"I told him that I would come whenever he called upon me. I have no liking for Escobeda. He will not sell me the lowlands between the river and the sea. He is an unpleasant neighbour, he—"
"He is a devil," said Adan.
"I think that it must be I who made that marriage hasten as it did," said Agueda, smilingly. "The Señor remembers the day last week when I came home and found the Señor with the letter from the Señor Don Noé saying that he would make a visit at Palmacristi with the little child? It was on that day that I carried the note from the Señorita to Don Gil."
"And that was the very day of the marriage," broke in Adan, willing enough to interrupt his niece, though not his master. "It was the very day. There was a shipwreck, and somehow the young Señor got the Señorita from the vessel. Como no, hombre! When one wants a thing he must have it if he is gran' Señor. The padre was there, and he married them, and now they have to reckon with the Señor E'cobeda."
"Where was the precious rascal all this time?" asked Don Beltran.
"Some say that he was on board the ship, Señor, and that he was carried on to the government town. They say he knew nothing of the grounding of the vessel; he was always sick with the sea, that Señor E'cobeda. Caramba! I should like to see him sick with the sea, or with the bite of a black spider, or with anything else that would kill him—that Señor E'cobeda!"
"I cannot see what he can do, Adan," said Don Beltran. "If she is married, he cannot change that."
Adan nodded, and scratched his ankle with his machete.
"Married fast enough, Señor Don Beltran. First by the padre at the hacienda, and then at the little church at Haldez. I cannot see what rights he has over the young Señora now.
"None at all," said Don Beltran. "Does the lad want me over there—the Señor Silencio?"