“It's all right,” were his first words. “I felt my luck wouldn't desert me. Who do you suppose”—and he turned to Pilar, who had come on with him—“was the first man I ran across? No other than Don Esteban Villaroya.”
Pilar looked a little frightened. “But he's a friend of the Duke's. Won't that make it awkward?”
“No; all the better. I told him Cristóbal and my daughter and I had motored from Burgos with an American friend, an important writer for the papers, who was going to pay us a visit. Not an untrue word to trouble my confessor with. Don [pg 214]Esteban may or may not mention our meeting to Carmona when he dines with him this evening.”
“Dines with him? Oh, I hope that won't make mischief.”
“It won't. Carmona arrived late last night, with his mother and guests. It seems preparations have been going on in the house for the past fortnight; and the first thing Carmona and his mother did was to send out half a dozen invitations for dinner this evening. Afterwards, he managed, probably through royal influence, to get permission from the Governor to take the party into the Alcázar by moonlight, and he's going to have coloured illuminations, music, and Spanish dances given by professionals in the costumes of different provinces. A grand idea, Don Esteban thinks.”
“But why is he doing it?” asked Pilar, thoughtfully. “María purísima! It isn't as if he were an impulsive or hospitable man, fond of getting up impromptu entertainments. This is done in a hurry. What can be his object? for he always has an object.”
“To amuse Lady Monica, who's not pleased with him so far,” explained the Cherub. “And as he's a good Catholic, at least in appearance, to-night or the night after will be his last chance to entertain till Semana Santa is over.”
“Somehow, I don't feel that's reason enough,” said Pilar, looking so troubled that I felt new stirrings of anxiety, and must have shown it; for Pilar exclaimed that she was a “little beast” to worry me.
“You haven't worried me,” I protested. “Still, I think I'll go to that entertainment at the Alcázar.”
Pilar and her father stared. “I see what you mean,” said the girl. “You hope to walk in and meet Lady Monica. But you can't, because the Alcázar's closed to the public after sunset. It will only be open for the Duke as a favour, because he's rich and important, and care will be taken that no outsider slips in.”