"He is only biding his time, like a good many others."
"I know nearly a dozen myself," said Alzura, "and one of them is a neighbour of yours, Crawford."
"Do you mean the fellow with the pretty daughter?" some one asked.
"Yes. I respect the girl. She is an out-and-out Royalist, and makes no attempt to deny it; but the old man is a schemer—he runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds."
"Don't vent your opinion too freely, my boy; Montilla has powerful influence in high quarters."
"Well," said Alzura doggedly, "if he isn't working hard to bring back the Royalists, I am very much mistaken."
The young officer's words made me very uneasy. I knew little of Don Felipe's proceedings, as, although he was an occasional visitor at our house, a certain coolness had sprung up between us. For this feeling it would have been difficult, perhaps, to give any particular reason. To all appearance the man had acted fairly enough; indeed, according to his own account, he had always been my best friend.
Still, I had very little love for him, and no respect at all. I was rather suspicious of a man who changed sides just when it best suited his interests. With Rosa things were different. She was a born Royalist, and though I thought her views mistaken, I admired her pluck in holding so stoutly to them.
But the idea that her father was preparing to turn his coat again worried me. True, he might win a big reward by helping the Spaniards; but in the event of discovery, he could hardly expect to escape death. I told myself the punishment would serve him right, and that the business was none of mine; yet somehow I could not get rid of the uneasy feeling. If Alzura's suspicions were correct, the man might be taken and hanged at any moment. I said again it would serve him right, but the justice of his sentence would not lessen Rosa's suffering.
All that night I lay awake thinking. I could not get the girl out of my head. You see, I had known her so long; we had played together like brother and sister; she was so pretty and winsome that I hated the idea of trouble assailing her.