The Captain laughed. "Señora, how did you manage to get the young hidalgos talking on such a subject?"
"Fie! Fie! Captain. Even a soldier diplomat should not seek to understand a woman's ways. Let it suffice that they talked."
"Yes, yes, señora, they talked. They said——"
"Many things. A number sat or were standing around me in the reception room one evening. The wine warmed them, though they drank not intemperately. Politics rolled from their tongues.
"Spoke the handsome youth, Abelardo Peralta: 'Why wait for Mexico to drop us? Let us declare now our freedom and become a province of mighty England.' A dozen others joined in declaring for England. Señor Mendoza was listening to all this conversation, meanwhile beaming on everybody. Now he spoke for the first time. Said he: 'Since we are giving away provinces, let us go to the ballroom. The señoritas are waiting. It is the province of hearts there, and giving and taking is always in order.' Thus deftly did our wary host stem the current. Mendoza's keenness is an element not to be lightly considered."
"Was there Morando? No?" asked Captain Farquharson, falling into the manner of speech of the Spaniard.
"Yes, Morando was there. Eyes, ears, hands, feet, and heart has he for the Señorita Doña Mendoza."
The serene calm of the woman ruffled ever so little.
"Morando cannot have vented his Spanish citizenship thus soon. Doubtless easily he becomes one of us."
"I fancy it will be as says the Señorita Mendoza, who, in turn, is deeply in love with her father. Capture the gray eagle and the nest is yours."