"Not so much as he might have done," pouted Dolores, unfurling her fan; "but you see, Juan, there is Doña Carmencita——"
"Of course! Poor girl! Fancy her father being killed when the city was being bombarded!"
"A great loss, was it not?" sighed Dolores, her eyes filling with tears. "Ay di mi. How sad would I feel had I lost my dear uncle."
"It is the fortune of war," said Jack, calmly. "Instead of our troops capturing Acauhtzin and killing Tejada, it might have been Xuarez storming Tlatonac and shooting Don Miguel. One thing, at least, Doña Carmencita has to be grateful for: Rafael rescued her unharmed from the burning city, and now she is to be his wife."
"And I am to be yours!"
"Yes; and Eulalia is to be Philip's," finished Jack, promptly. "I thought Don Miguel would never give his consent to that marriage."
"Eh, Juanito!" said Dolores, with a mischievous smile, "I think my uncle did so to console Don Felipe for losing his chance of being at the battle."
"Poor Philip! Only one battle of any consequence, and he missed it by being away at Truxillo."
At this moment Dolores was summoned away from her lover by Doña Serafina. The old lady was a very severe duenna when not asleep, and as Dolores was yet unmarried, did not approve of her being too much in the society of her future husband. A little jealousy was mingled with this strict regard for etiquette, as Doña Serafina had utterly failed to fascinate Peter. All her smiles and insinuating remarks had been quite thrown away on the little doctor, who showed no disposition for matrimony, and scrupulously ignored the languishing looks of his elderly admirer. Finally, Serafina gave up the pursuit of this medical male as a bad job, and revenged herself indirectly on the sex by being particularly sharp with Eulalia and Dolores, both of whom were rarely permitted to be more than a few minutes with their respective lovers. These last blamed Peter in no measured terms for thus depriving them of the society of their future wives; but the doctor absolutely refused to sacrifice himself any longer on the altar of friendship. He announced this in a conversation which took place in the patio of Casa Maraquando after the ball.
"I would do anything for you I could," he explained plaintively to Jack and Philip; "but I really cannot go on paying attention to Doña Serafina. She thinks I am in earnest!"