Chata and Chinita: A Novel

by Laura Preston

With an apparent readiness of resource and disregard of danger, which commended him greatly to the perplexed General, Ruiz himself had proposed the measure.

Taking the precaution to send with him men from Tres Hermanos only, and such as he knew to be warmly devoted to their mistress, Gonzales acceded to the plans of the wily young officer, and despatched him upon the important and seemingly dangerous mission.

After the separation of the detailed party from the main body, skirmishing parties began upon the latter frequent and harassing attacks, and the suspicions of Gonzales were again aroused by the impunity which Ruiz enjoyed, yet alternated with fears for his ultimate safety. He could scarcely believe that knowing it to be in their power to secure so rich a prize as Doña Isabel, the hungry forces of the clergy would suffer her to escape, unless indeed Ruiz was himself as false as he had once suspected. Again and again he reproached himself for yielding to the apparent frankness and loyalty of the man he had at first distrusted, and with an anxiety which grew into actual torture he awaited the outcome of the action which circumstances against his will and judgment had forced upon him.

Ruiz, unmolested, made his way as rapidly as the condition of his charge permitted toward Guanapila. He comprehended well the circumstances which were distracting the mind of Gonzales. These constant though petty attacks he knew from information sent by Reyes were destined to weaken the prestige of Gonzales by a series of petty misadventures, after which his destruction by the desertion of Ruiz, followed by the mass of the disaffected, might, it was conjectured, be readily accomplished. It seemed the simplest matter in the world to effect, and had been instantly agreed to by Ruiz in the hasty conference with his father. Yet further reflection gave him an unaccountable antipathy to the course he was to pursue. It cannot be said that a lingering trace of honor influenced him, or any genuine disapproval of the character or convictions of Ramirez, for Ruiz was in the widest sense a man to be bought and sold, a creature influenced by every turn of advantage; but in spite of all that had passed between him and Reyes, he doubted the good faith of Ramirez. The good fortune that was to give him Chinita at so slight a cost seemed to him incredible. Did the girl love him, and had she owned as much? Or was she to be fooled into acquiescence in the plans of Ramirez by the chimera of his parental power? No; he knew Chinita too well to believe she would marry against her own desire, even to gratify a parent who exerted over her the extraordinary ascendency that she had instinctively acknowledged in Ramirez. Ruiz was, moreover, impressed with a belief in the ultimate disaster of the Conservative cause. For Chinita’s sake he would risk involvement in the ruin he foresaw, hoping that by some spar he himself might float; but unless assured of her good-will,—the thoughts of the young conspirator carried him no further, unless vaguely to conjecture the extent of power which he might thereafter exert over the fortunes of Doña Isabel, through his connection with her mysterious protégée.

With ill-concealed impatience, and hopes and emotions which every hour grew more dazzling and overpowering, Ruiz at length found himself in the house of Doña Carmen, and in her presence and that of her young companion. With inexpressible amazement, instead of her he sought he found himself face to face with Chata, the supposed daughter of Don Rafael.

The confusion and excitement of the arrival gave almost instantly an opportunity for him to pour into the ear of the young girl the burning questions which rushed to his lips. In the necessity in which she found herself to attend instantly the wants of her mother, Doña Carmen left the young soldier and her charge alone together. Breathlessly demanding of Chata news of Chinita, Ruiz revealed to the astounded girl the separation of her playmate from Doña Isabel, the mystery of her flight, and the extraordinary purposes which the young girl had cherished in relation to Ramirez. In every word too he betrayed his own love for her he denounced, and the raging jealousy which possessed him.

Chata in her extreme agitation, forgetting the promises she had made, revealed her own connection with Ramirez, in describing in a few brief sentences the scenes which had taken place at Tres Hermanos, and especially the means by which she had saved Don Rafael. She could not comprehend the rage and disgust with which Ruiz flung himself from her when she announced herself to be the daughter of Ramirez, but a moment later it flashed upon her that she had heard herself named as the destined bride of this man who so openly despised her. Had he too known of the destiny awarded him? She turned from him with a burning blush, and without a word they parted. She remembered afterward that she might perhaps have sent news to the hacienda,—to her foster-father Don Rafael, to Doña Feliz did she still live; but her one chance had gone, and her semi-imprisonment began anew. Doña Carmen was not again betrayed into a momentary forgetfulness of her charge.

Ruiz turned from the house with a thousand conflicting emotions. The encounter with Chata had produced in his mind an absolute fury of resentment, as he reflected that this was the girl whom Ramirez had promised him as his wife,—in his boyhood jestingly; in his manhood as a reward, an incentive. Heavens! what was this puny creature in comparison with Chinita? And Chinita was perhaps at that very moment with Ramirez,—perhaps even laughing with him over the weakness and discomfiture of the youth they had combined to deceive! With blind and insensate rage, Ruiz believed himself the victim of a conspiracy between Ramirez and his own father to substitute this girl for the peerless creature that he loved, and who doubtless was at that moment in the camp of her triumphant lover. They had thought to entrap him into furthering their designs, deeming it impossible that he should enter Guanapila and discover the trick that was to be played upon him.

Ruiz did not for a moment conceive it possible that Ramirez had known nothing of his love for Chinita, or that his father had himself been ignorant of the identity of the girl whom Ramirez had claimed as his daughter, or that Reyes had drawn a false conclusion from his own hasty questions.

In this mood Ruiz was presently met by old acquaintances, before whom he was forced to mask his excitement; and moreover they were in festive humor, which prevented them from being observant or critical. The town, but imperfectly garrisoned, had for some time held an anxious and harassed populace, prognosticating nothing but invasion and the levy of forced loans; but it chanced that on that day a guest had arrived, who by the mere magic of his presence, unattractive and unimpressive as was his bearing, inspired confidence and hope. Benito Juarez himself had made one of those secret incursions for which he was famed, and had reached Guanapila with the purpose of conferring with such officers of his party as had ventured to meet him. There were but few, and Ruiz was honored by an invitation to represent Gonzales. The deference paid him as a delegate from so important a leader, in command of so considerable a force, raised to its highest pitch the absolute fury of resentment that convulsed the desperate lover; and at the banquet that followed the conference, the wine and flattering notice of the Liberal President completed the overthrow of the little caution that he had hitherto maintained in his speech and demeanor.