Slowly all one by one dropped into their seats and all the faces were turned towards her. No one thought of offering her a chair, and she did not want one either. When all had resumed their seats, she said:
“All those amongst you, gentlemen, who think that Don Mariano Alamar induced my son Clarence to purchase land from him are much mistaken; and all those who think Don Mariano made a false entry of a land sale, do him an injustice.”
“Who made the entry then?” Darrell asked, sharply.
“That is what I came to say. The land was bought and paid for at my request. If there is any blame, or crime, or guilt in the matter, I am the criminal—I am the guilty one. I told my son, Clarence Darrell, that if he did not pay for the land which his father had located, I would never, never come to live upon it. Moreover, I told my son not to mention the fact of having paid for the land, because his father would think we were interfering in his business, and I did not wish him to know that the land was paid for until the question of the Don's title was settled. Then we would have avoided painful discussions, and the eloquence of facts (I trusted) would clearly show to my husband that his wife and son had acted right, when we had paid the legitimate owner for his property.”
“And now, gentlemen, let me add this, only this, that I do not mean to criticise anybody's actions or opinions, but, from my point of view, I say, those laws which authorize you to locate homesteads upon lands claimed as Mexican grants, those laws are wrong, and good, just, moral citizens should not be guided by them. Settlers should wait until the titles are finally approved or rejected. See! look back and see all the miseries that so many innocent families have suffered by locating in good faith, their humble homes upon lands that they were forced to abandon. Our law-givers doubtless mean well, but they have—through lack of matured reflection, I think, or lack of unbiased thought—legislated curses upon this land of God's blessings. I love my country, as every true-hearted American woman should, but, with shame and sorrow, I acknowledge that we have treated the conquered Spaniards most cruelly, and our law-givers have been most unjust to them. Those poor, defenseless ones whom our Government pledged its faith to protect, have been sadly despoiled and reduced to poverty.
“I have only expressed my opinion, gentlemen; I mean no slur upon yours. I hope you see now that I alone, I am the one to blame for the purchase of the land which has given so much offence. Good night, gentlemen.”
So profound was the silence following Mrs. Darrell's exit, that a pin could have been heard drop. Romeo Hancock was the first to find utterance to his amazement.
“By George,” he said, “but ain't she superb! I see now where Clarence gets his good sense and correct ideas.”
At any other time, Darrell would have been proud of this tribute paid to the wife he adored, with passionate, secret, unrevealed tenderness, but now he was too angry. He even felt angry at the longing to take to his heart that darling so resolute and yet so gentle. This longing, when his pride clamored that she was wrong and should be reproved, was an additional torture to him. He remained silent.
“Well, I suppose that—in the language of the poets—‘this settles our hash,’” Gasbang said, and laughed at his witticism, as it was his habit to do.