’t any of her doing.  I’ve been hunting everywhere for her.”

“At nine o’clock she will be in the Plaza.  You know the dark place across from the church?”

“I’ll be there.”

“If we do not come, wait.”

“Certainly.  But, Stephanie, tell me what it is all about?”