"Ah! the obligation would be unnecessary," said Lesparre; "the difficulty would be to avoid doing so constantly."
The Don and Donna smiled at each other significantly, thinking that they saw the incipient signs of a mutual attachment between these two, and that it was not unreasonable to imagine that a wedding might result therefrom. How little they imagined that these apparently distant acquaintances were, in fact, already man and wife!
After dinner, the Don and Lesparre repaired to the billiard-room to smoke, while the ladies entered the drawing-room to receive visitors.
"Monsieur Lesparre," said the Don, as they lounged back in luxuriant easy-chairs, "what do you think of my suggestion at dinner? I should really like to obtain your services as private secretary, and I will gladly give you such a salary as will make you independent of other labor. While you are attending to my affairs you will naturally become well acquainted with many business men, and will be able to investigate a number of enterprises, so that you will be better able a year hence to invest your capital to advantage."
"Your offer is truly liberal," replied Lesparre, puffing his cigar thoughtfully, "and I feel disposed to accept it. What would be my duties?"
"Well, I will explain what I wish fully, and then you can judge how the position would suit you," answered Don Pedro. "In the first place, I wish a financial agent, a man whom I can trust, who will attend to all my affairs. You see, I detest the details of business. I desire to live free from the vexing annoyances consequent upon the providing and disbursing of money. My estates produce as much as I can use, and I do not trouble myself to inquire whether they might not yield more. I am accustomed to buy whatever I wish, but I hate to bother my head to know whether I have enough on hand to pay for my purchases; hence I want my secretary to attend to such matters for me. There is another thing in which you could be of the greatest service to me; for, while it is an affair of great importance, involving large interests, I am positively too fond of my own ease to give it the attention which it deserves. I know I can trust you not to repeat the slightest portion of what I am about to tell you, for it is not desirable that it should be talked about, unless the enterprise is successfully carried out."
"Indeed, you can rest assured that I shall never mention a hint of it to any one," replied Lesparre.
"Well, you recollect I told you last night that Mather, Perkins, and some others were anxious to have me explore and open up the diamond fields which, I have reason to believe, constitute a large part of one of my estates in Peru? Some time after I spoke to you, toward the end of the party, I missed Mather, Perkins, McIntyre, Sanders, and several others from the rooms, and while I was wondering what had become of them, Mather came up and asked me to go up to my dressing-room, which, you recollect, adjoined the room used for the gentlemen's dressing-room last night. On arriving there, I found about a dozen of the wealthiest men of Gloster sitting around the room, with Dan McCarthy at the table acting as secretary. Will you believe it? They had actually formed a business meeting in my own house, and had made speeches, passed resolutions, and voted upon two propositions, which they wished to submit to me; they had then sent the chairman, Mr. Mather, to bring me in, and I was expected to stand and deliver my decision at a moment's notice. The idea was perfectly ludicrous to me, yet it did not strike any of them that they were doing anything unusual. I believe that if a party of these Gloster business men were to be landed suddenly in hell, they would organize a stock exchange to deal in brimstone and ashes!"
"They certainly carry their business instincts everywhere," said Lesparre, laughing heartily. "I suppose they had fully arranged everything before you were sent for?"
"Yes, indeed; the very minor details were provided for, and I could not raise an objection which had not already been discussed and removed. Both propositions provided for the formation of a stock company for the mining, cutting, and sale of diamonds. According to the first plan, I was to fix a price upon my diamond fields, which the company would then purchase, paying me three-fourths in cash, and one-fourth in stock. In case, however, that I should be unwilling to part with my controlling interest, the second plan provided that I should receive one-fourth the estimated value of the land in money, giving to the company therefor the privilege of mining for a certain length of time, and receiving also one-half of the value of the diamonds found. The idea of disposing of this property had never before occurred to me, and naturally I was not prepared to give any answer on such short notice; but if I had done so then, I should have positively rejected both propositions. In fact, I said as much to Mather, and he then suggested to the meeting that 'Señor Morito be given a week to decide upon the propositions submitted to him.' The cool impudence of thus graciously giving me a week did not seem to strike them, and the meeting broke up with great satisfaction, every man feeling certain that I must accept one proposition or the other. It was further decided to appoint a committee to draw up a charter and by-laws, 'so as to save time,' as one gentleman remarked. After the gentlemen had left the room, Mather urged the matter upon me very strongly. He apologized for having acted with such precipitation, but, he said, the others were so eager, as soon as they heard that I owned a vast tract of unworked diamond fields, that he could not restrain them. He begged me to make some arrangement with the proposed company, as the men who had become interested in it were wealthy and enterprising, and they would surely push it to a profitable conclusion. In answer to my remark that I was rich enough already, he said that I ought to give others a chance to make some money who needed it, perhaps, more than I. Finally, as he urged it as a personal favor to himself, I agreed to give the most favorable answer that I could, and so the matter stands."