The young fellow looked down into the eager face lifted toward his own and hesitated a little while before he answered her; diplomacy had become so much a part of his acquired habit that, even when it was unnecessary, as in the present instance, for Tessa trusted him implicitly, he still employed it:
"To begin with," he said, as if issuing a decree from a judgment-seat, "I do not think that the blowing up of the battleship, last night, will make our case in Cuba much harder than it already is ... in fact, it might be that the American government would resent the loss of their property and the murder of their sailors sufficiently to induce them to assist us in our struggle for independence from the tyranny of Spain." He looked about him anxiously, as he made this last statement, for he knew that agents of the government might be in hiding almost anywhere. "As to the burial of Victorio Colenzo," he pronounced the name with some braggadocio, "and the rest, this disaster should make no difference as to that, for when human beings die they have to be buried somehow, no matter what happens." It was with secret satisfaction that he explained this last matter, for, so far as he was concerned, the sooner the body of his victim was under the ground the better he, himself, would feel, "and as to Estrella, as soon as she recovers from the loss of her handsome lover, I think she will listen to reason again and be the same nice girl she was before she ever met this stranger who came among us like a whirlwind and who has left us as suddenly as he appeared among us. Now, little Tessa," he ended, "I think that I have answered all of your questions ... suppose you answer some of mine ... for example," and he bent his bold eyes on her little face, "why are you growing to be so beautiful? Whom do you love more than anything else in the world? When will you be a married woman? Do you like me as well as you did when we were little children? Do you think that Estrella will ever marry me, now that she has lost her new lover? Are you my little friend in this matter and will you assist my cause with Estrella?" seeing a look of consternation spread over her countenance, he ended his category with, "Who is your lover, little Tessa? I know you must have one for you have grown to be very fair and winsome since we were shut up in that hateful prison."
"Manuello," said the girl, "I don't believe that I will ever marry.... I have no lover and I am not beautiful. Estrella does not love you, now, but she may learn to do so. I wish her to be very happy and if being your wife would make her so, and I see no reason why a girl could not be happy as your wife, Manuello, then I will do what I can to further your cause with her. I know she is in deep sorrow, today, and I intend to do all that I can to help her. Of course you know what arrangements have already been made. Father Felix will take charge of the ceremonies, I understand. I will accompany poor Estrella to the burial place. You may tell her that I will soon be with her."
The simplicity and truth of the young and innocent girl affected even the hardened heart of the murderer and the evident adoration with which she regarded him also had its effect upon him, so that Manuello trembled, inwardly, in spite of all his hardihood and determination to force his passionate love upon Estrella, as he intended only to use poor little Tessa's admiration for him to influence the older and fairer woman; the very fact that Estrella was, very evidently, not of his own race had a powerful attraction for his untutored imagination and, in secret, he often dwelt upon her difference from all the other women of his acquaintance, while he assumed toward herself an air of superiority, hoping thereby to attract her to himself as being above all of the others of their acquaintance; now that his successful rival was out of his way the young fellow looked forward to an early conquest of the heart and hand of Estrella, and, now that the Americans had become involved in the Cuban war, he hoped for the defeat of the Spaniards as he never had before. Therefore, he could well afford to be a little condescending to the young girl who still clung to his hands as if to her only hope of happiness and looked up adoringly into his smiling eyes.
Stooping toward her a little, he suddenly raised her in his strong arms and lifted her small, eager face to a level with his own; her lips were very near to his and were trembling for that very reason, so he stilled them by holding them for a passionate moment against his virile mouth.
Tessa yielded to his embrace without thinking of its import for Manuello was a strong and healthy man, full of the electrical attraction that goes with those of his build, and, like many uneducated human beings, the animal side of his nature was more fully developed than any other part of it so that almost any healthy young woman appealed to him in some degree and Tessa's evident affection for himself added to her power in this respect.
The two young beings were placed in the situation in which we have described them for only a very short space of earthly time, but it was sufficient to build up a barrier around Manuello that separated him from all the rest of the young men known to the simple-minded girl with whom he was only playing at making love, for all of that sacred emotion of which he was capable had been laid at the feet of the girl who had scoffed at his advances, for some years.
When he had set her, gently, upon her small feet again, Manuello addressed the small maiden in an almost wheedling tone, for he thought that he could, now, better control her feelings than before the episode of the past few moments:
"You do like me as much as before I was put away in prison, don't you, little Tessa? Estrella's aloofness from me on account of her crazy notions about Victorio Colenzo has not affected you with regard to me, has it? I can depend upon you as upon a faithful little friend, I believe I can, anyway ... how about that, little Girl?"
He bent his black eyes upon her as he asked the question, and, with his picturesque costume, dark face, up-tilted mustachio, as black as his heavy, curling hair, and his strong and agile figure, in many ways, he was as handsome as anyone upon whom Tessa's eyes had ever rested, for, to her simple mind, Victorio had been too much inclined toward intellectual pursuits to really appeal very strongly to her untutored mind and she had never been able to understand why Estrella preferred him to Manuello; now, she answered the latter in no uncertain language: