“Just a little patience, sire. Now what did Diaz do, but take Puebla by assault before Marquez could arrive? Then he turned on Marquez, and Marquez turned and ran. Oui, oui, sire, he ran, ran like the little ugly, skulking Leopard that he is. To cross a creek, he filled it with all the ammunition, and kept on running, leaving his army defenseless behind him. Groan if you must, sire; others have died in groans. But the Leopard had done this kind of thing before, it should have been remembered. He got back safely though, and squandered the army that might have relieved Querétaro to do it. Mon Dieu, what that panic must have been! One entire battalion surrendered to fifty guerrillas. Yet the Austrian cavalry, the Hungarians, and some others fought, fought with their sabres, and won victories too. Hélas, they only proved what might have been. They only proved how Marquez, if he had not hesitated, might perhaps have saved Puebla and destroyed the Liberals. As it was, they could only retreat, and hardly two thousand of them, ragged and bleeding and filthy, straggled back into Mexico during the next few days. Now they are besieged there. Oui, oui, besieged, by Diaz, by the army of the East, by twelve thousand Republicans, formerly called brigands. And inside is the Leopard, snarling as ever with his regency of terror. Oh no, he will not come to Querétaro. Bonté divine, he cannot. Nor would he. He still holds the capital–for sale.”
“No, no, mademoiselle, there you wrong him, surely. Or tell me, then, who would buy?”
418“Probably no one. At least not Santa Anna. The buyer must have an army.”
“My friend, this is a cruel jest.”
“Earnest enough, parbleu, to make the Leopard forget Querétaro, once he was safely away.”
“Then why doesn’t he sell out to Diaz?”
Jacqueline’s eyes snapped contemptuously. “Young Diaz,” she replied, “is not a fighter to buy what he can take. It’s only a question of a few weeks.”
“Then by all that’s mysterious, who would buy? I cannot.”
“Of course you cannot. That is why Marquez wants you out of the way, sire. So he left you here. The Liberals will attend to that for him.”
“Then who will buy? Who? Who?”