Curse his luck, the old don and his daughter feel
under infinite obligations to him already, and well they may, as to
the matter of that. If it was not for the girl's extraordinary stock
of pride, we should have her falling in love with this young gallant
directly, and there would be an end to all my hopes and fancies.
He's low enough, now, however, so my valet just told me, and ten to
one, if his physician knows his case, as he pretends, he'll make a
die of it. He is a gallant fellow, that's a fact, and brave as he is
gallant. I may as well own the fact that's what makes me hate him
so! But he should not have crossed my path, and served to blight my
hopes, there's the rub. I like the man well enough as a soldier,
hang it. I'd like half the army to be just like him-they'd be
invincible; but he has crossed my interest, ay, my love; and if he
does get up again and crosses me with Isabella Gonzales, why
then-well, no matter, there are ways enough to remove the obstacle
from my path.
"By the way," he continued, after crossing and re-crossing the room
a few times, "what a riddle this Isabella Gonzales is; I wonder if
she has got any heart at all. Here am I, who have gone scathless
through the courts of beauty these many years, actually
caught-surprised at last; for I do love the girl; and yet how archly
she teazes me! Sometimes I think within myself that I am about to
win the goal, when drop goes the curtain, and she's as far away as
ever.
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