"I've just come from an interview with the English consul here. Found him closeted with that Farquharson. Well, they told me the English admiral is to take possession of Monterey to-morrow," from Barcelo.
"Why should that make you say mean things about the Captain?" asked his wife.
He puffed his cheeks and rested his palms upon his hips, in characteristic pose. "This Morando has been laying plans to capture for himself the combined office of governor and commander-in-chief of this province."
"O, Crisostimo," faintly from Señora Barcelo, "this cannot be true. You must be mistaken."
"Mistaken, wife! Mistaken! Why, that Farquharson told me himself, in cold blood, that Morando is to be given the office, and the English consul seconded the fellow."
"We all thought so much of the Captain," from his wife, nearly overcome.
"You'll see I'm right about the man," a triumphant note in the Colonel's voice.
"I know you are always right, Crisostimo, love."
"Well, poor little Clarinda, you are not to be governor's wife, nor yet wife of the commander-in-chief," he commiserated.
"We've always made the Captain so welcome when he came here, and he was such an intimate friend of you, Silvia. How could he have meditated such treason against us all?"