An involuntary start escaped Thorne at the mention of that name.
“What ails you, Mr Thorne?” cried Anita.
“Nothing, Anita—nothing. Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting him this morning already. But I see we have interrupted your amusements at the piano, which I trust will be renewed after our refreshment.”
That start was not lost upon Anita, though she affected not to notice it.
Refreshments, music, and gay conversation passed off the time most pleasantly, until the arrival of Luis Mendoza and his companion.
And now let us leave the merry party to enjoy themselves, and sally out to introduce ourselves to the old gentleman and his companion.
Felipe Le Brun was a Creole, of about six or eight-and-twenty: his father a Jerseyman, his mother a native of Buenos Ayres. He was what may be called a respectable merchant broker, who bought and sold for others as well as for himself. His knowledge of most European languages, his activity, intelligence, and business habits were great advantages to him as a broker, and as such he was extensively employed. Luis Mendoza was in every respect a different character from Le Brun: the one social to a fault, the other temperate to a degree. Frankness, honesty, stout good-heartedness, and aversion to business, were the characteristics of Mendoza. Le Brun was one of the new-school men of business—sharp, acute, and active. Mendoza was an extensive landed proprietor, and Le Brun was the agent through whom all his sales of produce were effected. It was under Le Brun’s guidance that Mendoza entered into those investments in which he delighted to believe that he was growing rich; and so he was, too, as long as Le Brun’s speculations were successful also. A more acute and careful man of business might perhaps have had some doubts as to whether or not Le Brun was not trading on Mendoza’s capital. This, however, was enough to satisfy the old gentleman, that, whenever his accounts were presented to him, they were always very flattering, especially in the perspective, and that when he wanted money, he could have it to any amount from Le Brun, who was thus in a manner both his agent and his banker: and why should he not be? since it was all but arranged that he should be his son-in-law. Le Brun had long paid court to Anita Mendoza; and a more accomplished suitor there was not to be found within the range of the city. Polite, attentive, and gallant—scrupulously neat in attire—a perfect master of all the petits soins of the drawing-room—and expert in all elegant triflings permissible in the laisser aller of the sala, Don Felipe Le Brun would have been a formidable rival against any worshipper of kid or eau de Cologne, that ever smirked and simpered over a Brussels carpet, and whose accomplishments were confined to carving a merry-thought, sighing on a flute, or tenderly composing a sonnet to the shadow or the shoe-tie of his lady-love. Add to all these accomplishments the recommendation of a father,[10] and none need be surprised that he was a favoured suitor of Anita Mendoza.
Such was Don Felipe Le Brun. We have given every characteristic except that of honesty of principle; and yet there could not have been more upright, honourable principles than those with which Le Brun first commenced and flourished in business. He had every requisite, and all the knowledge necessary for business on the largest and most extensive scale, and every accomplishment that could adorn the active, and solace the retired life of a gentleman. And in such uprightness of conduct Le Brun might, and most probably would, have continued under any ordinary circumstances. But, alas! his very accomplishments proved his ruin. He lived under one of the most suspicious, inquisitive, corrupt, and tyrannical governments that ever existed. The suspicious tyranny of Buenos Ayres extended even into the private and domestic relationship of life; and to effect this, spies of every grade and quality were employed. Now Le Brun, being of foreign extraction, and yet a native born and bred, moving in good society, being a respectable merchant, and in a line of business that brought him in daily contact with every moneyed man in the city, and even made him more or less acquainted with their means, resources, and transactions, was in every way suited to be an admirable agent of Rosas; and it was determined that he should be so, cost what it might in time, money, and political influence. And well the secret agents of Rosas knew how to lure the ambitious, tempt the effeminate, force the timid, bribe the sordid, and flatter the vain.
Slow and insidious were the approaches made to undermine the honour of Le Brun. No difficulty was ever experienced by him in shipping gold or silver without permits. A passport for a friend in trouble was always at his command; his goods were the first to pass through the custom-house, and the first intelligence that could affect paper currency and exchange was always communicated to Le Brun. Such were some of the substantial proofs of favour, and still more numerous were the polite attentions showered on the intended agent of tyranny.
Now, when an individual finds himself thus highly favoured, without any exertion used, or any return required on his part, he becomes naturally disinclined to believe any reports to the prejudice of those who treat him so well; and disposed to attribute the blame more to the complainant than the party complained of; or, wrapping himself up in his own selfishness and self-security, to go upon the maxim of “praising the ford as he finds it.” So it was with Le Brun: from being a passive supporter of Rosas, he was led on to be his justifier. He had so often been indebted to the good services of government officials, that he considered himself indebted to them personally, and then politically—and then—facilis descensus—poor Le Brun!