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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An American, by Belle W. Gue
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An American
+
+Author: Belle W. Gue
+
+Release Date: July 10, 2011 [EBook #36679]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AMERICAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Charlene Taylor,
+Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             AN AMERICAN
+
+                         BY BELLE WILLEY GUE
+
+
+    BOSTON
+    RICHARD G. BADGER
+
+    THE GORHAM PRESS
+
+    COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY BELLE WILLEY GUE
+
+    All Rights Reserved
+
+    Made in the United States of America
+
+    The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.
+
+
+    TO THE MEMORY OF HIM WHOM WE ALL DELIGHT
+    TO HONOR AS FIRST IN PEACE ... FIRST IN
+        WAR ... AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS
+             OF HIS COUNTRYMEN ...
+               GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+There are many characteristics that are essential to true Americanism;
+among these, none is more prominent than an inborn desire, not only to
+obtain personal liberty, but, also, to see justice done to others.
+
+We, as Americans, say, with loving pride, that we are citizens of that
+_one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was free_.
+
+Oppression of the weak and ignorant, by those who are wiser and stronger
+than they, has, always, aroused in us pronounced, and, often, openly
+expressed, indignation. More than once, have we, as a nation, arrayed
+ourselves upon the side of the down-trodden and pitiful, and, in every
+such instance, we have greatly increased and enhanced the well-being of
+those whose cause we have espoused.
+
+We have never gone out of our way to look for trouble, being more
+inclined to attend to our own affairs than to oversee those of our
+neighbors, and, yet, when, repeatedly, gross acts of injustice and
+cruelty have been forced under our observation, we have, at times, been
+aroused to a state of what we have honestly believed to be righteous
+indignation, and, in these circumstances, we have conducted ourselves
+in accordance with our ability and the fervor of our convictions.
+
+Prior to the evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-eight, our relations with the government of Spain were amicable;
+while we, as a people, sympathized, to some extent, with the uprisings
+of native Cubans, yet, those who were at the head of our national
+affairs did not, in any instance, uphold or palliate the unlawful acts
+of the insurrectionists; but, during the hours of darkness of that
+never-to-be-forgotten night, a dastardly and totally inexcusable deed,
+in spite of the recent renewal of our friendly intercourse with the
+Spanish government, made of that nation a foe to be contended against
+with all the might that was in us.
+
+While our only object, in the beginning of the Spanish-American war, was
+to teach the Spaniard the lesson he had so richly deserved to learn, at
+the same time, as the results of autocratic misrule were brought, more
+and more closely, under our direct observation, we took much honest
+pride in the reflection that we were not only resenting, as became free
+and enlightened men and women, an injury to our own well-beloved
+country, but that we were, at the same time, giving to a people, whose
+necks were raw and bleeding from the yoke of a tyrannical exercise of
+absolute power, an opportunity to throw off that yoke, and become, in
+due time, a self-governed and a self-respecting and an independent
+nation.
+
+Our short and fiery encounter with Spain demonstrated, as many years of
+unbroken peace and prosperity had not done and never could do, the
+invincibility of American arms, and the unexampled superiority of
+American daring, devotion, inventive genius and self-adjusting prowess;
+it was supposed that we had a very inadequate naval equipment, and that
+our standing army was very small, besides being poorly trained; in spite
+of this widely spread supposition, our troops won many brilliant
+victories upon the sea as well as on the land.
+
+The same spirit that saved the day for freedom and the right at Bunker
+Hill and Bennington animated the descendants of those gallant and
+intrepid warriors, who, soon after the heroic birth of our Republic,
+defended the cause they deemed to be a sacred one with all that they
+held dear, when they, too, went to meet the carefully trained and richly
+caparisoned phalanxes of those who bowed their heads and bent their
+suppliant knees unto an earthly king.
+
+An American volunteer is as nearly unconquerable as any merely human
+being can ever really be; his whole being is entirely devoted to the
+principle for the vindication of which he is about to enter into bodily
+combat; he is not hampered or bound down by anything that does not meet
+with the approval of his own conscience; physically, mentally, and
+morally, he is the equal of any enemy against whom he may be pitted;
+above him there floats a flag that has never been defeated, behind him
+are glorious deeds of valor that are well worthy of emulation, and
+before him are the hopes and aspirations of those who, with their feet
+firmly planted upon solid ground, practical, energetic and capable, yet,
+always, move among their fellows, seeing visions, dreaming dreams.
+
+Shortly before the beginning of the Spanish-American war, there were
+some, across the water, who dared to complacently imagine that the
+glowing spark of patriotism, implanted in the breast of every true
+American at the time of his birth, had lost its kindling power; those
+who were depending upon this erroneous idea must have had their
+complacency somewhat rudely shaken when it became known, all over the
+world, that, within ten days after President McKinley issued a call for
+one hundred and twenty-five thousand volunteers, seven hundred and fifty
+thousand eager patriots answered to that call, offering their energies
+and, if needs be, their lives, to the service of the land they loved and
+honored.
+
+After thirty-three years of peace, the fighting men of America buckled
+on their armor, bade a tearful farewell to their homes and families,
+and, determined, enthusiastic and buoyant, went, blithely, forward to
+meet, and conquer, a foreign foe; there was not one among these who did
+not realize and consider the seriousness of the enterprise he had
+started out upon, yet neither was there one who did not add, in every
+way within his power, to the light-hearted joyousness, and gentle,
+childish humor, with which our fearless and devoted "boys" undertook to
+secure the freedom and general well-being of the Island people, as well
+as to resent the insult that had been offered to our own country.
+
+The central figure of the Spanish-American war, from its hasty inception
+until its brilliant and triumphant close, was that of a gallant
+gentleman, mounted on a high-lifed horse ... as sternly devoted to
+principle and duty as any Puritan had ever been, as full of the bounding
+joy of life as any boy who followed him, leader, comrade, friend and
+brother, fearless, resourceful, primitive, refined, highly educated, yet
+as simple-hearted as an innocent child, bold, yet cautious and careful,
+unselfish, yet richly endowed with worldly wisdom, respected almost to
+the height of reverence, yet looked upon as a cheery, helpful companion,
+by those with whom he was most closely associated ... THEODORE
+ROOSEVELT ... a typical American, using that word in its widest and
+loftiest sense.
+
+After the close of our struggle with Spain, we discovered that we had
+not only given, but, also, derived, many benefits as the results of that
+short, but decisive, conflict; we had acquired considerable territory
+over which to extend the advantages to be gained from our educational
+and commercial institutions; we had come into such close contact with
+the people of these, and adjacent, territories that we were enabled to
+understand their needs and their desires, more fully than we could,
+otherwise, have done; we had presented to the powers ruling the Old
+World an object lesson as to the people of the United States of America
+being, at any and all times, and under every possible circumstance,
+fully able to take care of themselves, as well as all that,
+intrinsically, belongs to them; we had set before the mighty nations of
+Europe an example of the proper attitude of the strong toward the weak;
+we had bound together, in a common, just and righteous cause, all
+factions, all clans, all religions, and all parties, in short, we had
+bound together the entire population of our well-beloved country, and in
+such a way that the bonds were indissoluble, unbreakable, and permanent.
+
+While we are, above all things, a peaceful and a law-abiding people, yet
+we not only can, but always will, defend our altars and our homes
+against any harm that may be threatened to them; while we do not seek an
+encounter with any government other than our own, yet at the same time,
+we are not afraid to meet any nation on the face of the earth, in open
+combat, giving our enemy the privilege of selecting his own weapons and
+following out his own ideas as to legitimate warfare.
+
+The blood of the sturdy and militant Anglo-Saxon, flowing, now, in
+Yankee veins, is richer and more life-supporting than it was before the
+Mayflower landed her precious freight of human strength and more than
+human aspiration upon Plymouth Rock.
+
+All the fond hopes and all the high ambitions, all the daring and all
+the deep devotion, all the practical achievements and all the airy
+dreams, of their revered forefathers, are, now, alive and potent,
+although, it may be, hidden, in the breasts of all my fellow-countrymen.
+
+If all the titles that have ever been bestowed by human beings upon each
+other ... all the names that indicate the possession of wealth or fame
+or place or power upon the earth ... should be displayed before my eyes,
+and I be asked to select but one among them all to be the one by which I
+would be known, I would without a moment's hesitation, choose AN
+AMERICAN.
+
+
+
+
+PLOT
+
+
+Ruth Wakefield, as the daughter of the United States Consul to Cuba, has
+lived in a beautiful home which her father prepared for his family on a
+height above Havana harbor since early childhood. Having lost both her
+natural protectors ... her parents ... through earthly death, she has
+been much alone with trusty servants, as she has found little
+companionship among the natives of Cuba. However, she has found a highly
+respected friend in Father Felix, Priest of the village of San Domingo;
+to him she has confided her great anxiety concerning some prisoners
+confined, ex communicado, in the village jail, at the end of the prado,
+or central park of the village.
+
+"The Lady of the mansion on the hill," as she is known among the
+villagers, has not, though, told the Priest her real reason for wishing
+the freedom of the political prisoners. Victorio Colenzo is a handsome
+but unscrupulous fellow of mixed blood, being part Spanish and part
+Cuban; he has found the lonely American girl and has courted her with
+such dash and apparent sincerity that she has married him secretly, not
+even informing Father Felix of her union with the attractive stranger.
+This man is among the political prisoners and it is to free him from
+bondage that Ruth Wakefield has furnished Father Felix with means with
+which to overpower and overawe those who have him in charge. Ruth
+Wakefield is herself deceived, for in the village is a girl, named
+Estrella, whose lover Victorio Colenzo is known to be by her associates,
+among whom is another of her lovers ... Manuello ... a native Cuban.
+This man is also in the San Domingo bastile. Father Felix, at the head
+of a procession of his followers, breaks into the jail and confronts the
+keepers with a crucifix which he holds before them, commanding them to
+release the prisoners; superstitious terror finally induces them to
+yield to his demands; in the confusion, Manuello contrives to sever the
+handsome head of Victorio Colenzo from his strong and manly body, so
+that his corpse is found when the doors are finally thrown open to the
+people; Estrella finds this body and weeps above it. Father Felix meets
+Ruth Wakefield by appointment to report as to what he has done, and, in
+this manner, she discovers the perfidy of her so-called husband. She
+confesses the truth to Father Felix who sympathizes deeply with her as
+he knows her to be innocent. She visits the morgue and meets Estrella
+whom she befriends and, eventually, adds to her household. She has among
+her servants, a unique character, named Mage, who has been her nurse in
+babyhood and who is always faithful to her in her own strange way; this
+old woman, throughout the entire twenty-one chapters of this story,
+continues to perform unexpected and startling deeds.
+
+Old Mage accompanies her dear young lady when she goes to San Juan and
+is stationed not far from the battle-field of San Juan Hill. Here, as
+elsewhere, she continues to exhibit her own individual characteristics
+as her central and almost sole idea is to protect and assist Ruth
+Wakefield, whom, although she regards her with unlimited respect and is
+entirely devoted to her interests, she still thinks of as the small
+child she loved before they landed upon the Island of Cuba; realizing
+how different she is from those around her, only increases the worship
+of her faithful attendant, who, on the other hand, does not hesitate to
+use language that will express what she wishes those whom she is
+addressing to fully understand.
+
+Manuello has a primitive, passionate, unbridled and selfish nature; he
+is wildly in love with Estrella and because she has selected another
+lover he has committed murder; with this man out of his way, he hopes to
+succeed with Estrella and goes to her intimate friend, Tessa, to find
+out how she actually feels about the death of her lover, Victorio
+Colenzo; Tessa secretly adores Manuello; she is, also, a native Cuban,
+but her nature is more sluggish than that of Manuello and she has a
+dog-like affection for Estrella, who has become separated from her own
+family as a child and is a member of the household of Manuello, being
+known as his half-sister among the villagers; the handsome peon makes
+love to little Tessa but she is loyal to Estrella and does what she can
+to contribute to her happiness, although, when Manuello becomes a
+fugitive and has been wounded, she ministers to him in a deserted cabin
+up among the hills where it is almost entirely hidden in a jungle of
+weeds and rank vegetation. This cabin is the scene of many pitiful
+endeavors on the part of little Tessa who resists the desires of
+Manuello to make her his mistress although she dearly and devotedly
+loves him. Here, at one time, she is secretly followed by Estrella who
+is led to suspect some secret by Tessa's actions; Estrella informs
+Father Felix of the situation. Tessa, in one of her struggles with
+Manuello, has wounded him in one cheek with a knife which she happened
+to have in her hand. Father Felix visits the hut and Manuello, after
+severely wounding poor little Tessa, so that she is unable to leave the
+place, disappears, but turns up again, after the battle of Camp McCalla
+in a temporary hospital where Ruth Wakefield and Estrella are acting as
+nurses. Old Mage takes a hand in this affair and so frightens Manuello
+that he escapes from the hospital although he is wearing many bandages,
+and, painfully, but determinedly, reaches the deserted hut where he
+hopes to hide until he has recovered from his wounds. As he approaches
+the hut he realizes that someone is within it and looks through a small
+window, seeing Tessa lying on the rude bed she originally prepared for
+him, and, beside her, kneeling on the floor, Father Felix who has found
+the weak and suffering girl and is engaged in prayer; Manuello breaks
+into the cabin and attempts to thrust the Priest aside so that he may
+wreak his vengeance on the helpless woman. Father Felix, however, proves
+to be a worthy antagonist and does not hesitate to use his strength in
+the defense of the innocent, even though it becomes necessary for him to
+seriously injure the young man who is like a wild beast foiled of its
+prey. This struggle in the deserted hut, with the wounded girl looking
+on, continues for some time, but the younger man is finally overpowered,
+and, seeing himself to be at the mercy of his antagonist, becomes the
+penitent sinner and confesses to the Priest who labors with him lovingly
+and ministers to his spiritual condition. The two men then improvise a
+stretcher and place Tessa upon it, after which they carry the girl to
+the door of her own home in the village. Here, the Priest dismisses
+Manuello and tells him to go in peace. The young man then limps back to
+the deserted hut and remains there unmolested for some time when he
+disappears again from the neighborhood.
+
+The Americanism of Ruth Wakefield is pronounced. Father Felix is
+equally devoted to their common country. These two often confer as to
+possible complications connected with international affairs; at one of
+these consultations, Estrella happens to be present and declares that
+she believes that she, also, is an American and that she wishes to serve
+under the same flag as that to which the other two have so often
+pronounced themselves to be devoted. She offers to assist Ruth in every
+way she can should there be an occasion that would demand their help.
+
+Ruth Wakefield is awake in her own room and looking down upon Havana
+harbor on the night of February 15th, 1898 and sees the blowing up of
+the Maine with her own eyes; Father Felix also sees this and hurries up
+the hill to talk matters over with Ruth; they form plans as to what they
+can do for their own country and in the service of the down-trodden
+people of Cuba whose sufferings under Spanish tyranny they have so often
+witnessed. Ruth opens her home and offers it as a refuge to all those
+who wish to escape from Spanish oppression.
+
+Father Felix keeps Ruth well informed as to military matters and, when,
+on June 10th, 1898, our stars and stripes are waving, for the first
+time, over Cuban soil, Ruth Wakefield is standing beside Father Felix,
+who has become an army chaplain, at the window of a temporary hospital
+which her wealth has made possible. This hospital is situated near
+Santiago and many American soldiers as well as many Cuban scouts are
+cared for within its shadowy rooms.
+
+After the battle of San Juan Hill on July 1st 1898, Ruth Wakefield is
+one among many volunteer nurses who went to the assistance of a
+righteous cause. She stands beside a little cot and meets a man who
+speaks to her of "Teddy" and of the grand and glorious work that he had
+done that day; with this bond between them, they soon become friends.
+
+Ruth, as one who has authority, moves from cot to cot and, so, comes to
+stand beside the murderer of her husband or him whom she had called so,
+for Manuello evened up some of his wickedness by serving nobly in the
+battle of San Juan Hill and died in consequence of that day's dreadful
+harvest of human forms. Estrella, too, and Father Felix, come to stand
+beside his cot, but Ruth is all alone when his soul leaves the clay that
+it has been inhabiting for awhile, and, so, she realizes as never
+before, that the man she knew as husband was beneath her in every way
+and in that terrible and heart-rending moment, she begins to learn the
+way to forget the first wild love of her young womanhood and find the
+steps that lead to saner, quieter and happier hours and days and years.
+
+Ruth is given privileges that are not accorded to many near a bloody
+battle-field, and, when she leaves the hospital for the night on July
+1st, 1898, she drives her team along a lonely road, hoping to leave
+behind her, not only the scenes she has just been among, but, also, the
+thoughts that those scenes have awakened in her mind. She thinks she is
+going directly away from the recent battle-field. Her team is startled
+by the sudden rising of a man near the road and runs away, throwing her
+out upon the ground; she climbs over a low embankment beside the road
+and finds herself among the dead; she is almost stupefied by this
+knowledge, but, soon, her instincts for helping those who are in trouble
+rise above her fears and she cries aloud and calls ... asking if any
+there are in need of help that she can give to them. A faint voice
+answers her and she seeks it out and finds an officer who has been
+stricken down at the head of his squad of men; they are all lying in a
+disordered heap and Ruth is obliged to lift one dead body off of the man
+who seems to be alive. Having found him, she proceeds, from her
+knowledge as a nurse, to aid him ... finds a wound from which his
+life-blood is flowing fast and forms a tourniquet with a silken scarf
+she happens to be wearing. He revives enough to whisper to her, naming
+her, on the instant "Tender Heart" by which title he afterwards
+addresses her.
+
+Having rendered all the aid she can, she speeds away, without fear, now,
+as she has an object in her flight, until she secures help when she
+returns and removes the one whom she has found among the dead to the
+hospital, where, after a long period of suffering and faithful nursing,
+he recovers sufficiently to accompany her when she returns to her home.
+Here he proves himself to be worthy of her love which is bestowed upon
+him with the approval of Father Felix and even of old Mage. Ruth's home
+has been destroyed by fire and her entire estate has suffered much from
+vandalism and from enemies of Cuba and of her own country as well, but
+she still has plenty with which to rebuild her home and to assist many
+in the village of San Domingo who require aid and comfort from those who
+are stronger than they are.
+
+Among other patients in her temporary hospital near Santiago, Ruth
+discovers one who is a Spanish spy, for she remembers meeting him when
+he was a Spanish officer under most distressing circumstances, when it
+had been his great desire to do a grievous wrong to a young, ignorant
+girl whom Ruth rescued from his vile clutches. Ruth hesitates to report
+this case to the authorities as she is well aware of the fate meted out
+to spies, and she compromises by telling the facts to Father Felix, who,
+while he is very tender of the innocent, is just and stern where
+hypocrites and liars are concerned. The good Priest soon disposes of the
+Spanish spy.
+
+Father Felix distinguishes himself in many ways during the hostilities
+between the opposing forces in the Spanish-American war and does much
+good, for he does not hesitate to do anything that he finds to do
+regardless of whether it is in the line of his profession or not. He has
+many experiences as thrilling as the one in the deserted hut with
+Manuello. He throws himself into many a breach ... wins many a
+hard-fought battle, and, through it all maintains not only his religious
+attitude toward all mankind, but manifests a gracious and uplifting love
+for all who dwell upon the earth, and, at the end of his activities,
+resumes the humble station he occupied at first, for, as he believes, he
+can do more good right there in the little village of San Domingo than
+in a wider and more elevated station.
+
+Many refugees leave Santiago during, and directly after, the naval
+battle of Santiago; among these are very many wealthy women who are
+forced to leave their splendid homes and flee, in silken garments, with
+the riff-raff of the city.
+
+Some among these wealthy women sought to help in temporary hospitals,
+and one of them, at least, came to that which Ruth Wakefield had
+endowed; this woman was noticeable in many ways, being of superior
+intelligence as well as birth and breeding; she, soon, became proficient
+as a nurse, and when Ruth sees her standing close beside Estrella in the
+hospital, she suddenly recognizes a subtle resemblance between the two
+young women and calls their attention to the fact. And, so, it develops
+that Estrella finds her own blood-kin ... her own loving sister ...
+there in that shadowy hospital, for it is proven beyond a shadow of a
+doubt by a little trinket that the girl has always worn about her
+neck ... a little cross of golden memories, through which, and through
+the girl herself, her lineage is traced, so that she remains with her
+own kin, and does not return to the little village where she suffered so
+much sorrow.
+
+Tessa, with the stolidity of the Cuban peasant, seems to entirely
+recover both from her wounded leg and her wounded heart, for she marries
+a sturdy workman who supplies the earthly wants of Tessa and her
+numerous progeny. If she ever remembers the romantic days through which
+she has passed, her appearance belies the fact, for she becomes,
+apparently, contented with her lot in life.
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+About the beginning of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, there
+had been aroused in the hearts of the people of the United States a
+strong feeling of pity and compassion toward the inhabitants of the
+Island of Cuba who were under the ironshod heel of Spain and who had
+made many appeals for help to our own government in one way and in
+another.
+
+The time was ripe for a revolution among the dark-skinned populace of
+the large cities of the Island Empire and many confusing circumstances
+combined to add to the confusion of sentiments entertained toward the
+government by those who suffered from its rulings.
+
+Many indignities had been heaped upon the Cubans by those who claimed to
+represent the young King Alfonso XIII, who, in his far-away palace in
+old Madrid was as unconscious of what was done in his name, very many
+times, as he would have disapproved of it had he known it.
+
+The young King and his mother, the Queen _regent_, tried, in every way
+within their power, to adjust matters amicably between their rebellious
+subjects and those whom they had sent across the sea to govern them, but
+they found this a very difficult matter indeed, and between the fiery
+tempers of the natives and the over-bearing arrogance of the officers
+who represented them, the poor crowned heads of sunny Spain certainly
+had a pretty hard time of it.
+
+The Queen mother was naturally a gentle and a very highly educated and
+studious woman, while the boy King was as far from being the typical
+idea of a reigning tyrant as a handsome, well-trained young fellow could
+well be.
+
+But those who represented these two crowned heads were of quite another
+pattern as to character and disposition and many were the cruelties
+charged to the account of certain ones among their number due to the
+opportunities afforded them of gratifying their lowest impulses and
+following along the paths that led, for the time being, into what seemed
+to them to be very pleasant pastures and beside very still waters,
+which, as is well known, often, besides being still, run deep.
+
+One evening, just as dusk was falling over the little town of San
+Domingo, there appeared, passing along one of the quiet, shadowy narrow
+streets, a rather strange procession ... well in advance of the rest of
+the motley company appeared a village Priest bearing in his hand a
+crucifix which he held before him as if to fend off something evil ...
+he was dressed, as is the custom of the Catholic Priests of Cuba, in the
+flowing vestments of his office and the long cord that was knotted round
+his ample waist had a huge cross dangling from the end of it which
+struck against his well-formed legs as he strode along with head held
+high as if he saw beyond the things of earth and gazed upon some
+beatific vision which upheld him and lifted him above his immediate
+environment.
+
+Indeed, there was one who walked beside him though he, himself, was
+unaware of it, except subconsciously, for Father Felix, as this Priest
+was known, was wandering among strange thoughts as he passed along that
+almost silent little street, that one sad evening.
+
+He had been, for many peaceful years, the Priest who had officiated at
+almost all the public meetings of the village, but, never in his life
+devoted, as it was to the consideration of holy, high and spiritual
+matters, had he been called upon to conduct so weird a service as he
+was, then, about to do.
+
+He wondered, as he marched along, whether he was doing just exactly
+right in leading these, his simple-minded followers, into what it seemed
+to them they must do, that night ... he wondered whether, even now, he
+would not better turn to those who followed after him and call to them
+to halt and to consider well before they took another single step that
+might, each one of them, be an irrevocable and a much-to-be-regretted
+step, for it might lead to what they could not know of ways that might,
+as well as not, prove very winding and even thorn-strewn ways for those
+who followed along them. And Father Felix knew that he, alone of all
+that little company, was gifted with the power to reason out a fair and
+just conclusion from the premises presented to them all; he knew that he
+alone had enough of education to even understand the meaning of the
+words that had been spoken to them all ... he knew that those who came
+along that little street behind him had trusted to him most implicitly,
+for many years, in matters that required thought, and, although they had
+been the ones to beg him to take the step that they were then about to
+take, he knew that, even then, right at the last, had he been minded to,
+he might, yet, turn their minds away from what they seemed to be so set
+upon.
+
+He knew that, if he wished to do so, he could make them see the matter
+under their consideration in quite another light from what they saw it
+in at that time ... he knew that he could bend their wills to make them
+match with his own will for he had done this very many times before ...
+he was a natural leader, and being well equipped for leadership, he
+took that place as if it were his natural right ... and so it seemed to
+be.
+
+Any stranger, glancing along the line of human beings that followed
+Father Felix and his upheld crucifix, would have noticed many weak and
+vacillating faces ... many weak and vacillating wills as evidenced by
+the expressions on those weak and vacillating faces ... many wills that
+could be bent by anyone who had a strong and capable and domineering
+mind, and Father Felix had a mind like that ... a natural leader's most
+commanding mind ... he was a man to win respect wherever he might go ...
+a man to dominate the wills of those about him ... a man to lead the
+crowd ... a man to guide the minds of those he met, and, after having
+occupied the one place in the village that commanded the respect of all,
+for long, of course they looked to him for guidance and followed where
+he led as little children follow after the one full-grown human being in
+their midst.
+
+But, as they marched along, full many whispers ran along that motley
+little company and gave some prescience of the clamor that would come if
+all their bridled tongues should really become loose again, for, now,
+they only spoke in whispers dreading discovery of what they were about
+to do by some of those against whose orders they were doing it.
+
+"I wonder what the Governor would say if he could know the thing that
+we're about to do," a beardless youth began, as he edged a little nearer
+to his mother's side, "I wonder what would happen to us, now, if he
+discovered our intention."
+
+The mother only put her finger on her lips and shook her head at him,
+but, later on, when they had gone a little further on their journey, she
+whispered to him:
+
+"I hope the Governor will never know who did what we're about to do, at
+least, for, if he should discover which of us accomplished the purpose
+that all the villagers are interested in, we would suffer for our
+temerity in doing this ... I almost wish we had not joined this mob, my
+boy ... I almost wish, at least, that I had left you home to mind the
+house while I will be away from it," and, then, she ended, sadly, "God
+knows if we shall ever be allowed to see our home again."
+
+There was one who walked among that little company, that evening, who
+was not as the rest in very many ways, and, yet, her lot was cast in
+with the rest for she had lived in that small village since her infancy,
+and, so, it seemed to her and them as well, that she was one of them
+and, so, must be among them even then, when they were casting in their
+lots, at Father Felix' instigation, with the ones who so violently
+opposed the reigning powers that they were held, then, and had been so
+held, for many weary months, as _incommunicado_ in the village jail or
+prison in the wide and beautiful and picturesque great prado in the very
+centre of the town.
+
+The girl who, in very many ways, was different from all the rest was
+walking in the very centre of the little crowd and, as the others
+jostled against her, her great blue eyes stared almost vacantly, as it
+seemed, around her like a startled fawn's when something unknown
+ventures near to its retreat within its native forest.
+
+She drew her slender figure up to its full height, and she was taller
+than the rest of those who walked beside her, when someone whispered to
+her:
+
+"What think you of all this, Estrella? Is it to your taste to be a part
+of those who, in their puny strength, contend against the strong? Do you
+think that you'll enjoy the future that we are advancing to? What do you
+think will happen to us when we reach the prado, anyway? Do you think
+the Governor has found out what we are going to do and if he does what
+action will he take? I'm more than half afraid myself ... I don't deny
+that I'm afraid ... how do you feel about it all?"
+
+"I don't believe I know just how I _do_ feel, Tessa," said the taller
+girl, "I think that I'm afraid, too ... I know my knees are trembling a
+very little, so I must be scared the same as you say you are. Let us
+keep as close together as we can, so, if anything happens to one it will
+be sure to happen to us both ... it seems to me ..." she ended,
+dreamily, "that even death itself could not be much worse than the
+things that we've endured just lately, here."
+
+And then the two young creatures shuddered at the very thought of death
+and huddled just as close together as they could and marched along among
+the rest as quietly as if they had not been afraid of anything at all.
+
+At last they reached the prado and Father Felix paused and held his
+crucifix even a little higher than he had done all along and waited for
+the little company to assemble directly in front of him, when he
+stretched his arms out wide in silent blessing on their undertaking, and
+proceeded toward the little prison that stood at one end of the prado
+facing the great public square where games were held when _fiestas_ were
+in order.
+
+But it was for no festal undertaking that they had gathered there, that
+evening; silent preparations were making as they halted ... battering
+rams were being raised and carried forward by the men and tears and
+flowers seemed to be the offering of the women in the crowd to the ones
+they hoped to liberate from the dark, forbidding precincts of the
+edifice before them.
+
+Father Felix motioned those who held the battering rams to hold them in
+their hands in readiness for instant action at a word from him ... then
+he called aloud to him who kept the keys to bring them forth and give
+them to him, or he would be, in case that his request should be
+refused, compelled, in spite of his strong desire to avoid all violence
+if possible, to use force in effecting the object for which the
+multitude surrounding him, outside, had gathered there.
+
+He waited, patiently, for several minutes, but, as he received no answer
+to his demand, he called again:
+
+"Bring forth the keys at once!" he cried raising his voice so that it
+carried far beyond the limits of the building that stood there before
+him, "bring them forth unless you wish to force me to use violence for I
+am determined to liberate the prisoners you hold within, and, if you do
+not bring to me the keys so that I may open the strong doors with them,
+why, then, I'll be obliged to break down the barriers that are between
+the ones you hold within that prison and the freedom that is their
+natural right. Once more do I command you ..." he cried in a stentorian
+voice, using the quality of voice that he employed when he intoned with
+due solemnity, the holy mass, "bring forth to me the keys that I may
+liberate my children that you hold without the right to hold them, or,
+if you refuse to do my bidding, then may the consequences of what will
+follow that refusal be upon your own head...."
+
+As, still there was no answer from the dark and gloomy precincts of the
+edifice before him, he prepared to carry out the threats that he had
+made.
+
+First, he commanded those who held the battering rams in readiness to
+advance until they were the proper distance from the doors for the use
+of their rude weapons, then he told the others to await his word but to
+be in readiness, each one, to follow where he led, then, holding high
+his crucifix and calling most devoutly, on the name of God, he came as
+near to those who were about to use the battering rams as he could do
+and not impede their movements, then he cried:
+
+"Advance and give no quarter! Do your duty as I have instructed you to
+the full extent of it! Follow me, my little children, God is good and He
+will care for us in this our desperate undertaking."
+
+As the heavy detonation of the strokes of those who held the battering
+rams rang through the building, cries were heard as if of those who were
+in agony and many shuddered at the sound for well they thought they knew
+its cause ... it seemed to them that they would be too late ... that
+those they sought to rescue were even at that moment being foully
+murdered in their cells because they were about to save them from the
+fate that they had been condemned to undergo.
+
+The fair Estrella clung to her dark little friend and whispered to her:
+
+"Tessa, it is more terrible than we imagined it would be ... what shall
+we do? How can we bear to go yet nearer to the horror that the prison
+hides from us? Tessa ... little Friend ..." she ended, "I'm awfully
+afraid ... are you?"
+
+"I'm almost scared to death myself, Estrella," Tessa whispered back, "I
+know I'll die of fright alone if this keeps on much longer ... hear that
+scream! It's very terrible!"
+
+But, then, all sounds were hushed, for prison doors that had been locked
+as tight as any prison doors could be had yielded to the heavy blows
+that had been rained upon them and, as they opened, they could plainly
+see, in the dim light that fell within that prison's entrance, that they
+had been, indeed, too late for him who lay at his full length across the
+entrance to the prison, for his body had been twisted in its fall so
+that his head that had been almost severed from it lay askew as if its
+eyes, that stared as wildly and as full of earthly horror as dead eyes
+could, had been trying to discover something strange about the figure
+that, but only lately, was as full of life and vigor as was any figure
+standing there without that prison door.
+
+Estrella gazed at that still figure ... then she screamed in almost more
+than human agony and darted forward till she crouched beside it as it
+lay there at the entrance to the prison ... straightening the handsome
+head, she lifted it until it rested in her lap, and, then, she softly
+smoothed the dark and clustering curls that hung above the broad, full
+brow, and looked within the great brown eyes that stared at her, or so
+it seemed, as if the owner of them had been walking in his sleep, and
+then she pressed her virgin lips upon the full, be-whiskered mouth of
+him whose head she held within her lap.
+
+She fainted, then, and fell across the body of the man who lay across
+the entrance to that prison, and Father Felix lifted her and laid the
+senseless, almost severed head upon the floor again, and supported her
+until he left her with her little friend, outside, among the crowd.
+
+And then the village Priest came back and led the men who held the
+battering rams within the prison to the cells of those they wished to
+liberate and commanded them to break down those doors as they had broken
+down the other ones, but, here, he found his way was barred, for, just
+as soon as blows began to fall upon the doors of those narrow cells
+those within those cells began to call to them and caution them that, if
+the doors were broken down, they'd find the prison-guards behind them
+with their loaded guns and the prisoners told their friends that those
+loaded guns were pointed at their breasts and would be fired at them
+just as soon as their cell-doors gave way.
+
+When Father Felix heard this ultimatum he thought that all his efforts
+had been useless and his deep-laid plans of no avail until he heard a
+voice behind him softly whisper ... a voice that he had never heard
+before:
+
+"Be not weary in well-doing. The cell-doors will open and the prisoners
+come forth alive if you but use the proper means to bring about that
+end. Call out to those you wish to succor, now, and tell them to be of
+good cheer for deliverance is at hand."
+
+The soft voice drifted away into silence, then, but the village Priest
+obeyed its mandates and reassured the ones within those narrow cells and
+gave them courage to withstand the threats of instant death that faced
+them there.
+
+And, then, he turned to those who waited his commands and told them
+that help was very near ... that, waiting there within the corridors of
+that small prison were those who'd come from far to bring to them
+assistance ... the kind of help that loaded guns would not affect. Then,
+he told them of the punishment that would await the ones who disobeyed
+the orders he was just about to give ... a punishment that would not
+only last through earthly life but would go on into eternity ... a
+punishment that would not only blast the earthly tenements but would
+condemn the souls of those who chose to act in opposition to his orders
+to everlasting torment.
+
+And, then, he turned to those who, breathlessly, were waiting for the
+orders he was just about to give, and said to them:
+
+"When I have counted up to three, prepare to break the doors down ...
+when I have counted up to six, if so be they remain unopened, go on and
+break them in!" he stopped a moment, then, to ascertain whether his
+followers fully understood the instructions he was giving to them ...
+seeing all of them alert, he continued, "to you who are within, I make
+this unalterable statement. Choose between a longer lease of earthly
+life and instant death! Choose between forgiveness for your past sins or
+everlasting punishment! Open these doors from within or we will break
+them down and those whose human bodies we will find, lying stark and
+cold in earthly death, will not be those of our dear friends who are
+your prisoners, for there are those within those cells of whose presence
+you are unaware but who are potent in the cause of right and truth and
+justice. I will now proceed to count ... one ... two ... three ..." at
+that, he heard a key thrust rapidly within a lock, but, as it was
+unturned, he went on counting, "four ..." he heard another key inserted
+in a lock, "five ..." he waited just a second longer, then, than he had
+done before, hoping that the keys would turn before the final number had
+to come, but, as they did not do that, he opened his mouth to pronounce
+the fatal word and was about to utter it, when, suddenly, all the
+cell-doors opened and the prison-guards within had fallen on their knees
+in superstitious terror of what they did not know, and, so, instead of
+uttering the fatal number, good Father Felix said, "Thank God!" and
+raised his crucifix and pronounced a blessing on them all, both
+prisoners and those who'd guarded them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+When Father Felix ceased to be engaged in silent prayer he lowered the
+crucifix he held in his right hand and placed it in the bosom of the
+robe he wore and welcomed those who came from out that gloomy
+prison-cell with praises and with prayers upon their trembling lips; he
+took their hands in his and held them for a moment as they passed in
+slow procession, for they were very weak from fasting and from long
+confinement, on their way out into the open light of day.
+
+The first of all who passed from out those gloomy cells was he who'd
+called to Father Felix to stay the hands of those who sought to liberate
+the prisoners ... he was taller than the rest of those who crowded out
+into the corridor and they seemed to follow him as if he were their
+natural leader.
+
+He only paused a moment when he reached the side of the Priest and
+hurried on as if he sought someone whom he hoped to find among the
+motley multitude who surged around the broken doors that led into the
+prado where most of the women were assembled waiting for the more
+desperate action of the men who'd gone inside the prison.
+
+The liberated prisoner, although he, too, was weak and worn as all of
+his companions were, yet rushed with rapid strides from side to side of
+the excited mob whose clamor, now released, quite filled the prado with
+vociferous shouts of joy, until he seemed to find the object of his
+hasty search, for, when he came to where Estrella lay supported by her
+little friend upon a hastily constructed bed of straw and grass, he
+stooped above her anxiously and leaned to look within her face, but,
+when her wide and terror-stricken eyes looked into his, he turned away
+as if he had not found the one he was in search of after all.
+
+Estrella raised herself upon one elbow and rested on the ready shoulder
+of her little friend while she gazed after his retreating form with an
+eagerness not unmixed with sudden fear; it seemed as if the girl were
+fascinated by him, and, yet, dreaded his approach, for she did not even
+speak to him although she knew that he had been one of those whom they
+had come to liberate and had looked forward to greeting him when he
+should be released.
+
+But the horror that had been thrust upon her at the very entrance of
+that dark and gloomy prison had quite unnerved her and had made her
+shrink from any contact with the prisoners who, now, came trooping out
+and mingled with the crowd by which they were soon, as it seemed,
+absorbed.
+
+Then, suddenly, a trumpet blast rang through the wide and spacious
+prado and a company of mounted cavalry, with naked swords uplifted, rode
+madly in among the crowd and scattered it as chaff is scattered by a
+furious wind ... cries of agony were heard as some were trampled by the
+horses, tortured by the cruel spurs which their infuriated riders were
+driving into their tender skins, and many men and women fell into
+disordered heaps of human misery in wildly scrambling toward a place of
+temporary safety.
+
+The soldiers gave no quarter to the fleeing masses of the people but
+kept driving all of them who stood upon their feet at all toward the
+open streets of the little village that led out of the prado, ordering
+them to cease from disturbing the peace and calling upon them in the
+name of the young King, Alfonso XIII, to disperse at once and to return
+to their homes in the village without delay.
+
+The most of those within the prado had been driven out before the
+commanding officer of the soldiers noticed that the prison doors were
+open, even then, at first he did not perceive just what the crowd had
+been collected for, or he might have given other orders than he had.
+
+When he beheld the broken doors he marvelled greatly, for this was an
+unlooked-for and unprecedented method of liberating political prisoners
+in San Domingo and the commanding officer did not know just what action
+to take in the matter but felt that he must wait for further orders
+from his superiors in command before taking any drastic steps to quell
+the evident uprising of public opinion.
+
+Father Felix had seen the soldiers as they dashed into the prado and he
+hastened outside the prison intending to meet them and hold some
+colloquy with their leader, but, when he had reached the centre of the
+prado the soldiers were driving the crowd out at the farther end of the
+enclosure, so that, instead of meeting the leader of the soldiery he
+came upon his own people as they lay in disordered heaps or staggered to
+their feet.
+
+Observing Estrella and Tessa crouched back against a wall as far away
+from the soldiers as they could manage to put themselves, he approached
+them and asked them what they knew about this new phase of the
+tumultuous doings of the day.
+
+The two girls greeted him joyfully for they had had their fill of horror
+and welcomed the Priest who represented to them the sanctity of the
+church:
+
+"Father Felix," cried the little Tessa, "tell us what we are to do next
+and where we are to go and what we are to do when we get there, for we
+are dreadfully upset and poor Estrella has had a terrible shock and is
+still weakened from her fainting fit, while I am just as I have been
+right along ... scared half to death."
+
+The good Priest stopped beside the girls long enough to tell them to
+quietly go to their own homes and stay indoors until morning, then he
+passed on to the other groups, and, where he could do so, assisted them
+to leave the prado, preparatory to seeking their own places of abode
+where he advised them all to remain if possible without molestation from
+the authorities.
+
+When Father Felix had reached the little cluster of people surrounding
+the liberated prisoner whom we have mentioned before, he came to a halt,
+and, beckoning the young man referred to to follow him, he passed on out
+of ear-shot of the rest and said to him:
+
+"I wish that you would explain to me how it happens that Estrella is in
+need of help and you, although free, are not by her side. How does it
+happen, Manuello, that your half-sister has only her little friend,
+Tessa, to lean upon, while your strong arms are without a burden?"
+
+The young fellow hung his head as if ashamed, for a moment, before he
+answered Father Felix, and seemed to ponder deeply over his reply to the
+good Priest's intimate question:
+
+"I can tell you about that in a very few words, Father," he at length
+summoned courage to say, "I have only within the past few most
+delightful moments been freed from a loathesome dungeon and have been
+receiving the felicitations of some of my friends on my fortunate
+escape. I did not realize that Estrella needed my services ... if so,
+of course I will at once offer them to her."
+
+Bowing low before Father Felix, he put his right hand to his head as if
+to doff its covering, but, finding it bare except for his thick mop of
+dishevelled brown hair, he smiled, instead, and, suiting his actions to
+his words, approached the two girls who still remained where Father
+Felix had left them as if afraid to move:
+
+"Allow me!" he cried, gayly, extending one strong arm to each of the
+maidens, "Accept my escort to whatever place you desire to go!"
+
+Estrella seemed to take no notice of the offered arm, but Tessa eagerly
+laid hold of the proffered protection and snuggled her small person
+against the tall figure of the young fellow who turned to her companion
+as if to discover the cause of her apparent coolness.
+
+"Why so silent, fair Lady?" he inquired, "Have you no congratulations to
+offer me upon my recent harrowing experience and subsequent and most
+fortunate escape?"
+
+Estrella did not answer him at first, but gazed intently into his eager
+face as if to read there the inner motives that prompted his
+lightly-spoken words.
+
+After she had looked into his face for a few seconds of earnest
+scrutiny, she said to him:
+
+"Manuello, why did you not speak to me when we first met after your
+liberation from the prison? Why have you spent the time since then among
+the others instead of looking after my interests? Have you ceased to
+care for me during your incarceration? What have I done to deserve such
+treatment from you? Have I not treated you as a sister should? In what
+way have I offended you, Manuello?"
+
+As she uttered these words her fair face flushed with the tide of deep
+emotion that swept over it and her blue eyes grew dark and full of
+feeling. She placed one of her hands on his arm, lightly, but held
+herself aloof from contact with his person.
+
+He recognized this attitude of hers by standing a little more erectly
+and holding the arm on which her hand had been laid, stiffly extended a
+little from his body:
+
+"How suddenly affectionate you have become, my soft and yielding sister!
+It seems to me that I remember how earnestly you plead with me to cease
+embracing you whenever opportunity was afforded to me, before I went to
+prison for my sins.... I think you are the girl who used to say to me
+'please, Manuello, don't hold my hand so tightly! You are too rough!' I
+do not wish to be considered rough by any woman, and, so, I am more
+cautious in approaching your sacred person, now that I have had time to
+reflect upon your many words."
+
+"How can you speak so to her, Manuello," exclaimed the dark-skinned
+Tessa, "now that you are free once more? Poor Estrella has had a most
+terrible experience, here, tonight ... you ought to comfort instead of
+scolding her."
+
+The tender-hearted little girl looked up at the big man reproachfully
+and reached around his back to pat Estrella's shoulder, but he only
+stalked along between the two girls, sullenly and almost silently.
+
+At length, they reached the little cottage where Estrella and her family
+lived and Tessa ran along a little further to her own home while
+Manuello and his half-sister entered their own dwelling.
+
+It happened that they were alone, at first, as the other members of the
+little family had not yet returned from the prado, and, in that interval
+of time, considerable was said and done by both of them.
+
+"Manuello," said the girl, putting one hand on each of his broad
+shoulders, "have you no pity for me, now that Victorio is dead? You must
+have seen his poor, mangled body lying there at the entrance of the
+prison, Manuello ... can you tell how he came to die just as he and all
+the rest were about to be released from prison?"
+
+Her tear-stained face was very near to his and his own lips began to
+tremble before he mustered courage to answer her:
+
+"Of course, I'm sorry for you, Estrella," he began haltingly and slow,
+"of course I pity you as well as any other woman whose lover's newly
+dead. As to how he happened to be killed ... why, I guess you will
+never know just what did happen in that prison when those battering rams
+began to rock it by their impact ... I am certain that I cannot give you
+much explanation as I, myself, was one of those who suffered, although
+you do not seem concerned as to that in any way."
+
+"You escaped alive, Manuello, and poor Victorio did not for his poor
+head was almost severed from his body ..." said Estrella, weeping
+violently, with deep-drawn sobs of agony, "I lifted him and tried to
+hold his head upon my lap ... oh, Manuello," she continued, clinging to
+him involuntarily, "it was very terrible!"
+
+Her sufferings seemed to move him for he put his arms about her
+shoulders and drew her head forward until it rested on his broad and
+palpitating breast:
+
+"Poor little girl!" he murmured, softly, stroking her fair hair, "Poor
+little Estrella! I _am_ sorry for you ... I _do_ pity you, though why
+you chose Victorio for your lover was always beyond my comprehension."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+When Father Felix left the prado he went directly to the church where he
+officiated, and, thence, into the small refectory behind it; here, he
+removed the flowing vestments he had worn when engaged in the enterprise
+which we have described in a previous chapter of this book, and assumed
+a more conventional and handy garb for he had work to do that would
+require all the strength of his arms and all the muscles of his broad
+back; he had set himself a task that was never meant for priestly hands
+to do, and, in the doing of it, he would need all the strength that
+years of careful living and an inherited and bounding health had
+bestowed upon him.
+
+He, at once, began preparations for the work he had to do, and, to begin
+with, he adjusted the heavy cross which he always wore about his neck so
+that it would hang exactly in front of him and not over-balance his body
+by being on one side or the other; this cross had been a relic much
+prized by him of an old Priest with whom he had studied and whose
+sainted memory he revered almost as much as that of the saints whom he
+had been taught to worship along with the Virgin Mary and The Babe of
+Bethlehem; then, he put on next to his skin a hair-cloth shirt so
+constructed as not to scratch and yet to be very warm; over this he
+placed a heavy riding-coat which had been given to him by one of those
+who attended the services he conducted in the church; these garments,
+together with heavy breeches and warm, woolen stockings worn under heavy
+boots, completed, with the addition of a broad-brimmed hat, a disguise
+that would deceive almost any person who was acquainted with his
+ordinary appearance.
+
+Having clothed himself to his own satisfaction, he took a heavy stick he
+had handy in his strong right hand and proceeded to leave the vicinity
+where he was accustomed, at all hours, to be found, and, stealthily and
+quietly, exercising all the precaution of which he was capable, he
+proceeded up the street that ran behind the little church with as much
+of haste as was consistent with the object of his journey.
+
+When he had gone about two blocks from the church he turned sharply to
+his left and proceeded about as far again up the street that led away
+from the village, then, turning again to his left, he walked briskly for
+another block or two, when he came to a sharp turn and paused as if in
+doubt as to just which turn to take, when, suddenly, as if from the
+ground at his feet, he heard a low voice addressing him in no uncertain
+language:
+
+"Turn toward the right side of this street," whispered the voice, "take
+the right-hand side of this street and then turn again toward the left
+when you have gone for two more blocks toward the right. You will find
+the object of your search has been in waiting for you for some hours and
+is now growing impatient ... so make all possible haste, good Father
+Felix ... make all possible haste for she is sore pressed with fatigue
+and fear."
+
+When the voice had ceased speaking to him, Father Felix followed the
+direction it gave him, implicitly, and found, indeed, as it had assured
+him, the object of the night-journey he had just made, waiting for him
+with great impatience, coupled with much fear and dread of consequences;
+he hastened to reassure her as soon as he reached her side by saying
+softly to her:
+
+"Be of good cheer, dear Madam. The work that you commissioned me to do
+has been well done and all of the prisoners excepting one are now at
+liberty. Unfortunately, one of our friends lost his life just before the
+wide doors of the prison were burst open ... no one seems to know how
+this came about, but we found his dead body across the very entrance as
+if, indeed, he had been about to join our ranks outside when death
+overtook and stopped him."
+
+"Which of the prisoners was killed?" asked the woman who had been
+waiting there for his coming, eagerly and apprehensively.
+
+"I do not suppose that you were acquainted with the young fellow ..."
+answered the good Father Felix, soothingly, "he was called Victorio
+Colenzo ... he was the lover of a girl I know very well and she was with
+the crowd, who followed me; she dashed into the entrance of the prison
+and held his head, which had been almost severed from its body, in her
+lap until she fainted and became mercifully unconscious of her horrible
+surroundings ... the poor girl was almost crazed with agony and regret,
+for she had flouted him to some extent because of his revolutionary
+sentiments...."
+
+He had gotten that far in his narrative little thinking of the intense
+interest it had for the woman listening to it, until he happened to look
+earnestly at her when he saw, in an instant, that it held for her great
+personal appeal; he stopped at that knowledge and waited for her to
+explain the situation if so be she wished to do so; at length, between
+low-drawn sobs, she said, falteringly:
+
+"You say Victorio Colenzo was the lover of some light girl you know?
+Indeed, you are much mistaken. Instead of being any girl's lover, he
+belonged solely to me. He was my own dearly beloved husband, Father
+Felix. I had not yet told you of our marriage for I wanted you to think
+of me only in my own personal right, but I am the widow of the man whose
+shameful and horrible death you have just been describing to me ... I am
+the weeping widow of Victorio Colenzo, Father Felix, and, if it be in my
+power, his death shall be avenged in blood!"
+
+As she ceased speaking she put her hands before her face and gave way,
+utterly, to her great sorrow, for she had but spoken the solemn truth
+although no one of her many acquaintances suspected that she was a
+married woman at all.
+
+Father Felix was dumbfounded by the intelligence the young woman had
+just given to him and pitied her from the very bottom of his tender
+heart and he blamed his blundering tongue for giving to her such a shock
+as he had just been the cause of; at the same time he could not blame
+himself as much as he might have done had he not known of the marriage
+contract of Estrella and this same man of whom he had been speaking; he
+hastened to place this young girl in the right light before his
+companion by saying:
+
+"My dear Madam, as to the girl of whom I was just speaking, she is in
+every sense of the word a good girl and innocent of any wrong intention;
+if there is a sinner in this matter it was he who is now not to be
+condemned by any human being, for he has gone before his Maker Who will
+mete out to him whatever is his just dessert. I am deeply grieved that I
+should have caused you this deep grief at this time, but, as the
+circumstances are, you would have been obliged to know it very soon in
+any case."
+
+The young woman who had been waiting for the Priest to come to her to
+make his report as to how he had done the work that she had set for him
+to do, was beautiful as any dream of womanhood could ever be.
+
+Her great gray eyes, that shone like stars upon a misty night, were
+lifted to his face and questioned him as to the truth of his last
+statement while they plainly showed the almost holy faith she had in all
+he did:
+
+"Dear Father Felix," she said, finally, stifling as best she could the
+sobs that shook her slender figure, "dear Father Felix, I know you speak
+the truth, and, yet, it does not seem to me that he could have ever been
+a hypocrite such as a man would have to be to be what you infer he was.
+He was my darling husband ... if he, also, was the lover of a trusting
+girl, then he sinned most grievously ... it breaks my heart," she ended,
+clasping her soft, white hands together spasmodically, "it breaks my
+heart to think he could be such a villain as you say he was. Dear Father
+Felix," she began again, for hope will sometimes come upon the very
+heels of wild despair, "dear Father Felix, are you sure that this man
+who is newly dead can be the Victorio Colenzo that I know ... the man
+who is ... I hope he is ... my own dear husband? The one I mean was a
+prisoner with the others you have liberated ... it was for his sake
+alone that I arranged to have you do the work you've done ... might it
+not be that you have been mistaken in the man? Might there not have
+even been two men bearing the same name within that prison?"
+
+Eagerly and hopefully, she questioned the good Priest. He sadly shook
+his head and said to her:
+
+"The young man whose body lay within the entrance to the prison when we
+had battered down the door, was tall and very dark ... his hair was like
+a raven's wing for blackness ... his eyes were like the falcon's in
+their keenness ... he was a handsome fellow in every possible way and
+the girl, Estrella, of whom I spoke, fairly worshipped him although her
+own family flouted her for doing so, as he only came to see her at long
+intervals and seemed ashamed to be seen with her ... seldom ever went
+out anywhere with her, but they were plighted lovers ... that I know ...
+they came to me together, one evening, in the church, and I blessed
+their future union, believing him to be an honest man and knowing her to
+be a gentle, true and loving girl."
+
+"I fear he was my husband, Father Felix.... I fear the very one I hoped
+to liberate has lost his life and lost his honor, too. Father Felix,
+tell me how to bear this great and hopeless sorrow! _Is_ there any way
+to bear a sorrow such as this one is? _Can_ I shut my Husband's memory
+from my heart because I can no longer have respect for him? _Is_ there
+any way," she wailed, pleadingly, "_is_ there any way to bear a sorrow
+such as this one is? _Tell_ me, good Father, _tell_ me, is there any
+way of escape for me who am as innocent as is this young girl of whom
+you have just spoken? Is there some way in which I can assist her,
+Father Felix? Perhaps it is my duty, under these circumstances, to hunt
+her up and try to help her, who is, also, as it were, a widow of my
+darling Husband. Must I do this, Father? Would it be my duty, as the
+wife of Victorio Colenzo, to look this girl up and try to help her bear
+her sorrow on account of his death?"
+
+The good Priest looked at her in deep amazement, but he answered her as
+calmly as he could command his voice to speak:
+
+"No, my Daughter, no ... that would be going beyond reason as to duty.
+It might be right for you to send her something if she were in need of
+monetary assistance.... I do not think she is, however, I do not think
+Estrella is in need of anything to live upon ... they had not been
+married, you understand ... she was not his wife as you were ... only
+just he'd promised he would marry her, sometime. No, you owe her nothing
+more than womanly sympathy in her bereavement and you do not need to see
+her at all, for that matter. It would give you unnecessary pain, it
+seems to me. As for her, if we can, we will let her remain in ignorance
+of the character of him she loved ... she would the sooner repair the
+injury, it seems to me, if she could still respect his memory. It must
+be doubly hard for you, my Daughter, to lose him and respect for him at
+the same time ... yet, it would have been a terrible knowledge for you
+to have gained ... that he had misled this innocent girl ... even during
+his life. A man has little thought of the women who love him when he
+plays fast and loose with more than one of them at a time, anyway. I
+wish I knew what words to say to you to make you strong to bear this
+misery, dear Daughter ... you must bear it all alone, I know that
+much ... only God in His great Mercy, can assist you in this matter ...
+only He can tell you what to do or how to endure your agony of spirit,
+for only He can understand your heart. I am but a feeble instrument in
+God's Own Hands, my dear, afflicted Daughter.... I am but a very feeble
+instrument.... I wish I knew the way to help you bear this thing. I wish
+that I could say the fitting word to turn your mind to other thoughts,
+for only in the mind can fitting help be found ... only the spiritual
+side of your strong nature can uphold you now."
+
+He'd kept on talking to her hoping to alleviate her pain in some
+degree ... hoping that her fits of violent and heart-breaking weeping
+would grow farther and farther apart until they would cease altogether
+so that, being calmer, she could better face this heavy burden that was
+hers, and hers alone, to bear. Seeing no cessation of her sobs and moans
+of agony of spirit, he began to speak of other matters, hoping to
+distract her mind and turn her thoughts to other things, thereby giving
+her an opportunity to face the sorrow that had come upon her so suddenly
+with more strength than she would have if she continued to dwell on it
+alone. So he bethought him of the soldiery and of their coming riding
+into the prado and he began to tell her of this phase of the adventure
+he had on her account, mainly. She listened calmly to this narrative and
+even asked some questions, haltingly, but, just as soon as that account
+was ended, she began again to ask concerning poor Victorio:
+
+"Where have they taken his remains, good Father? Where can I find my
+darling Husband's body? How can I bear to have to see his face which has
+always to my knowledge been so full of life and youth and perfect health
+lying stark and still with no expression in his glorious dark eyes that
+always looked so lovingly at me? Father Felix, even now, it seems to me
+that there must be some mistake about my Husband's being the same man
+who was the lover of this girl you know about.... I think that I will
+see her ... there ... beside my darling Husband's body and decide the
+matter for myself instead of listening to the tales that have been told
+to me. That is how I think I will proceed," she ended, then, quite
+calmly, as it seemed, for secretly she then began to hope that it was
+not her husband, after all, "That is how I will proceed about this
+terrible calamity, Father Felix. I will see this girl beside the body
+of the man she says has been her lover ... he may not be my darling
+Husband, after all."
+
+And so their conference ended, he giving her explicit directions as to
+where Victorio's body had been placed, and she thanking him for carrying
+out her wishes even though, as it seemed then, the very thing she had
+him do the work for had failed her utterly.
+
+Father Felix went back, then, to the refectory, with this complicated
+matter bearing hard upon his heart. He pitied both the suffering women
+very much and wished to help them both if so be he could find the proper
+way to do the task in.
+
+He pondered deeply on the various situations he'd surprised in carrying
+out the project of the woman he had met, that night; she had not told
+him of her plans in their entirety, and, so, it seemed, the very plans
+she doted on the most had very far miscarried and the work, so far as
+she had been concerned, had not only been as futile as any work could
+ever be, but, also, it had brought to her a new and horrible calamity
+besides the failure of her plans and loss of him she evidently deeply
+loved as tender women love but only once in all their human lives,
+perhaps, for Victorio Colenzo had been a man to claim the love of tender
+women ... he was very tall and very handsome, too; his deep, dark eyes
+were very full of loving expression and his strong arms, folded close
+about a tender woman's yielding form, would lift her spirit up and make
+her almost wild with joy and gladness.
+
+And, as it looked now, those strong arms had been folded, not only round
+his own wife's tender form, but, also, about, at least, one other
+woman's, too. Good Father Felix reflected on the fraility of man and
+pondered deeply on the tenderness of women, but he did not, even then,
+reach the very root of the whole matter, for he, being what he was,
+would not be very likely ever to know the heights and depths, as well,
+of human love, for he had always been a religious devotee in spite of
+his great strength of limb ... he'd only used his bodily powers to
+forward the work to which his whole life was devoted utterly, and, so,
+good Father Felix could not fully understand a man such as Victorio
+Colenzo must have been to leave the record that he'd left behind him
+when he died, there, in the entrance to that dark and gloomy prison,
+just as he had been about to come again, a free man, into the glorious
+light of day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Father Felix had prepared the widow of Victorio Colenzo for the sight
+she would behold when she went to the rude dwelling where they had laid
+the form of the prisoner whose dead body had been found lying in the
+entrance to the prison on the day the people battered down the doors and
+set at liberty several political prisoners confined therein, but no one
+could, really, prepare a woman for the vision presented to her eyes when
+she entered the cottage that had been turned into a temporary morgue,
+for more than one of those engaged in the deadly strife with the
+soldiery in the prado after the deliverance of the prisoners had given
+up his earthly life, either at the time of the attack or afterwards from
+wounds inflicted either intentionally or inadvertently by those who had
+been sent to the prado to quell an uprising of the Cuban populace.
+
+As the woman we have before described entered the rude shelter where the
+dead bodies of several of the residents of the little village lay, she
+was surprised and grieved by the number of the dead and, also, by the
+many mourners who crowded among the slabs on which the bodies lay, for
+there was little of orderly array there, everything being of the rudest
+and most primitive pattern as the reigning government did not wish to
+dignify those who had opposed it even after death had taken from their
+limbs the power to oppose anything in the world of men and women.
+
+The woman, who was of a higher class than most of those assembled there,
+was treated with marked deference as became her superior position both
+as to wealth and education, for the widow of Victorio Colenzo occupied a
+proud place in her own right, having been, for a long time, the occupant
+of a large and beautiful residence that commanded a wide view of the
+harbor of Havana and was situated on an elevation above the little
+village of San Domingo; this home had been hers long before she had ever
+met the handsome peon whom she had acknowledged as her husband to Father
+Felix after having learned of his death.
+
+It was through her own instigation that the man had taken the position
+which had, subsequently, placed him among the prisoners for offenses
+against the reigning government who had been liberated under her direct
+orders and with her pronounced sanction, although she had not actually
+taken part in the work which she had directed.
+
+This woman was of another type entirely as compared with the others in
+that small dwelling and walked among them almost haughtily in spite of
+her eagerness in the search after evidence that would convince her that
+she had not been utterly mistaken in the man she had secretly married,
+believing him to represent the finest and highest example of patriotic
+courage and devotion that she had met during the whole of her long
+residence in the Island of Cuba.
+
+She had come to the Island, in her first youth, as the daughter of the
+American Consul who represented the United States in the council
+chambers where were gathered those who discussed affairs of state with
+the ruling Spanish powers; her father had purchased the beautiful site
+on which he had built the home that was still hers, although both of her
+parents had died, there in Cuba, within the past few years; the girl had
+been left practically without living relatives, and, so, loving her
+Island home, she had remained there in spite of the solicitations of
+many American friends who had visited her in Cuba and urged her to
+return to the United States with them; she was of a reticent and
+retiring disposition, loving a good book more than almost anything else
+in the world, and being surrounded by a splendid library, her time was
+fully and pleasantly occupied, as she had trustworthy retainers who
+followed her mandates because they loved to fulfill them and pitied her
+loneliness while they almost worshiped her superior manners and style of
+speech as well as of living; Father Felix, alone, understood her mental
+attainments and was greatly bewildered when she told him that she had
+married Victorio Colenzo as he considered her far removed from the peons
+who were the regular inhabitants of the Island and among whom he labored
+as a missionary rather than as an equal, although his deep humility of
+manner always led them to believe that he was on their own level of
+intelligence, while the aloofness of this one woman set her apart from
+all of her neighbors and made her seem to them like a being from another
+and a higher world.
+
+As she walked among the slabs on which the dead bodies had been laid,
+that morning, for she had come down from her home early, having slept,
+during the past night, only the few hours preceding her meeting with
+Father Felix, as she hoped to have her doubts set at rest and to be
+assured that the man she had secretly united to herself by marriage was
+still worthy of her respect and love which she had given to him without
+further knowledge of his character than what he chose to exhibit to her
+in their infrequent meetings prior to his declaration of undying worship
+and deep and overpowering love for herself as well as of patriotic zeal
+which latter emotion she fully sympathized with, as she regarded it as
+similar in many ways to her own feeling for her much-beloved land which
+was all the more powerful because of her isolation from others of her
+own nation, she representing, to herself at least, the whole of the
+entire broad expanse of the United States; it was this sympathy with
+the ardent patriotism of Victorio Colenzo that had led to her present
+plight for, believing him to possess the strong feelings for his native
+land which he had professed to her to have, she had urged his
+participation in the plot which, on its discovery by the Spanish
+authorities, had plunged him, with others, into the prison from which,
+through her own earnest efforts, they had just been liberated, or, at
+least, a part of them.
+
+Now, she reached the side of the farthest slab in that small room, and
+noticed, at once, crouching down beside it, a fair-haired girl who
+seemed, beyond all doubt, the one bereft by the condition of the body
+lying there, so straight and still, beneath the rude pall that had been
+thrown over it so that even its face was hidden from sight. She softly
+touched the mourner on the shoulder nearest to her and whispered:
+
+"My poor Girl, for whom do you mourn? Is it the body of your brother
+lying here, or, yet," she went on, hesitatingly, for a horrible
+suspicion began to thrust its ugly head before her vision, "can he who
+lies here so quietly have been, maybe, your husband? You are young but I
+know well that the girls, here, marry very young...."
+
+She ended haltingly, for the girl had raised her lovely face,
+tear-stained and drawn by sorrow, and looked up into the face that bent
+so near to her own:
+
+"He was my plighted husband, Lady; he _would_ have been my husband had
+death not intervened to take him from me! I _love_ him so ..." she
+suddenly screamed in agony, "I _love_ him so ... Victorio! Why have you
+left me all alone in a cruel world to be a widow before I was a wife?
+Victorio...."
+
+And, then, she rose, as one who had that right, and turned the pall back
+from the countenance of him who lay there on that senseless slab.
+
+The other woman did not scream, as poor Estrella had ... she did not
+even move, indeed, but stood as if she had been carved from marble, for
+her face was almost just as pale as death itself ... the pulsing blood
+receded from her cheeks and from her trembling lips ... she stood so
+tall and still that the poor girl became conscious of her in spite of
+her own grief and wondered if she, also, sought to find some one she
+loved among the dead; with that thought in her mind, she stepped back
+from the corpse she had been leaning over, and said to her who stood
+there silently as if her interest in the affairs of life had, suddenly,
+ceased:
+
+"I beg your pardon for my selfishness. Are you, too, one of those who
+lost some loved one yesterday? Do you seek, here, in this sad place, the
+body of one whom you've loved as I have loved the man who lies here ...
+dead ... before me?"
+
+The older girl was silent, for she could not talk to poor Estrella as
+she wished to do ... as she had meant to do in case her worst fears had
+to be realized; she did not wish to add a single hair's weight to the
+sorrow that the poor girl felt for him who had been false to both of
+those trusting women who stood there beside his corpse; she did not wish
+to harm the innocent girl, for she could see how true and loving she had
+been by gazing, only for a moment, in her wide, blue eyes, and, yet, it
+was her right and, perhaps, it was also her duty, to the man who had
+been her earthly husband, to claim his body and to bury it as would
+become the husband of a woman such as she had, always, been; but, as
+he'd always begged her to keep secret their marriage which had taken
+place in Havana instead of having Father Felix marry them at his
+request, for political reasons, he had told her, with the thought that
+she, being an American, might complicate his position with the Spanish
+government, as he had occupied a place of trust under the Governor,
+until the proper time would come to expose his actual feelings for his
+native land.
+
+And, so, she had to think of this side of the complicated problem
+presented to her by her strange position while she stood there with that
+weeping, loving, sympathetic, untaught girl clinging to her hand and
+questioning her. At length, having collected a little of her usual
+unselfish consideration for the people living on the Island, she turned
+to poor Estrella and said to her, softly, and, yet, without
+condescension in her manner:
+
+"Yes, my poor Girl, I, also, seek someone I love among the newly
+dead.... I, also, wish to find the man I loved as you have loved the man
+who lies here on this slab.... I, also...."
+
+Then, her courage failed her utterly and she fainted dead away, even as
+poor Estrella, herself, had, when she had first beheld the body of the
+man who had made love to both of them.
+
+The fair-haired girl bent over the older woman and lifted her in her
+strong arms and carried her into the outer air and found the carriage
+where it waited for its mistress and placed her in the care of those who
+served her; then, for the first time, she realized who the lady was
+who'd found her there beside her dead, as she supposed, for Victorio had
+no family in San Domingo, having only come there recently, and having
+held himself as somewhat superior to the most of his own countrymen whom
+he met, so poor Estrella claimed his body as having been his sweetheart,
+since he had, as she believed, no wife in all the world, for he had
+often told her he had never found a woman he could love before he met
+her.
+
+Now, she helped to chafe the hands of her who lay there in that costly
+carriage with her brown hair making a soft frame for her pale face which
+lay upon the lap of one who loved her with the kind of love an ignorant,
+older woman gives to one she much admires and who is far superior to her
+in every possible way; this woman smoothed the fluffy hair back from
+the high white brow, now, and spoke to her as if she were her baby
+instead of one whom she looked up to and respected:
+
+"There ... there! My Pretty! Open your sweet eyes and look at your own
+loving Mage!" she said, as the long, brown lashes that fringed the
+delicate white lids still brushed the rounded cheeks that were almost as
+white as the smooth brow. "Look up at me and let me see your shining
+eyes, again!"
+
+"Her heart is beating, now, more regularly," said Estrella, for her hand
+had sought the other's bosom to see if she still lived at all. "She
+breathes more easily, too. I think she will recover very soon ... poor
+Lady! She sympathized with me in my great sorrow so deeply that she
+fainted. How sweet and dear she is!" she added, softly, as a shudder
+shook the form before her. "How very sweet and dear she is. You _must_
+love her very much indeed.... I never happened to see her before today,
+but I know who she is, now, and how very kind she has been to so many of
+our people."
+
+"I wish the color would creep back into her cheeks ..." moaned Mage.
+"Her cheeks are almost always rosy as the dawn ... it seems so strange
+to see them white ... she don't look natural to me this way ... you
+should see her when she thinks her husband's coming to the house ...
+_then_ her cheeks are like a flame of light ... her eyes are just as
+bright as stars at midnight ... there! They've opening, now ... my
+Pretty ... my own pretty Dear ... Mage is here ... I'm right here by you
+Dearie ... there! I'm afraid she's fainted away, again. She seemed to
+look at you, Estrella, stand farther back so, when she opens her eyes
+next time, she'll see just me ... she knows old Mage loves her
+always ... she knows her own old Mage would take good care of her no
+matter what would come.... Dearie ... I am right here ... old Mage is
+close beside you...."
+
+At that, the woman lying there within her faithful arms, stirred softly,
+and, once again, her glorious gray eyes opened, and she looked at poor
+old Mage whose face was all distraught with many wrinkles and with deep
+anxiety for her. Then she raised herself to a sitting posture and put
+her hands before her eyes as if to hide some horrible spectre from her
+sight, and, then, she looked at poor Estrella standing there not knowing
+what to do, for Mage would not allow her, even now, to come a single
+step nearer to her mistress, and then she spoke:
+
+"My poor Girl," she said, "My poor Girl, I too, sought to find the man I
+loved, but his body is not here. I pity you with all my heart and wish
+that I could help you bear your sorrow. Come to me and I will try to
+help you ... come this evening, just at sunset, to my house. I think you
+know which one it is.... Mage, you tell her where to come."
+
+For she had reached the limit of her endurance, for the moment, and old
+Mage, seeing her evident distress, hurriedly told Estrella where to come
+to find her mistress, and gave the orders to the coachman to drive home
+at once.
+
+And, then, Estrella went again into the habitation of the dead and the
+other woman, with her heart like lead within her breast, went back to
+her own place and left the body of the man she'd called her husband for
+a few short months lying there upon that senseless slab with the weeping
+girl beside it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+When the evening shadows were falling over the almost palatial home of
+Ruth Wakefield, the young girl whom she had begged to come to her
+climbed the rugged height upon which the former United States Consul had
+erected his residence hoping to occupy it long after his term of office
+should expire as he had found the climate very beneficial to the health
+of his entire family, as it seemed, and desired to have a fitting place
+of abode during the childhood of his only and much-loved child, who,
+now, a sorrowing widow and a humiliated wife, was sitting idly waiting
+to receive poor Estrella, not knowing, certainly, just what she would do
+or say when she had to really face the situation into which she had been
+forced by untoward circumstances.
+
+As Estrella reached the rear door, to which she had gone by an almost
+unerring instinct, feeling strange and unnatural among the rich
+surroundings, old Mage appeared to welcome her, as she had been directed
+by her mistress to do; the old woman was greatly in doubt as to the
+condition of affairs in the home she loved to be a part of and had
+longed to get hold of the peon girl alone.
+
+There was something about Ruth Wakefield that commanded the respect of
+even the lowest among those who knew her ... her natural refinement had
+been accentuated by her seclusion from the outer world and by her almost
+constant thought of higher and better matters than the gross and humdrum
+affairs of the daily life by which she was surrounded. Yet, she always
+entered into practical affairs with vigor and entire understanding, so
+that, while she was counted as a dreamer of dreams beyond the earth, yet
+she was acknowledged to be eminently practical and able to attend to her
+own business affairs with no danger of being over-reached by those with
+whom she dealt as to monetary matters, as her natural acumen in such
+matters had been sharpened by various experiences of a more or less
+unpleasant character, such as the loss of certain sums of money through
+trusting to the honor of some of those with whom she had had sympathy in
+their need, for she had discovered that, when it comes to money, people
+are very apt to forget their obligations entirely, only attending to
+that part of life when in need themselves and not considering the fact
+that, unless one gets what is one's due, at least to some extent, one
+cannot, on the other hand, meet one's own obligations, so that the
+lonely girl had learned some hard lessons by practical knowledge of
+human nature gained in the only school where such knowledge can be
+gained ... experience.
+
+But old Mage was of a far different type of womankind ... true as steel
+to her beloved young lady as she always called her in her thoughts,
+although she often found verbal fault with her to her fair and tender
+face ... fond of gossip and garrulous to an almost alarming extent yet
+she could keep a secret as inviolate as even Ruth Wakefield herself.
+
+At this moment, her great desire was to worm out of poor Estrella
+whatever it was that had made her own young lady faint that morning ...
+she was not worried about the poor girl's loss of him she had called her
+lover except in so far as it affected her own people as she was fond of
+distinguishing them, for old Mage, although uneducated and almost
+unaware of her own nationality as her mother had died at her birth and
+her father had immediately deserted her, yet prided herself on being far
+superior to the natives among whom she dwelt, for she had come to Cuba
+with the Wakefield family, having been employed by them as nurse for the
+small Ruth and having stuck tightly to her charge from that time on.
+
+So that, when she faced the poor, ignorant, as she secretly considered
+Estrella, girl, it was with an air of superiority as belonging to a
+higher race than she, for it is a fact that uneducated persons feel any
+elevation above their fellows much more strongly than those who have had
+more insight into the humble attainments of even the wisest of human
+beings, for those who have been permitted to climb the heights of
+thought have had a glimpse of the vastness and unattainable grandeur of
+which even the highest human intellect must only be a spectator ... an
+humble and admiring witness of the matchless beauty and majestic
+splendor that dwell beyond and yet beyond the vision of the keenest
+human imagination.
+
+But old Mage seldom allowed herself even to wonder about what she could
+not understand, being content with the plane of existence upon which she
+found herself and finding amusement and profit as well in attending to
+the various small duties of her daily life as she performed those duties
+through love and pride. Having seated the girl who was almost
+overpowered, already, by the unknown glamour of wealthy surroundings,
+she proceeded to follow out her own ideas and to attempt to satisfy her
+own curiosity before apprising Ruth of the arrival of her invited guest.
+
+She began by commiserating the girl upon her recent loss, little
+dreaming that, in this way, she would find out far more than had been
+her own desire, for old Mage, while she had never liked the young man
+who, for the past few months, had been an almost daily visitor at the
+home she dearly loved, yet had tried to think that her young lady had
+chosen wisely, even if unconventionally, when she had married him, as it
+was very hard for her ever to really question any object upon which
+Ruth had set her heart, it having been one of the criticisms of the
+parents of the little girl that old Mage had always indulged her
+slightest whim and always satisfied at least her own conscience by
+finding some good reason for the indulgence; in the present instance,
+she had often said to herself:
+
+"My poor child is alone so much with her own thoughts and what she gets
+out of all those big books," for what anyone could find in the way of
+company in a book which required so much labor, in her own case, to
+decipher at all was a mystery to her, "and she needs company ... a woman
+needs a man around to make love to her and this fellow is good at that
+what with his guitar and his mandolin and his fine voice, not to speak
+of his wonderful dark eyes and his curly black hair and his strong,
+powerful figure ... it is too bad that he is only a native Cuban instead
+of an American ... that is too bad ... but..." she would end, brightly,
+"he can be naturalized if we ever go back to the States."
+
+So, now, when she turned to Estrella with the conventional question as
+to the identity of her lover on her ready tongue, she little dreamed of
+the consequences:
+
+"My poor girl," she began, "you were to have been married, they tell me,
+to the man who was found dead at the entrance to the prison, last
+night.... I wonder if I happened to know him ... what was his name?"
+
+She had asked the question idly, wishing only to engage the girl in
+conversation to find out whatever she could.
+
+"My lover was a wonderful man ..." declared Estrella; "he was not a
+common man at all ... he was superior to all the men I know or ever have
+known ... he was the handsomest as well as the most intelligent man
+among the whole people of this Island, I think.... I know I never saw
+anyone either so handsome or so smart as was my dear Victorio.... I
+don't suppose you would ever have met him for he was not a servant and
+yet he was a Cuban ... he was a wonderful man and I was to have been his
+wife and he was most foully murdered there in that hateful prison."
+
+And the poor bereft creature began to moan and sob and wring her hands
+in agony of spirit.
+
+This was not at all what Mage desired to do ... to get the girl all
+wrought up before her young lady even saw her, so she tried to comfort
+and calm her by speaking rather sharply to her as she knew hysteria can
+only be overcome by the application of fierce remedies, or, at least,
+that is what she had been taught, so, in order to cauterize the wound
+her words seemed to have made, she said:
+
+"You say your lover was a superior man ... was he, then, a leader among
+the political prisoners who were liberated?"
+
+"Indeed he was ..." proudly answered the bereaved girl. "Victorio
+Colenzo was a leader where-ever he went ... why ..."
+
+But even her pride in her dead lover did not hide from her the effect
+his name had had on poor old Mage for she had crumpled down in her chair
+as if she had received a stroke of some kind and seemed as if paralyzed,
+for her poor old mouth fell open, revealing its entire innocence of
+teeth; she gasped for breath for a moment and then demanded:
+
+"Say that name again! What kind of looking man was he?"
+
+Hastening to comply with the demand made on her, the girl proceeded,
+proudly:
+
+"His name was Victorio Colenzo and he was the handsomest man in the
+whole of Cuba, I believe ... his eyes were very dark and expressive and
+his hair was the very most beautiful curly hair that ever grew on any
+human head ... he was tall and strong and handsome in every way and,
+yet," she ended dreamily, "and, yet, he never loved a woman in his life
+before he found me."
+
+Old Mage had other words upon her lips than those which she said after
+having hauled herself up sharply, remembering how unprotected her dear
+young lady was and wishing, above all else, even her own almost
+insatiable curiosity, to shield her from any harm:
+
+"It must be a great comfort to you to know that, now that he is dead and
+gone," she said to the girl, though what she added in her own mind may
+as well not be recorded here, for, with all the fierceness of the
+far-famed tiger with her young, old Mage, in her own primitive mind, was
+wishing several distinct kinds of punishment would fall, in its
+immediate future, upon the soul of the man who had brought sorrow to her
+dear, innocent lamb. As far as the girl was concerned she felt that she
+had had more than her just deserts already and wished to relieve her
+young lady of any further torture regarding the mixed matter, for old
+Mage, though an ignorant woman in many ways, had lived a great many
+observant years among human men and women, and, now, that her experience
+might serve to protect Ruth in this hard crisis of her young womanhood,
+she threw herself and all her previous knowledge of the world right into
+the breach. She reflected only for a few moments after having made the
+diplomatic speech referred to above, before she decided on a course of
+immediate action.
+
+To begin with, she decided to clear the decks, as it were, of the
+obstruction of the girl's presence in the home of the wronged wife; she
+went about this with precision and dispatch, for, once she had settled
+on any certain course, old Mage was like a mild whirlwind, scattering
+everything before her:
+
+"Well," she began, eyeing the girl suspiciously, wondering whether she
+had any inkling of the exact situation, "I suppose you have folks to
+live with and are not in need of anything much?"
+
+"I am alone in this wide world," declared Estrella, "for I am but a
+foster child among the people who have brought me up ... my parents I
+know nothing of but believe that I am not of Cuban blood.... I
+think ..." she hesitated, "I think ... I am ... an American, the same as
+the sweet young lady who lives here with you."
+
+The last few words almost undid old Mage's stern resolve, but she kept
+her one idea of saving her young lady from further annoyance in view and
+answered this appeal:
+
+"It don't make much difference in this world _who_ you are but it does
+matter _what_ you are ... now, I take it, you are a good girl and will
+marry some good man when you have recovered from this loss ... you are
+too young to feel this as deeply as you might ... I hope so, anyway ..."
+she temporized, seeing the look of despair that settled on Estrella's
+really beautiful and innocent features, "and my young lady wanted me to
+help you if you needed any help for she feels so sorry that your lover
+happened to be killed just as he was about to get free ... she wanted me
+to tell you ..." but at that point in her benevolent intention she was
+interrupted by the appearance of the mistress of the place, and ended,
+rather lamely, "she wanted me to tell you to come to her as soon as you
+got here."
+
+"Why, Mage," said Ruth in her usual sweet, low voice, "you had not told
+me that Estrella had come ... have you been waiting for me very long?"
+she kindly asked the girl.
+
+"No, Madam," said Estrella feeling the immense difference in their
+positions in spite of the evident indisposition and tender youth of the
+other woman, "I have only rested for a few moments after my climb to the
+top of the hill. It was very kind," she added, "of you to ask me to come
+and the cool air of the evening has refreshed my head for it has been
+aching terribly, all day."
+
+"Can't you find some sort of refreshments for her, Mage?" asked Ruth,
+feeling sorry for the other's plight. "Maybe a good cup of tea would
+give you added strength to bear your great sorrow ... we women," she
+said while her sweet, low voice trembled, "we women are but weak and yet
+often the very heaviest of sorrows is laid upon us.... I do not know the
+reason for this ... I do not understand ... but I believe that we are
+all but a part of a very great plan which is beyond our comprehension
+while we are here in this finite world, and I hope ..." she had the look
+of one of God's good angels on her face as she said it, "and I hope to
+know more about this great plan when I have passed beyond this world
+and all its many disappointments. You have had a terrific blow, my poor
+Girl," she went on, kindly. "You alone must bear this grief but God has
+sent other human beings into this human life so that we may help each
+other, if only by our mutual sympathy, when we must meet what it seems
+almost impossible for us to bear alone ... so," she ended, "so, maybe I
+have been sent to try to give you courage to go on in life when your
+future must look dreadfully black to you."
+
+"It surely does look black ..." moaned poor Estrella, "Victorio was all
+I had to lean upon in this wide world for I don't belong to the people
+where I live and Manuello persists in making love to me and I can't bear
+to have him touch me after having known the love of a man who never even
+looked at any other woman but me, and who was," her pride in her dead
+lover again taking the ascendency in her emotions, "the handsomest and
+smartest man who ever came to Cuba."
+
+"The low-lived pup!" said old Mage, who had just come in with the
+tea-tray in her hands and heard the last few words, but she made this
+remark to herself alone and would have ground her teeth in making it had
+it not happened that she had mislaid those triumphs of the dentist's
+art, for old Mage was the proud possessor of two entire sets of teeth,
+although she seldom could lay her hands on them as she invariably
+removed them from her mouth each time she wished to eat anything, having
+grown so accustomed to gumming her food that the teeth were dreadfully
+in her way.
+
+She set the tea-tray with its array of cups and saucers down and added
+several little concoctions of her own making to the little feast before
+she began, thinking to change the subject:
+
+"Dear Miss Ruth, I wish you could have seen little Tid-i-wats a few
+minutes ago; she was out in the big yard and I wanted her to come back
+in her own place so as to be safe and so instead of going to pick her up
+as you know very well she won't allow anyone to do except yourself, I
+just got one of her saucers and a silver spoon and pounded on the edge
+of the saucer with the spoon, and here she came fairly bounding along
+the driveway; she galloped, Miss Ruth, just like a little colt out in
+one of our own big pastures, back home."
+
+"The dear little Dadditts!" exclaimed her young lady, using a pet name
+of her own making. "How cute she must have looked ... she is so little,"
+she explained to Estrella, "she is so very small and so very cute ... I
+have had her with me, now, for ... how long is it, Mage?" for she knew
+the old woman enjoyed being asked for information, "since we came from
+America the last time?"
+
+"Let me see ..." answered Mage, deliberating, "it must be anyway twelve
+years and Tid-i-wats was not a young cat, even then, for she had raised
+one family of kittens at least ... she must be thirteen or more years
+old, my Dear," she said to the young girl, hoping to attract her
+attention to herself and so leave Ruth free from her immediate scrutiny,
+"just think of that! You must come with me, when you have had your tea,
+and see the cute little yard we have for her and then you must look over
+the grounds with me. Miss Ruth is not feeling very well, today, although
+she has such a healthy-looking, rosy face, and, so, I'll entertain you
+while you're here; Miss Ruth is a great reader and her eyes are not very
+strong ... sometimes the sun hurts them awfully."
+
+And Ruth let here have her way, that time, as she found that she could
+scarcely endure the calm, blue, staring eyes of the girl and listen to
+her innocent gabble concerning her own husband; so she called old Mage
+into another room and cautioned her to be very kind to poor Estrella and
+gave her quite a sum of money to hand to her, thinking, in this manner
+to defray the funeral expenses of the man whom she had believed to be
+the very soul of honor fired with an almost holy patriotism.
+
+Old Mage received her directions quietly enough and used her own good
+judgment as to carrying them all out; her main idea was to relieve her
+mistress and this she did by assuring her that she would look after the
+girl and would ask her to come to see them again when she had in some
+measure recovered from her sorrow.
+
+What she was saying to her own self we will not record but she relieved
+her own feelings, while attempting to help Estrella who was as innocent
+as her own young lady was, as she could see, for old Mage was seldom
+mistaken in her estimate of women, although men, as she expressed it,
+quite often "pulled the wool over her eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+As the young girl descended the hill to the little village she reflected
+upon the splendor of the home she had just quitted and wondered if such
+wealth as was displayed there could take the place of the companionship
+of a loved and loving human being; she remembered the very sad
+expression of the great gray eyes into which she had peered for a few
+fleeting moments and she marveled at the memory, for, as it seemed to
+the inexperience of Estrella, Ruth Wakefield should have been as happy
+as a queen indeed for she had the proud position, almost, of Royalty
+among the peons to whose constant society she, herself, had had to be
+accustomed from her earliest recollection of society at all.
+
+In spite of her own great sorrow on account of the sudden death of
+Victorio Colenzo she felt comforted, somehow, by the memory of the vital
+nearness of the woman who was so much her superior, as it seemed to her,
+in every possible way; she could not know that in Ruth Wakefield's
+gentle bosom there throbbed a deeper and more lasting agony than any
+that she, herself, had ever experienced ... she only saw her own
+position among those who had little sympathy for her, as all the girls
+she knew well, except little Tessa, envied her as having been the
+sweetheart of a man they all admired, and the young men, feeling that
+she was superior, in many ways, to the girls of their own type, were
+jealous of the handsome Colenzo who had won so easily what they had
+failed to even attract.
+
+Chief among these latter was Manuello who called himself her
+half-brother, half in derision and half in rough sport, for well he knew
+that no similar blood flowed through their veins as Estrella had been
+taken care of by his own mother simply from motives of pity for a
+deserted and helpless orphan; this loving and unselfish mother had
+passed away some time before the opening of this tale and Estrella had
+taken full charge of the household affairs of the family among whom she
+had grown up, as being the eldest of the girls, having always been of a
+domestic turn of mind and wishing to repay the kindness of those who had
+cared for her when she was unable to do so.
+
+As she walked along she remembered several little duties for her to
+perform yet that night, although she felt that she wished to devote her
+entire attention to the funeral arrangements that she had made for poor
+Victorio whose mangled remains still lay at the improvised morgue in the
+village.
+
+Reflecting on these arrangements, she remembered the money that old Mage
+had given to her which was yet clutched in the hand that had received
+it; hearing a slight noise in the path ahead of her, she hastily thrust
+the money into the bosom of her gown and advanced, cautiously, for there
+was much unrest all over the Island of Cuba at this time and no one was
+really safe, either at home or abroad, as the Governor-General had
+issued positive orders to arrest without question all those who were, in
+any manner, detrimental to the ruling powers.
+
+Estrella was aware, in a dim and uncertain way, of existing conditions,
+and, having been a participant in the recent uprising, she was afraid
+that she might be detained by the government, in which case, how she
+could attend to the sorrowful duty of the morrow was a problem too big
+for her to solve on the spur of the moment; with the thought of this
+danger in her mind, she stepped carefully to one side of the narrow
+path, hoping that whoever or whatever had made the noise she had heard
+would pass on up the hill without observing her; she was standing as
+still as possible, fairly holding her breath and involuntarily clutching
+at the bundle of money in her dress, when she became conscious of the
+approach of someone or something from behind her and jumped, like a
+startled fawn, back into the path and down the hill at top speed; she
+knew that she was followed but did not stop until she had reached the
+door of the little cottage where she made her home; as she pushed madly
+at the door it yielded to her touch too quickly to have been moved by
+herself alone, and, hurridly entering, she found herself face to face
+with Manuello who pulled her hastily inside and barred the simple door,
+saying testily:
+
+"Why did you startle me so? Had I not known your step, I would have kept
+you out until you had told me who you were ... don't you know that we,
+who have made ourselves conspicuous in the recent uprising, are being
+closely watched by the authorities and are liable to arrest at any
+moment? Why do you expose us in this manner by staying out after
+nightfall and perhaps bringing the soldiers who are stationed in the
+block-houses upon us? Is it not enough that you are marked as being the
+sweetheart of our dead leader? Must you even stray about the
+country-side after dark?"
+
+"Manuello ..." panted the poor girl, "I was so frightened ... someone
+was in the path and I jumped to one side and then someone came behind me
+and I ran! I did not mean to do wrong ... I went to see the lady at the
+mansion on the hill ... she asked me to come for she pitied me because
+of Victorio's death.... I am sorry if I did wrong by going, Manuello ...
+I hope you will forgive me ..." she ended, pleadingly, leaning against
+the door with one hand over her fluttering heart and looking up into his
+angry eyes.
+
+His countenance softened in a moment as he gazed upon her delicate
+beauty, and stretching out his arms he said to her:
+
+"Rest, little Sister, here, here upon my breast. All the others are
+asleep and you and I are alone. I would not scold you for the world, but
+we must all be as cautious as we can for we are living in very dangerous
+times."
+
+Estrella evaded his offered embrace and hastened into her own little
+room after bidding him a short goodnight; she wondered, vaguely, what it
+was that had startled her in the path, but, in spite of everything, her
+healthy youth soon asserted itself and she was lost to her little world
+upon the earth with all its many disappointments and unknown turnings.
+
+The day upon which Estrella made her visit to the mansion on the hill,
+as the residence of Ruth Wakefield was popularly known in the village of
+San Domingo, was a memorable one in the history of the Spanish-American
+war for it happened to be the fifteenth day of February in the year of
+our Lord and Master 1898.
+
+Upon that fateful day secret preparations had been made by the agents of
+some of those who were then in power over the people of Cuba ... secret
+mines had been laid and large quantities of explosives had been placed
+in Havana Harbor with a set purpose in view; many of those who had been
+incarcerated in political prisons had been kept in total ignorance of
+the movements of Spanish troops in Cuba but most of the inhabitants of
+the Island had known that, for some time, some definite object with
+reference to our own United States was being considered by those who
+directed the Spanish soldiery.
+
+Among those who had been apprised of what had been going on during the
+confinement of those who had been liberated the night before in San
+Domingo was Manuello; during the absence of Estrella from their home,
+that evening, this redoubtable warrior had been hobnobbing with the
+Spanish soldiers in the block-house nearest to the village and had
+discovered something of the plot to blow up a United States battleship
+in Havana Harbor; as it was known that the _Maine_, an armored cruiser
+of the second-class, had been lying in the harbor for some weeks, the
+young fellow was especially nervous, and, hearing Estrella's flying feet
+approaching their dwelling, he dreaded some new horror.
+
+The little village of San Domingo was wrapped in the first sound slumber
+of the night. Good Father Felix had been dreaming, for some hours, of
+the heavenly home he hoped, sometime, to reach; old Mage had long ago
+forgotten all about her defense of her dear young lady, that day, and
+Estrella was far away from every human care.
+
+But Ruth Wakefield was one of those who never sleep right through the
+dark hours of any night; from her earliest recollection, she had been
+wide awake, with a clarified vision of the affairs of daily life as well
+as of those that were quite beyond the world of men and women who were
+yet embodied, about the hour of two A.M., and, when she had some
+especially knotty problem to solve, she seldom slept for more than an
+hour or so at a time, but would waken to a consciousness of the facts of
+her human existence with a shock that would almost always cause her to
+jump as if struck a blow, which, indeed, was the exact state of affairs,
+only the blow was a mental one.
+
+On this one night, having lost the most of the sleep she should have had
+upon the previous one, her bodily strength was almost entirely exhausted
+so that she sunk into a deep and dreamless sleep during the first part
+of the evening and woke, with a start, about nine P.M.
+
+Rising from her bed, as was her custom upon awakening in the night, she
+approached one of the large windows of her own room facing Havana
+Harbor; she could see the lights from the various vessels lying at
+anchor and imagined that she could make out those of the _Maine_, which,
+as it represented her own native land to her, was, naturally, of deep
+interest to her; she fell to imagining how it would seem to return to
+the United States on that great ship lying so peacefully and appearing
+to be so stanch and strong in the harbor below her window ... she
+wondered if it might not be better for her, now that she no longer had
+the keen interest in Cuba that she had only recently had, to go back to
+her own country and so possibly forget the dark eyes and lying lips of
+the man to whom she had given her virginity only to find it flouted and
+treated with disdain; for, try as she would to vindicate Victorio
+Colenzo, she was too just and reasonable to deny to herself that he had
+acted the part of a sneaking villain both to her and to poor, trusting
+Estrella, who had not had to see her dream of him lying in fragments at
+her feet, but who still believed that he had spoken the truth to her
+when he had told her that she was the only woman he had ever loved; she
+was too young to know that this statement is a regular trite and tried
+prevarication, common to almost all male lovers.
+
+But Ruth, at present, was laboring under no delusions with regard to the
+man she had married, although his dead body was still unburied and she
+had not so much as said a prayer over his remains ... she knew beyond
+all shadow of doubt that he had been untrue to both of the women he had
+professed to love in San Domingo, and her mind was much distraught as
+she sat at her window and, gazed down upon Havana Harbor upon that
+memorable evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-eight.
+
+She had been watching a little boat plying back and forth between the
+wharf and the battleship which she had picked out among the other black
+hulks in the harbor as being the _Maine_, and was speculating, idly,
+what it could be about, as it seemed busily engaged in something of
+importance, when, all at once, a mighty detonation shook the entire
+harbor and the adjacent shore, making even her own stout residence
+tremble, and, where the majestic battleship had, only just a moment
+before, been a thing of beauty and power, there was nothing but a wild
+mass of flying débris and a raging furnace of belching, flaming fire.
+
+Ruth Wakefield realized, even as the terrific explosion occurred, that
+here was a turning point in the affairs of state and that, in all
+probability, her own country would, after this, become involved in the
+war that had been raging in Cuba, then, for about three years; it was
+with mingled feelings of dismay and dread that she surveyed the activity
+that very soon became apparent both in the harbor and in the city of
+Havana; she could see the lights of the rescuing boats as they circled
+about the scene of the wreck and even hear the groans and supplications
+of some of the severely wounded survivors, for the night was clear and
+the light wind carried the sounds from the harbor up to her window so
+that her very acute hearing told her that this was no casual accident,
+but, in all probability, a carefully planned holocaust in which her own
+much-loved native land would, inevitably be involved.
+
+Manuello was one of the first to rush out upon the streets of the little
+village after the terrific noise of the explosion had rolled away; he
+passed hastily from cottage to cottage asking the inmates if they were
+aware of the cause of it, for, being a little below the level of Havana
+Harbor, the inhabitants of San Domingo could not command a view of it.
+
+As no one seemed able to give him any explanation of the disturbing
+detonation, he even dared to approach one of the block houses held by
+the Spanish soldiery; here, he found everything in confusion and
+excitement ... men were hastily arming themselves so as to be in
+readiness for whatever orders might come from their superiors, and
+Manuello found no one among them who seemed much better informed than
+he, himself, was; he imagined that what he had heard had been the result
+of the consummation of the plans upon which he had stumbled earlier in
+the evening and started to climb to the top of the hill upon which Ruth
+Wakefield's residence was located in order to gain a view of Havana
+Harbor.
+
+Manuello had almost reached the very top of the hill before he realized
+that he had come out into the night without a weapon of any kind, and,
+no sooner had he made this disconcerting discovery than he became aware
+of some sort of movement directly in his rear; wishing to avoid whatever
+it might be, he hastily concealed himself and waited for the approach of
+his unseen companion in the darkness; the steps he had heard came along
+the path hastily, yet steadily, and the owner of them soon appeared; as
+he passed Manuello, the young fellow made out that the new-comer was
+none other than the village Priest who, as it seemed likely, was bent
+upon the same errand as the hidden peon; Father Felix kept on, sturdily,
+climbing the grade to the mansion on the hill; having reached the house
+he at once disappeared inside it and Manuello was again alone upon the
+hillside.
+
+Gaining a point of vantage, Manuello looked down upon Havana Harbor,
+and, at once, decided upon the course that he must pursue to cover
+himself from danger of suspicion as to the possibility of his having
+participated in the terrible calamity that had befallen the United
+States battleship, for Manuello knew the exact location of the different
+ships then anchored in Havana Harbor as he had in his possession a map
+of it upon which he had drawn certain black crosses which indicated the
+positions of different vessels, also certain ingenious little flourishes
+told him the nationality of the various ships, so that he felt as sure
+as if he were right upon the scene that the battleship _Maine_ had been
+blown up in Havana Harbor, that fateful evening, and he knew that there
+would be a searching investigation made as to what had caused the
+explosion, so that Manuello had this little problem to consider as well
+as the one concerning the sudden and mysterious death of Victorio
+Colenzo just as he was about to be liberated from the prison at San
+Domingo; for Manuello knew far more concerning that casualty than he
+had imparted to Estrella when she had so diligently inquired of him
+about it.
+
+Father Felix found Ruth Wakefield and her little, frightened household
+fully awake as well as fully aware of the nature of the episode that had
+startled him to such an extent that he had climbed the hill to ascertain
+the safety of the inhabitants of the mansion on the hill, for the good
+Priest pitied the mistress of the mansion far more than he did the poor
+girl in the cottage, knowing that added refinement often makes more
+poignant a sorrow that would inevitably be hard for any human heart to
+bear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+All over the little village of San Domingo, on the morning of February
+sixteenth, 1898, the news spread like wild-fire that the United States
+battleship, _Maine_, had been blown up in Havana Harbor.
+
+Manuello, having secreted his map in what he considered to be a safe
+place, and having remained quietly inside his own domicile during the
+balance of the night preceding the general acceptance of the the salient
+facts concerned in the great disaster, ventured forth at daylight,
+hoping to discover the condition of the public mind with regard to it.
+
+The first place he visited was one of the block-houses where he had
+hob-nobbed with the soldiers before the news of the explosion had
+reached them; here he found closely shut mouths and stern countenances
+meeting him on every side, as he was known to be engaged in stirring up
+strife and dissatisfaction among the peons of whom, to some extent, now
+that Victorio Colenzo was dead, he was an acknowledged leader; the
+soldiers, knowing nothing of what action would be taken by their own
+government, much less of how far the resentment of the powerful nation
+involved in the disaster would carry them, thought that discretion was,
+by all means, the better part of valor, in this instance, and,
+accordingly, had no private conversation with Manuello at all, being
+careful to have several of their number within ear-shot of every word he
+uttered; he, realizing the situation, after some few moments, went
+quietly away, glad, indeed, to escape so easily from among the armed
+hosts of Spain, for his own native country had been under the heel of
+Spanish oppressors for more than three years, at this time.
+
+From the block-house, the young fellow proceeded to the dwelling of
+little Tessa for he had a sort of mild affection for her, knowing how
+profoundly she admired him and being flattered by her preference, while
+his own heart was set on Estrella, to win whom he had, indeed, committed
+a most terrible crime, for it had been his hand that had almost severed
+the handsome head of Victorio Colenzo from his strong and agile body, he
+having taken advantage of the confusion in the prison at the time of the
+liberation of the political offenders to vent his own jealous spite upon
+the natural leader of them all, little dreaming that he had cut off in
+his prime the husband of the lady of the mansion on the hill, but only
+congratulating himself on having removed from his own path a dangerous
+rival in the affections, not only of Estrella, but also of all of those
+with whom he, Manuello, hoped to advance his own interests; for Victorio
+Colenzo was a man to be feared by all those who opposed him as Manuello
+knew very well; now that his dead body was lying there in the little
+improvised morgue, it seemed to the young Cuban that his great influence
+would soon die away, and, so far as Estrella was concerned, he felt
+pretty sure of her as she was so near to him and would, naturally, lean
+upon him in trouble.
+
+So that, he felt quite complacent as to the recent turns in his affairs,
+when he entered the rude home of little Tessa; he found that small, dark
+young woman standing quietly beside a window watching his approach; she
+turned to him, when another member of the family had admitted him,
+eagerly and expectantly:
+
+"What do you think, Manuello?" she inquired. "What will be the result of
+last night's terrible disaster? Shall we, now, have the Americans to
+fight as well as the Spanish? Will the great United States hold us
+responsible for this crime? I wondered, right away, what you would think
+about it all and am so glad you have come over early. Is dear Estrella
+as well as we could expect under her distressing circumstances? Will the
+body of her lover be buried, today? Will this new trouble make any
+difference with the burial of the bodies in the morgue? Tell me
+everything you know, Manuello. Don't pay any attention to my
+questions ... just go ahead and tell me!"
+
+She had come near to him as she kept asking questions, and was now
+beside him and had grasped the collar of his short jacket, for Manuello
+was something of a dude among his associates and was very particular as
+to his appearance, being proud of his straight, strong figure and broad
+shoulders which towered above many of the heads of his companions, so
+that little Tessa had to stretch her small, dark hands well above her
+smooth, black head in order to cling as closely as she desired to him.
+
+The young fellow looked down into the eager face lifted toward his own
+and hesitated a little while before he answered her; diplomacy had
+become so much a part of his acquired habit that, even when it was
+unnecessary, as in the present instance, for Tessa trusted him
+implicitly, he still employed it:
+
+"To begin with," he said, as if issuing a decree from a judgment-seat,
+"I do not think that the blowing up of the battleship, last night, will
+make our case in Cuba much harder than it already is ... in fact, it
+might be that the American government would resent the loss of their
+property and the murder of their sailors sufficiently to induce them to
+assist us in our struggle for independence from the tyranny of Spain."
+He looked about him anxiously, as he made this last statement, for he
+knew that agents of the government might be in hiding almost anywhere.
+"As to the burial of Victorio Colenzo," he pronounced the name with some
+braggadocio, "and the rest, this disaster should make no difference as
+to that, for when human beings die they have to be buried somehow, no
+matter what happens." It was with secret satisfaction that he explained
+this last matter, for, so far as he was concerned, the sooner the body
+of his victim was under the ground the better he, himself, would feel,
+"and as to Estrella, as soon as she recovers from the loss of her
+handsome lover, I think she will listen to reason again and be the same
+nice girl she was before she ever met this stranger who came among us
+like a whirlwind and who has left us as suddenly as he appeared among
+us. Now, little Tessa," he ended, "I think that I have answered all of
+your questions ... suppose you answer some of mine ... for example," and
+he bent his bold eyes on her little face, "why are you growing to be so
+beautiful? Whom do you love more than anything else in the world? When
+will you be a married woman? Do you like me as well as you did when we
+were little children? Do you think that Estrella will ever marry me, now
+that she has lost her new lover? Are you my little friend in this matter
+and will you assist my cause with Estrella?" seeing a look of
+consternation spread over her countenance, he ended his category with,
+"Who is _your_ lover, little Tessa? I know you must have one for you
+have grown to be very fair and winsome since we were shut up in that
+hateful prison."
+
+"Manuello," said the girl, "I don't believe that I will ever marry....
+I have no lover and I am not beautiful. Estrella does not love you, now,
+but she may learn to do so. I wish her to be very happy and if being
+your wife would make her so, and I see no reason why a girl could not be
+happy as your wife, Manuello, then I will do what I can to further your
+cause with her. I know she is in deep sorrow, today, and I intend to do
+all that I can to help her. Of course you know what arrangements have
+already been made. Father Felix will take charge of the ceremonies, I
+understand. I will accompany poor Estrella to the burial place. You may
+tell her that I will soon be with her."
+
+The simplicity and truth of the young and innocent girl affected even
+the hardened heart of the murderer and the evident adoration with which
+she regarded him also had its effect upon him, so that Manuello
+trembled, inwardly, in spite of all his hardihood and determination to
+force his passionate love upon Estrella, as he intended only to use poor
+little Tessa's admiration for him to influence the older and fairer
+woman; the very fact that Estrella was, very evidently, not of his own
+race had a powerful attraction for his untutored imagination and, in
+secret, he often dwelt upon her difference from all the other women of
+his acquaintance, while he assumed toward herself an air of superiority,
+hoping thereby to attract her to himself as being above all of the
+others of their acquaintance; now that his successful rival was out of
+his way the young fellow looked forward to an early conquest of the
+heart and hand of Estrella, and, now that the Americans had become
+involved in the Cuban war, he hoped for the defeat of the Spaniards as
+he never had before. Therefore, he could well afford to be a little
+condescending to the young girl who still clung to his hands as if to
+her only hope of happiness and looked up adoringly into his smiling
+eyes.
+
+Stooping toward her a little, he suddenly raised her in his strong arms
+and lifted her small, eager face to a level with his own; her lips were
+very near to his and were trembling for that very reason, so he stilled
+them by holding them for a passionate moment against his virile mouth.
+
+Tessa yielded to his embrace without thinking of its import for Manuello
+was a strong and healthy man, full of the electrical attraction that
+goes with those of his build, and, like many uneducated human beings,
+the animal side of his nature was more fully developed than any other
+part of it so that almost any healthy young woman appealed to him in
+some degree and Tessa's evident affection for himself added to her power
+in this respect.
+
+The two young beings were placed in the situation in which we have
+described them for only a very short space of earthly time, but it was
+sufficient to build up a barrier around Manuello that separated him from
+all the rest of the young men known to the simple-minded girl with whom
+he was only playing at making love, for all of that sacred emotion of
+which he was capable had been laid at the feet of the girl who had
+scoffed at his advances, for some years.
+
+When he had set her, gently, upon her small feet again, Manuello
+addressed the small maiden in an almost wheedling tone, for he thought
+that he could, now, better control her feelings than before the episode
+of the past few moments:
+
+"You _do_ like me as much as before I was put away in prison, don't you,
+little Tessa? Estrella's aloofness from me on account of her crazy
+notions about Victorio Colenzo has not affected you with regard to me,
+has it? I can depend upon you as upon a faithful little friend, I
+believe I can, anyway ... how about that, little Girl?"
+
+He bent his black eyes upon her as he asked the question, and, with his
+picturesque costume, dark face, up-tilted _mustachio_, as black as his
+heavy, curling hair, and his strong and agile figure, in many ways, he
+was as handsome as anyone upon whom Tessa's eyes had ever rested, for,
+to her simple mind, Victorio had been too much inclined toward
+intellectual pursuits to really appeal very strongly to her untutored
+mind and she had never been able to understand why Estrella preferred
+him to Manuello; now, she answered the latter in no uncertain language:
+
+"Of _course_ you can depend on my friendship ... of _course_ I would
+always do anything I could to help you ... even ..." her voice shook
+over the words, "even with the woman whom you love and prefer to all the
+other women whom you know ... Estrella," she said this firmly as if to
+convince even herself of the truth of the statement. "Estrella _is_
+superior to the rest of us girls around here ... she is of another race
+of people, I believe ... a superior race, I guess ... anyway," she ended
+naïvely, "I love her and do not blame _you_, Manuello, for doing the
+same thing."
+
+It took a good deal of courage and loyalty combined for the girl to make
+the remarks we have just recorded here with her small mouth yet tingling
+from the kisses, for Manuello had not been chary of their number while
+he had the opportunity to bestow them, of the man whom she almost
+worshiped as earthly women adore merely human men, but she had waded
+through the above sentences, bravely, and felt better after having
+passed through what was an ordeal for her to undergo.
+
+Manuello scarcely knew how to meet this plain exposition of the matter
+under consideration and quickly changed the subject of conversation, not
+wishing to go too far, all at once, with Tessa, as that might complicate
+his relations with Estrella, and, yet, feeling the need of some stanch
+friend, in case he should have need of one, for he realized, dimly, that
+he might easily be in danger, at any time, for various good reasons,
+for he had been implicated in many of the plots of the revolutionists as
+well as having secrets of his own to cover up; he was naturally cautious
+as far as his own safety was concerned and did not wish to involve
+himself any farther than seemed best for his own interests with Tessa,
+and, yet, he desired to have her assistance ready at hand in case he
+should have need of anything so feeble.
+
+He had now fixed her previous regard for him upon a vital memory,
+so that she would not soon forget the few moments she had passed
+encircled by his arms, and this was all he cared to do in that line,
+at present.... Later on, in case Estrella still remained obdurate ...
+why ... that would be a far different matter; he had now arranged for
+himself a secret harbor in the simple heart of this uneducated girl, so
+that, if pursued too closely by cruel storms, out on the open sea, he
+could retire to it at will.
+
+As for Tessa, after she had made her declaration of love for Estrella,
+she felt that she had performed her full duty in that matter, and went
+about her preparations for the affairs of that day, with an even lighter
+heart than before Manuello's short visit, for, after all, she had
+discovered that she was not at least repulsive to the man she had
+secretly loved for almost as long as she could remember anything, for
+they had grown up in San Domingo together and he had always been
+identified with her daily life; the beauty of her personal dream
+regarding the tall Cuban had been her motive in assisting in the
+liberation of the prisoners, mentioned in the beginning of this
+narrative, as she had small sympathy with Estrella's adoration of
+Victorio Colenzo, although she was willing to have her intimate
+girl-friend feel exactly as she had felt and pitied her with all her
+loving heart, now that she had lost, in such a terrible manner, the man
+she loved and who, as they both had believed, loved her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+When Manuello left the dwelling of the little woman of whose affection
+he was certain he hastened home to find out what attitude the woman he
+loved would take toward the new conditions in Cuba, as well as to
+ascertain what preparations she was making for the burial of the man
+whose earthly life he had, himself, taken, although she was far from
+imagining anything of the kind concerning either her dead lover or her
+so-called half-brother.
+
+He found Estrella much perturbed as was to have been expected under the
+circumstances for he knew that she had been deeply enamored of the
+handsome stranger whose dead body was now being prepared for interment
+by the village undertaker to whom Estrella had given the money presented
+to her by old Mage, so that the man's body was being taken care of
+through the charity of his wife which had been bestowed upon his
+sweetheart neither of whom had been known to him at all a few months
+before.
+
+As the hour for the funeral exercises drew near, a handsome carriage
+drew up in front of the humble door where Estrella made her home; from
+within it emerged no less a person than old Mage herself who had been
+sent by Ruth Wakefield to escort the sorrowing girl to and from the rude
+graveyard where the body of her own husband would be placed, that day;
+she had told good Father Felix what to do as to the simple services but
+had decided to absent herself from them, not being sure as to how much
+endurance she would have and being determined not to add to the grief of
+the innocent girl who had been deceived by the man whose name she had
+assumed but never been known by in her own family, even, as, at his
+especial request, she had kept the marriage hidden from all of her
+acquaintances except the few members of her own little household who
+were devoted to her and her interests and went about among the villagers
+very little, as what business they had was transacted in Havana instead
+of San Domingo.
+
+Estrella was pleased and flattered by this attention from the lady of
+the mansion on the hill and entered the carriage to find Father Felix
+already there, for the carriage had been sent to the refectory before it
+came to her own home; she remembered the message little Tessa had sent
+to her so she asked old Mage to go to her dwelling for her, which was
+done, and completed the sad little group that rode directly behind the
+rude wagon which took the place of a hearse and which carried the body
+of Victorio Colenzo to its last earthly resting-place.
+
+The grief of the young girl was very pitiful and, as they turned away
+from the narrow grave, old Mage felt moved to try to comfort her a
+little by distracting her attention from her sorrow; seeing Manuello
+lurking in the background as the funeral party were about to leave the
+cemetery, she said to Estrella:
+
+"Will your brother ride home with us? I remember his face for he has
+brought fruit to our door and he told me, once, that you were his
+half-sister."
+
+The poor girl stifled her sobs long enough to listen to the old woman's
+remark but made no other answer to it than to shake her head; little
+Tessa turned her face in the direction indicated by old Mage and saw
+Manuello with a look of diabolical triumph mingled with fear and hatred
+on his dark face so that, in spite of her love for him, his expression
+frightened her and made even her turn away from the sight of the great
+change in his countenance from what she had seen resting there only that
+morning.
+
+Ruth Wakefield had spend the hour devoted to the funeral exercises of
+her own husband very quietly and in entire solitude; she was accustomed
+to the latter condition and there was no one among her acquaintances in
+whom she cared to confide except the good Priest who had done what he
+could to console and sustain her spirit through this trial that had been
+forced upon her by untoward circumstances and her own faith in humanity;
+she watched her own carriage descend the hill and pass into the little
+village ... she saw the small funeral procession as it wended its way
+along the palm-lined street ... she watched it enter the gate of the
+little cemetery and even saw poor Estrella as she alighted from the
+vehicle and leaned upon the arm of her small friend as she approached
+the open grave that was to contain the mortal remains of the man who had
+been, if only for a short space of time, her own husband ... and yet she
+did not faint ... she did not cry out ... she had had her fight with her
+own nature and she had won out after a hard struggle; all that was left
+of the love she had entertained for the handsome Cuban who had entered
+into her life so disastrously, was an open wound which time alone could
+ever heal.
+
+When old Mage returned to the mansion on the hill she sought out her
+young lady and would have, in her usual garrulous manner, reported
+everything that she had noticed during her absence had she received
+encouragement to do so; on the contrary, she found Ruth, apparently,
+deeply interested in a large volume which she had placed on a table
+before her chair; she rested her head on her hands, from time to time,
+and only looked up to welcome her old nurse, then resumed the perusal of
+the page she happened to have open at the time of her entrance into the
+library.
+
+Ruth Wakefield had always found her chief delight among her many good
+books; she browsed among them for mental sustenance and for spiritual
+solace and found rich pasturage; it had been said of her, while she was
+yet a small child, that, in case it ever became necessary to perform a
+surgical operation upon any part of her delicate body, an anæsthetic
+would not be essential, as all that she would need would be to have
+someone read aloud to her from some fine piece of literature.
+
+So, in the terrible affliction that had so recently befallen her, it was
+as natural for her to go to her books for comfort as it would have been
+for another woman to go to some understanding friend, for that was what
+Ruth Wakefield found among her books ... understanding and safe friends
+who would never betray her secrets or her confidence in them ... who
+would never deceive and torture her and who represented to her the
+finest and best impulses in human nature as well as those higher
+sentiments to which she always clung and which, now, in this crisis of
+her life, carried her safely over what might have crazed a mind less
+well poised than hers.
+
+The morning after the funeral exercises of Victorio Colenzo, Father
+Felix ascended the hill upon which Ruth Wakefield's home was located and
+sought her out, for the good Priest was much perturbed because of her
+present condition and went to see her with the intention of advising her
+to leave Cuba, at least for a time, as the situation with regard to her
+own country was almost certain to become acute, after the disaster of a
+few nights previous, and it seemed to him to be imprudent for a young
+woman to remain alone with only retainers about her among the wild
+people among whom he labored; for Father Felix knew far more of the
+nature of these people than many others possibly could and he realized
+that the wealth surrounding the Wakefield residence was in itself a
+menace to the fair owner of it; although he, himself, intended to remain
+among his parishioners under all circumstances, it did not seem to be a
+wise procedure for an unprotected woman to do so.
+
+He had studied the situation over from many view-points and had settled
+on the best course, according to his judgment and knowledge of the
+situation, for her to pursue, and he, now, laid this course before her
+with the benevolent intention of assisting her to follow it in every way
+within his limited power:
+
+"My dear Miss Ruth," he began, hesitatingly, for he was not sure of just
+what effect either her husband's violent death or the recent explosion
+in the harbor would have on her sensitive nature, "I wish that you would
+consider your own situation very carefully; you are now alone here
+except for those who are under your employ, and the people of the
+surrounding country are in a high state of excitement. At almost any
+moment, now, your own native land, to which you are devoted, may declare
+itself to be in a state of war with Spain, following the blowing up of
+the battleship; in that case, your situation, here, would be even more
+precarious than it is at present and it is far from being secure, even
+now; what I had thought of proposing to you is that you, at once, gather
+together what you consider to be the most precious of your worldly
+possession, here, and place them in some storage building in Havana,
+leaving the house, here, with as few valuables as possible inside of it,
+then, with probably your old nurse as a companion and charge, return at
+once to your own country, anyway, until the war-cloud that is now
+hanging over Cuba has been lifted; it looks to me," he ended, "as if
+that would not be for some years yet ... of course America is a powerful
+country and if she takes this matter up in earnest, it may be that it
+will come to an end more quickly than I fear it may."
+
+He waited, quietly, then, for Ruth to think over his remarks; she had
+regarded him earnestly while he had been speaking, and, now, sat with
+her hands folded in her lap for a few minutes before she spoke:
+
+"Father Felix," she began, at length, "Father Felix, I appreciate the
+reasons that prompted you to come to me and advise me as you have just
+been doing; I understand that you consider me unfit to cope with the
+present situation under my circumstances and I wish to inform you that I
+do not intend to run away from my duty any more than you do. I take it
+for granted, Father, that you expect to remain with your people no
+matter what may come to them? I believe that the more need they may
+have of you, the more anxious you will be to serve them. Now I," she
+continued, earnestly and unwaveringly, "I have not done my full duty, up
+to now, among these people to whom you have devoted all of your
+energies; I feel that I owe my fellow-beings more than I have given to
+them in many ways, for I have been very much of a recluse, as you know,
+loving my books and enjoying my home and the natural beauties I have
+delighted in all around me; it may be, that, in the crisis that seems
+imminent, I may find some good work that will wholly absorb my
+energies ... it may be ..." she said, while a high resolve settled over
+her sensitive features, "it may be, good Father Felix, that I may be
+permitted to do almost as much good in our little world as you,
+yourself, are doing and have already done. Would you bar me from the
+proud privilege of sharing your labor and of receiving some measure of
+the rich reward which is awaiting you?"
+
+Father Felix gazed upon her as if upon a being already translated beyond
+the common things of earth, and, realizing the firmness of her evident
+resolve, he extended his hands toward her in blessing. As she bowed her
+head to receive it there was a rapt look upon her face such as the holy
+angels who welcome the souls of the newly dead must have upon their
+features ... the inner consciousness of Ruth Wakefield shone through her
+earthly lineaments and transfigured them so that they were even more
+fair than they had been before.
+
+"My Daughter," said the good Priest, "forgive me for proposing what I
+did; I did not fully understand you; from this time on, I hope that we
+may find much good work that we can do in common, for I would be proud
+and glad to be engaged with you upon our Father's business. Let us
+consult with each other in our plans for the betterment of the poor
+people among whom our lot in life has been cast. I was going to speak to
+you about the girl, Estrella," he went on, watching her face while he
+talked; "she is in need of different surroundings than she has at
+present, for she is not of the race of those with whom she has been
+staying; the young man who calls her his half-sister knows very well
+that she has none of his blood in her veins, and he is almost constantly
+tormenting her with offers of his heart and hand, when the poor girl is
+really a mourner for the man whom she believed, as you did, to be worthy
+of a good woman's love. The girl is strong and willing and capable
+beyond the common run of the people among whom she has spent her life
+thus far. I believe she would fully appreciate kindness and would repay
+it in every way in her power. What I have just thought of is, perhaps,
+impossible for you to do, at present, but it may be that, in the future,
+you may consider it. If you could bring yourself to have her in your
+home she would be safe from harm and might be a very great help to you
+if you carry on the work that is now in your mind to do. For," he rose
+to his feet and walked rapidly from one end of the room to the other,
+"if America declares war on Spain with a view to the independence of
+Cuba, there will be much heroic work for you and me to do, my dear
+Daughter ... there will be much work for us two to perform."
+
+Ruth Wakefield also rose ... it seemed to her that the situation
+demanded that she meet it on her feet....
+
+"Father Felix," she said calmly and softly, "Father Felix, have Estrella
+brought to me, today; let us begin our good work at once. There is
+nothing that my beloved country can demand of me that I would not be
+glad to give to its sacred cause. I believe that I can do more for my
+native land, here, in Cuba, at the present time, than if I should return
+to it, now. It may be that an American, with some degree of wealth and
+intelligence, can be of service, here, at this critical juncture in her
+country's history."
+
+"Our native land could not have a better representative, my Daughter. As
+you know, I, also, am an American and I am proud, indeed, to claim you
+as a fellow-countryman. From now on we will more fully understand each
+other and I shall be glad to consult with you about many important
+matters. I will proceed at once to carry out your instructions with
+regard to the young girl of whom we have been speaking, for I feel that
+her case is one of peculiar importance, since I fully believe that she,
+also, is an American, although I have been unable, up to this time, to
+trace her parentage beyond the fact that a man, presumably her father,
+left her in the care of the woman who brought her up as one of her own
+children, in the little village below here. The poor girl has had a
+sorry life so far and really deserves better treatment than she has
+received, or so it seems to me from my finite stand-point. I do not
+presume to question the wisdom or justice of God, but, often, I am
+puzzled when I see the innocent suffer and the guilty escape punishment
+here in this world; I always trust in our heavenly Father implicitly,
+and, yet, at times, I am sorely put to it to furnish reasons for certain
+people having been placed in certain environments. I believe that all
+this will be explained to us in good time, but many things are hard to
+understand while we remain finite beings with only the intelligence that
+has been bestowed upon humanity to reason with. Conscience," he went on
+almost as if talking to himself, "conscience is our infallible guide and
+was given to us so that we would never be without direction in whatever
+circumstances we may be placed. Now, in this instance ... I honestly
+thought that I was doing right to come here this morning and advise you
+as I did, and, yet, God, in His great Wisdom, guided you, at once, into
+the only path that you were ever meant to walk in ... the path that
+will lead you on to the peace that passeth human understanding."
+
+After a little rather desultory conversation, with which he hoped to
+lighten the outlook of the lonely woman, the good Priest wended his
+solitary way down the hill and back to the scene of most of his labors
+among the ignorant people whom he hoped to help toward a better
+enlightenment, and, as he walked slowly down the path leading to the
+village, he turned and looked back at the mansion on the hill, crossed
+himself, and murmured:
+
+"Of such is the kingdom of heaven."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+When Estrella reached the mansion on the hill she found its mistress
+quietly awaiting her outside the dwelling; she welcomed the young girl
+with out-stretched hands, saying:
+
+"Father Felix has done well, indeed, to send you to me so quickly,
+Estrella. I want you to feel perfectly at home, here. Old Mage will take
+you to your own room and tell you what little duties you may assume if
+you wish to do so. When you have arranged these little domestic matters,
+come to me in the library and we will talk over some plans I have in
+which I think you will be interested when you have somewhat recovered
+from your recent loss. I know, from my own experience, that there is but
+one way to carry sorrow through one's daily life and that is to be busy.
+If one has enough physical energy and nervous strength, one can
+accomplish a great deal of good in the world in spite of personal
+sorrow. You are young and have not had an easy life so far ... it may be
+that I can assist you so that, from now on, you and I may be able to
+help each other in doing good work among those who are weaker than we
+are."
+
+Old Mage was only too willing to take charge of the girl, for, while she
+did not really like the idea of having her in the family, yet, she was
+aware that Ruth needed companionship and she enjoyed having a goodly
+number of people around her as her life consisted, mainly, of what each
+day brought into it, for old Mage, while she was a good woman and a
+faithful friend, was not a thinker and made few plans for the future.
+
+She led Estrella to the room that Ruth had arranged to have her occupy,
+and, having explained certain little matters to her concerning the daily
+round of life in the house, she began to question her as to what she had
+learned regarding the explosion in Havana Harbor and what she thought as
+to the probability of the United States declaring war on Spain on
+account of it.
+
+The girl had little information to give to the old woman for she had
+been too much absorbed by her own recent grief to even think of any of
+the consequences that might follow the accident ... it seemed to her
+that if the whole United States navy were blown up, it would make small
+difference to her now that she had lost Victorio for he had represented
+to her everything that meant happiness for her in the future; she had
+yet to learn many things that would, eventually, bring to her the kind
+of happiness that is lasting and to be depended upon when all that is
+transitory and ephemeral has passed beyond knowledge and memory.
+
+At length, old Mage wearied of quizzing Estrella and left her to her own
+thoughts which were confused and uncertain; she did not understand why
+the lady of the mansion had condescended to ask her to come to her for
+Father Felix had left her in doubt as to any reason, only telling her
+that Miss Ruth desired her to come to her, at least for a time, to act
+as a sort of companion as she was alone a great deal; he did not explain
+to her that there might be work for her to do in the near future,
+leaving that part to Ruth, very wisely.
+
+Father Felix led his little flock into fresh pastures when he felt that
+they were ready for such a change but he reflected deeply before doing
+this and hoped, in the case of the girl under consideration, that
+companionship with one as unselfish and intrinsically good and noble as
+Ruth Wakefield would do more for her character than any counsel he could
+give to her; the good Priest was well aware that the handsome, young,
+dashing Cuban had fascinated both the women and he felt sure that, had
+he lived long enough in the same world with them, he would have broken
+both their hearts, for it was his nature, evidently, to gather flowers
+wherever he found them and throw them away to wither and die; Father
+Felix was a normal human being as well as a spiritual leader and he
+recognized facts with regard to human nature as he found them, not being
+deceived by appearances as a less intellectual person would have been,
+or as a man possessed of weaker masculine traits than those that had
+been bestowed upon him.
+
+There was one among his parishioners of whose case he was doubtful ...
+he was very anxious concerning Manuello for he knew that the young man
+had some sort of guilty secret that he had confessed to no one and this
+was one reason influencing him in his endeavor to extricate the innocent
+Estrella from her immediate surroundings; he knew that, in the troubled
+condition of the country, Manuello would be almost certain, with his
+wild and untutored nature, to get into some sort of tangle with
+authorities and supposed that the trouble he was well aware of as being
+on the young fellow's conscience had something to do with existing
+Spanish laws; he, himself, in breaking down the doors of the prison in
+order to liberate this man among the rest of the prisoners, had been
+guilty of violating a strict mandate and knew that he was liable to
+arrest at any time, but, now that America might come into the struggle
+on her own account, instead of simply through sympathy with the wrongs
+of the people of Cuba, he realized that his own case had taken on a new
+color, for, as he had told Ruth Wakefield, Father Felix was a native
+American and loved his own country devotedly, although he had been
+acting as a missionary in Cuba for some years of his active life in the
+priesthood; he was dwelling on the state of mind of Manuello, sitting
+quietly in his own place in the refectory, the evening after the events
+related in the preceding chapter, when he heard a hasty knock at his
+door and immediately opened it to admit the subject of his thoughts.
+
+The young man entered as if upon a desperate errand and sat down in the
+first chair he found without waiting for the invitation of the Priest, a
+proceeding that, alone, showed the condition of his mind:
+
+"Good Father," he began without introduction, "where is Estrella? She
+has not been home for some hours and none of the family seem to know
+much about her; all they told me was that I was to come to you for
+information ... and here I am."
+
+The Priest looked into his eager face and pitied while he condemned him,
+for he could see that he greatly mourned the absence of the girl whom he
+had decided in his own heart to have for his own.
+
+"Manuello," said Father Felix, at length, having regarded him with a
+sympathetic smile, "you must accept the situation as calmly as you can.
+I have to tell you that Estrella has found another home than yours and
+will, from this on, be under good care and will, I hope, find happiness
+later on in her career ... she is a good girl and deserves to be happy,"
+he concluded, benevolently.
+
+"Do you mean," demanded Manuello, "that I am not to see her any more?
+That I am to be shut out from her life? I want to know," he rose to his
+feet, "I demand to know what you have done with her? Have you placed her
+in some convent?"
+
+His voice had risen as he added question to question and he faced the
+Priest with a fierce expression on his dark and lowering features. His
+attitude had no effect on Father Felix who was without bodily fear and
+knew that, in the present instance, at least, he stood upon safe ground,
+having, as he well knew, removed the girl from danger from the very
+being who, now, glared at him:
+
+"My Son," he said, "my Son, compose yourself. I will brook no
+demonstration of vile anger from you. Estrella has been put beyond your
+power. I do not know," he went on, coolly, "just what it is that is upon
+your conscience at present, but I do know there is something that will
+not bear a close investigation by the authorities, and I advise you to
+have a care how you conduct yourself in the future. Cuba will have need
+of your strong arm and I hope that you will use it in her service."
+
+Cowed by the sternness of the tone of voice in which he had been
+addressed as well as by his own guilty knowledge, Manuello, silently,
+and without thanks or regrets of any kind, left the refectory, slamming
+the door after him ... an indignity that few would dare to place upon
+their record; giving vent, inwardly, to the curses he did not dare to
+utter, he retraced his steps to his own home, intending to get what
+information he could from the other members of his family as to how
+Estrella went away; reaching his domicile, he, at once, began to ply his
+father, who had returned from his daily toil, with various inquiries,
+but found him not only uncommunicative but, apparently, also uninformed
+as to what had taken place during his absence; all that the other
+members of the family knew was that Father Felix had come hurriedly to
+the house and had a short conversation with Estrella when she had packed
+a few personal effects, of which, indeed, the poor girl had but few, and
+left the place, telling them she would see them again from time to time
+and leaving kind farewells for both himself and his father.
+
+Then he remembered how intimate Estrella had always been with Tessa and
+decided his best course would be to go to her little friend, being well
+aware that any information she might have she would gladly give to him;
+he was hurrying along, intent upon this new hope of relief from his
+anxiety regarding the woman he imagined himself to be deeply in love
+with, when, all at once, he became aware that someone was following his
+footsteps, guardedly and yet with determination; immediately upon this
+knowledge, there stalked into the foreground of his consciousness the
+fear of discovery of his recent crime; the intimation of the Priest that
+he had suspected it had stirred within him the instinct of
+self-protection and he hastened his progress along the familiar and
+narrow street, hoping to out-distance his pursuer, whoever he might
+happen to be.
+
+It seemed to him that he was succeeding in this last effort and he was
+congratulating himself upon his own celerity, when a hand was laid
+rather heavily upon his shoulder and a loud and insistent voice declared
+him to be the prisoner of the owner of it.
+
+Instantly, Manuello became a beast of prey, cornered in its lair, and
+furious with all the animal instincts of self-preservation. He squirmed
+away from the heavy hand and whirled around to face his would-be captor
+and looked directly into the muzzle of a very capable gun held in steady
+hands that seemed well accustomed to its use.
+
+"Up wid ye'er fists, ye dirty spalpeen ye!" commanded the man behind the
+gun, using his own rich native brogue in the excitement of the moment.
+"Hould 'em right there ..." he went on, as Manuello, instinctively,
+though sullenly, obeyed him, "til I snap these putty bracelets on ye'er
+wrists!" fumbling in his pocket with one hand while he held the gun in
+the other, steadying it against his shoulder, for he had come prepared,
+knowing his prospective prisoner to be a desperate character. "There,
+now!" having completed his search and placed a handcuff on one of
+Manuello's wrists. "Up wid that one and over to its mate!"
+
+But his prisoner was indeed a desperate man and did not intend to yield
+to arrest as easily as it had appeared, at first; raising the manacled
+wrist, he brought the steel bracelets down on the red head of the
+Irishman, felling him to the ground; then it was but the work of a
+moment to secure the loaded gun, and, after that, the tables were
+completely turned for Manuello immediately became the master of the
+situation; looking hastily about him to be sure that he was unobserved,
+he was about to complete the utter defeat of the man who had given him
+such a terrific fright by beating his brains out with the clubbed gun,
+when he heard his own name spoken in a soft, low, scared voice; turning,
+he beheld little Tessa standing behind him.
+
+"Oh, Manuello," she cried, breathing pantingly, "what has happened here?
+Are you hurt? There is blood on your wrist ... and ..." here she stopped
+in consternation, "what else have you here?" for the Irishman had done,
+at least, a part of his work well, having locked the handcuff which the
+young man had almost forgotten he was wearing, "Take the hateful thing
+off, dear Manuello ... do take it off ... I don't like to see it on your
+wrist."
+
+"Easier said than done, my dear little Girl!" declared the victim,
+smilingly. "But we can fix that somehow; in the meantime, we will let
+this fellow lay where he has fallen. Someone of his tribe will, likely,
+be along, soon, and they can take care of each other. Come along, Tessa,
+we will see what we can do with this piece of jewelry ... it is rather
+unwieldy ... I don't like the look of it."
+
+The home of the young girl was not far distant and thither they
+repaired; after repeated efforts to file through or break the manacles,
+Tessa bethought herself of one possible method of releasing Manuello and
+acted upon her idea at once; running out upon the street she approached
+the place where the soldier had fallen, for he wore the uniform of the
+Spanish army, intending to feel in all of his pockets for a key that
+would unlock the handcuffs.
+
+As she drew near to the spot she heard low voices and crept along in the
+shadow of the shrubbery that lined the narrow street until she was
+within ear-shot; then she realized that two more soldiers had joined
+their fallen comrade whom they had resuscitated, so that he was relating
+to them something of the circumstances that had led to his present
+plight:
+
+"Ye see, b'ys," he was saying, "I wanted to arrist the spalpeen
+myself becase I think he is not only a revolutionist, but, also, a
+mhurderer ... a fella we arristed yesterday tould me that he thinks
+_this_ wan killed the leader of thim all ... seems he was jealous of
+him ... they both wanted the same ghirl...."
+
+Tessa, realizing that her errand was useless, turned to go back
+silently, but the words she had heard had burned themselves into her
+brain, and when she was again beside Manuello he seemed far different
+to her than he had before; she found him almost crazy from fear of
+discovery as he had failed in all of his efforts to free himself from
+the device that had been placed upon his wrist.
+
+"Did you get the key?" he demanded, almost fiercely. "Where is it? This
+cursed thing is almost killing me!"
+
+Frightened at his expression and regretting her inability to help him,
+the girl began to cry, lifting her apron to her eyes to wipe away her
+tears; as she did so, the young man said to her, angrily:
+
+"Well ... _stand_ there and cry while I am suffering ... you'll do a lot
+of good that way ... hustle out and see if you can't find some tool to
+get this thing off of me ... go to the village blacksmith and tell him
+some lie or other ... ask him how you can get an iron off your little
+sister's leg ... do something ... someone will come in and find me this
+way!"
+
+"Even if they did, Manuello ... you are not under arrest ... the man
+don't know where you are, now; but I'll go and try to find some way to
+help you ... of course I will ..." said the generous-hearted girl, "I am
+_so_ sorry for you, and, now, that Estrella is gone...."
+
+She hurried out, then, leaving the young fellow in no pleasant mood, for
+he had much to reflect upon and a pair of heavy handcuffs hanging to one
+wrist is not conducive to a man's happiness.
+
+Tessa soon returned and had to report that her efforts in his behalf
+were, again, unsuccessful, for the blacksmith had only said:
+
+"Bring the child to me and I will do what I can for her."
+
+Manuello was, now, almost in despair and he was wise enough to know that
+cursing, while it might relieve his feelings to some extent, would not
+really help the situation, so he pulled his sleeve down as far as he
+could over the manacled wrist and proceeded to find out what he could
+concerning Estrella.
+
+Tessa would have felt much freer than she did had she not remembered the
+words of the soldiers concerning the crime of which they suspected the
+young man, and only told him that Estrella had come running to her, that
+morning, and had told her that she was going away for a while but that
+she would see her again, soon.
+
+Manuello had to content himself with this, hoping to find out more from
+Tessa within a day or so, and went away, divided between a desire to
+revenge himself upon the man who had tried to arrest him and
+self-congratulation upon his escape, but most of all he pondered how to
+get the hateful handcuffs from his wrist, for, besides being painful and
+unwieldly, he knew that they would attract attention to him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Manuello was almost desperate regarding the manacles still clamped
+firmly on his wrist; it left his right hand free and he could use the
+fingers of the left hand, so he bound the wrist, placing the second
+handcuff above the one that was locked and laying it as close to the
+wrist as possible; he left his hand free as he could and simply told his
+family that he had cut the arm when engaged in practicing with the
+machete in the use of which weapon the Cuban insurgents were especially
+accomplished; this explanation of his supposed wound was sufficient and
+no one had any idea of the actual facts except Tessa and she was both
+too loyal to the young man and too frightened because of the reported
+crime he had committed to do anything but keep his secret inviolate; he
+depended upon her acknowledged affection for him and had no doubt that
+she would defend him if occasion required such a proceeding; his chief
+anxiety, at present, was to find out the where-abouts of Estrella, for
+he was of a fiery and passionate nature and the disappearance of the
+girl but added to his desire for her.
+
+On the morning after the accident he had sustained he started out with
+the determination to discover where Estrella had gone, for, as she had
+said that she would soon see his own family as well as little Tessa, he
+reasoned that she could not have gone very far away; so he began his
+search by climbing to the top of the hill behind the village, intending
+to try to locate her hiding-place by the simple method of checking off
+in his own mind impossible localities for concealment and then deciding
+which of the probable ones to investigate; having reached the point of
+vantage he wished, he began by cutting out the refectory ... then his
+own home ... then Tessa's dwelling-place ... then numerous small houses
+where he knew it would be practically impossible for another human being
+to be entertained in.
+
+Just as he had reached this point in his revery, his attention was
+attracted to the mansion on the hill, and he began to observe, closely,
+the movements of every one who came to or went from the house; he did
+not really suspect that Estrella was there, but his mind wandered idly
+over the residences within his view and lighted upon the mansion on the
+hill as something different from the other dwellings he could see.
+
+As he watched the gateway of Ruth Wakefield's residence, he noticed,
+emerging from it, old Mage whom he remembered as being there, in what he
+considered to be the capacity of an upper servant; he looked at the old
+woman because she happened to be in his line of vision and not because
+he had any curiosity concerning her movements; but the nature of the
+errand upon which she seemed to be bound not only surprised, but amused,
+him, for she carried in her hand a large basket of choice cut flowers,
+and, from time to time, as she walked along, she stooped to gather dried
+leaves that had fallen in the pathway with which she seemed trying to
+conceal the contents of her basket; she seemed satisfied, at last, and
+ceased to gather leaves, while she quickened her pace to a sort of slow
+amble which gait she maintained until she had passed beyond Manuello's
+view; he wondered, idly, why she covered the flowers, and was about to
+move to a point which commanded a more perfect view of the pathway, when
+his attention was again attracted to the gateway of the Wakefield
+residence.
+
+This time, it was quite a different person who appeared between the high
+stone pillars ... a tall woman, evidently young and active, plainly but
+serviceably dressed, stood, for a moment, shading her eyes with her hand
+from the glaring sunlight, peering down the pathway along which old Mage
+had just been walking; she remained in this position but a very short
+time, however, for she was, soon, joined by another woman who seemed as
+much interested as she had been in watching the pathway; as the two
+young creatures stood there, side by side, Manuello could not but remark
+upon the similarity of their forms and general appearance ... both were
+evidently strong and agile ... both seemed possessed of bounding health
+and youthful vigor; it seemed to him that one of the women looked more
+sturdy than the other one did, but, as she was wearing a wide and
+drooping hat, such as many of the natives of the Island were accustomed
+to wear, he could not see her face; as she approached the woman who had
+first appeared in the gateway, there was something in her manner that
+seemed familiar to the young fellow, and, as she put one hand, gently,
+on the other's shoulder, he, again, seemed to recognize something
+familiar in the movement; then she spoke, and, although he was too far
+away to hear her words, he knew the tones of her voice, and realized
+that his search for Estrella was ended.
+
+As this knowledge was fully impressed upon him he cast about in his mind
+as to what method of procedure to take to bring about his desired end
+which was to see and talk with the girl, himself, as soon as possible;
+first, he thought to approach the house as a fruit-peddler, but put that
+thought aside as unlikely to attain his object ... then, he decided to
+spy around the place until he located Estrella's own room, intending to
+bring his guitar and sing under her window some native love-songs,
+hoping to impress upon her his undying affection and imagining that, now
+that Victorio was out of the way, his cause would be more likely to
+succeed than before.
+
+He had started out to carry this intention into practice, leaving his
+original position among the heavy timber that skirted the hill, and
+going more into the open than before in order to more closely approach
+the house, when he became aware of another presence in the wooded
+section that he had just left; he could not make out just what this
+presence was ... his ideas concerning it were hazy and uncertain, but he
+felt sure that he was not alone and, now that he had left the timber, it
+seemed to him that the unknown presence was following close behind him;
+he turned sharply around but discovered nothing behind him and kept on
+in the direction he had been proceeding in, although his nerves were
+keyed up and ready to jump at the slightest sound; suddenly, directly in
+front of him, he heard a voice saying:
+
+"Do not approach any nearer to her. If you insist upon doing so you must
+take the consequences which are freighted with bitter pain for you."
+
+It seemed to Manuello that this voice was within himself and came from
+his own thoughts and, yet, it seemed, also, to be in the pathway ahead
+of him, separated from him and yet a part of him; he hesitated, as above
+everything else, the natives of Cuba are superstitious and Manuello was
+no exception to this rule; his own criminal record, naturally, made him
+timid; besides, Estrella's evidently favored position as a member of the
+household of Ruth Wakefield elevated the girl in his estimation, for
+everyone in that neighborhood had great respect, amounting almost to
+veneration, for the inmates of the mansion on the hill.
+
+The young man stopped in his progress toward the house and turned his
+attention, for an anxious moment, to his manacled wrist, which gave him
+a great deal of uneasiness and some suffering as well; as he held this
+wrist with his free right hand, he had his back toward the path that led
+down into the village, and was unaware of the nearness of Father Felix
+until the good Priest touched him on the elbow; wheeling round,
+instantly, he faced the only man he was not afraid to meet among his
+neighbors; for, although the Priest had told him he knew that he
+possessed a guilty secret, yet he, also was aware of Father Felix' usual
+kindness and protection exercised over his people, so that it was with a
+feeling of relief that he discovered who the new-comer was.
+
+"My Son," said the Priest, "you are abroad early ... what news have you
+heard in the village, this morning?"
+
+Manuello looked at him searchingly as if to discover why he asked him
+this question, wondering if he had heard of his own encounter of the
+evening before, but failing to gain any knowledge of the secret thoughts
+of the Priest, he said at random:
+
+"Everything is about as usual, I guess ... nothing startling seems to
+have happened during the night."
+
+"I heard," began Father Felix, "I heard that a soldier had been struck
+down by some marauder shortly after the time of your leaving my society,
+last night, and I thought you might have happened to be in the vicinity
+of the crime. By-the-way," he went on, solicitously, "what has happened
+to your left wrist?"
+
+"Oh ... that!" said Manuello, carelessly. "That is simply a love token
+from the machete of a friend of mine while we were sparring for
+practice; as you said, last night, Cuba may have need of us fighting-men
+soon, and we wish to be ready to take our proper place when the time for
+action comes."
+
+"Well, be careful of your weapons, my Son ... save your steel for your
+enemies and those of your native land."
+
+Speaking in this manner, the good Priest pursued his journey up the hill
+and disappeared within the gateway where Manuello had, only very
+recently, seen Estrella standing with the mistress of the mansion; he
+decided, under the existing circumstances, to retrace his steps toward
+the village, contenting himself with the thought that he now knew where
+Estrella was; he thought that he might as well impart this information
+to little Tessa, and, also, he wanted to find out whether she had heard
+anything more about his encounter with the soldier on the street, also
+if she had thought of any way whereby he might be freed from the
+manacles which became more and more distressing and uncomfortable.
+
+With this thought in his mind, he was approaching Tessa's home when he
+was intercepted by the very individual he meant to inquire about.
+
+"What the divil!" exclaimed the Irishman. "Sky-larking by daylight
+_this_ toime, me foine high-way-mon?"
+
+Manuello had drawn back, prepared to again bring the hated handcuffs
+down upon the poll of the man before him, if he offered any indignities,
+when he was surprised to notice a wheedling tone in the voice of his
+opponent of the evening before.
+
+"Indade, mon," began the soldier, "I am in need of those putty bracelets
+I gave ye, last night; a prisint like them is not bestowed ivry day, I
+tell yees. The only thanks ye give me was a crack on me head wid em
+which took away but little of me sinse as I had but little in the
+beginning.... I might have known betther than to have tackled a foine,
+up-standin' fella like yees, single-handed. Yer a foine figure of a mon,
+me Frind, and I'd like mighty well to serve be the side of ye ... how
+would it _do_, now, fer ye to enlist in the arrmy and give me back me
+bracelets if I spake a good worrd fer ye wid me Captain?"
+
+Manuello looked at him in surprise, but, seeing a chance to get rid of
+the hateful manacles, decided to agree to the proposition of the other,
+at least for the time being.
+
+"All right," he acquiesced, "go ahead and take these cursed thing off
+me, first, and then tell me where you want me to go."
+
+The wary Irishman watched the face of the Cuban, doubtfully, but, as he
+really wished to be able to account for the handcuffs, he took the key
+from his pocket and stepped a little closer to the young fellow in order
+to use it, being careful to keep a firm hold on his gun the while; just
+as he was about to unlock the manacles, he heard a slight noise behind
+him and looked out of the tail of his eye to be horrified by the near
+proximity of one of his superior officers; instantly, he changed his
+attitude toward Manuello, dropped the key, and pointed his Mauser rifle
+straight at the heart of his prisoner.
+
+"Ye will ... will yees?" he cried out. "Oi'll see about that, ye
+Spalpeen! Shtand shtill unless ye want a bullet in yer gullet! Now,
+Sir," he said politely to the officer, "ef ye'll be ahfter clicking the
+other bracelet on his right wrist whilst I kape him covered, Oi'll be
+much obleeged to ye. He's a nasty customer, Sir," he explained, kindly,
+"and Oi've been havin' a rough toime wid 'em."
+
+The Spanish officer stepped gingerly up to the prisoner, seized hold of
+the manacled wrist and reached for the other uplifted hand; but
+Manuello had had enough of their society and proceeded to rid himself
+of it by striking at the officer with his left wrist while he made a
+grab at the rifle of the Irishman with his right hand; the young Cuban
+was wiry and his muscles were like taut steel; the officer went down
+like an ox before the slaughterer but the Irishman discharged his gun
+regardless of the aim which had been destroyed by the action of the
+living target; the result was disastrous to all parties for Manuello
+felt a sharp, stinging pain in one of his legs, but, in spite of this,
+he clubbed the rifle and brought it down over the skull of the Spanish
+soldier, limping away, again a conqueror, but sorely wounded, for the
+bullet had passed clear through the injured limb, tearing through the
+flesh and bone as is the manner of the long and slender Mauser missile.
+
+In this emergency, the young fellow, knowing that he would be hunted
+after the last encounter, not only because of the crime of which he had
+tacitly been accused by the soldier but because he had struck down a
+Spanish officer, and realizing that, with the manacles still locked upon
+his wrist, he was a marked man, bethought him of a deserted hut far back
+among the palms that grew all over the Island in tropical profusion; if
+he could but reach this hut, he thought, and first apprise Tessa of his
+new mishap, he might hide there while he recovered from his wound which
+was beginning to give him great pain as it recovered from its first
+numbness.
+
+Walking as erectly as he could under the circumstances and keeping his
+left wrist well covered by the wide cuff of his jacket-sleeve, he was
+proceeding along the familiar street, when he met the girl he was in
+search of, strolling placidly along, little dreaming of the imminent
+peril in which he had just been placed, for the discharge of the Mauser
+rifle had been almost as silent as smokeless; telling her in a few
+hurried sentences of his great need and describing to her the location
+of the ruined hut he had in mind, Manuello retired from the scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Tessa was very much distressed as to the condition of Manuello and,
+feeling that he depended upon her alone, cast about in her mind as to
+how she could assist him; to begin with, she was anxious about the heavy
+handcuffs hanging to his poor wrist, as she put it in her gentle
+thoughts of the man whom she suspected of being a murderer; if, however,
+the charge against him were true, she felt that the crime was committed
+in the heat of a jealous passion, and being what she was, herself, she
+excused it for that reason, for a Cuban girl is apt to love as madly
+and as unreasonably as any man ... to her, Manuello was almost a
+demi-god ... it had been a hard trial for the little woman to give him
+up to Estrella, even, and, now that he was in dire need and the girl of
+his first choice had deliberately deserted him, it seemed to her as if
+she had the right to let her own wild love guide her in all that she did
+with regard to him.
+
+She was slowly retracing her steps to her own home with the intention of
+getting some supplies and managing to evade the vigilance of the rest of
+her family sufficiently to carry them to the man she loved ... her eyes
+were directed to the path along which she walked, idly, yet, all at
+once, those dark eyes lighted up with sudden joy and she hastily swooped
+down, like a fluffy little bird upon a morsel of food, and took into her
+hand a small and intricate-patterned key; she hoped that this was the
+key that would unlock the hated manacles from Manuello's wrist and,
+regarding this as a good omen, she concealed the little deliverer in her
+bosom, tying it in the corner of the kerchief that was crossed upon her
+breast.
+
+When Tessa had secured what necessities she found available on the spur
+of the moment, she at once concealed them as far as possible and
+prepared to ascend the side of the hill toward the ruined hut where
+Manuello had directed her to come; her heart was fluttering wildly for
+this was her first secret mission, as she had always had someone near
+her during her short life on earth: she wound her way among the cactus
+plants that covered the ground in almost all directions, with an
+unerring instinct that was of more value to her than any education could
+have been for the moment, for one unaccustomed to the wild cacti in Cuba
+might, easily, become bewildered, as it is necessary to walk almost in
+circles among the thick clumps of prickly foliage.
+
+Tessa was young, but the women of Cuba, like those of most tropical
+countries, mature early in life, and she already had the strong maternal
+instinct that is a part of normal womanhood; this instinct now directed
+her to watch over Manuello as if he were, indeed, her child, instead of
+the man to whom she had given the first wild love of her fiery nature;
+for women are made that way ... no matter what their own body may demand
+of them, it is as natural for them to put all personal feeling aside and
+allow a higher, more unselfish love to rule them entirely, as it is for
+a man to, first gratify his own desires, and, then, if so be he can
+without inconvenience to himself in any way, minister to the wants of
+the woman in the case, all well and good, but if, on the contrary, to
+care for the woman would, in any way, cause him to exercise self-control
+and self-sacrifice, why, of course, he seeks another woman as soon as he
+can well rid himself of the one who has flouted him; I am now speaking
+of the general run of men ... there are exceptions to this rule, of
+course, just as there are exceptions to the rule just stated regarding
+women ... not all women are as little Tessa was, but most of them are
+and it is indeed fortunate for the world of men and women that this is
+as it is ... wonderful beyond the ways of human beings is the love of a
+pure woman ... wonderful and worthy of the highest respect and devotion
+of any man is the almost angelic love that women often bestow on most
+unworthy objects.
+
+It was so in this case, for, while the girl was winding among the cacti
+that hindered her advance up the hill, the man was lying in a miserable
+heap in the corner of the deserted hut, cursing not only his own hard
+luck, but even the girl on whom he depended for sustenance and care;
+with maledictions on his tongue and the heavy manacles on his wrist, and
+with the increasing pain and torment of his undressed wound, the poor
+fellow was far from appearing much as had the gay peasant who had
+congratulated himself on having escaped from prison, and, at the same
+time, having rid himself of his rival in the affections of Estrella,
+who, now, seemed lost to him.
+
+When the girl reached the ruined hut she found the object of her loving
+care under the circumstances described above, and it took all of her
+courage to face the situation alone and unaided by surgical skill for
+they both realized that discovery would be almost certain to be fatal to
+the man who now lay groaning and cursing by turns, even while his
+ministering angel in human form knelt at his side and unlocked the
+handcuffs from his wrist, for, luckily, she had happened upon the very
+means of deliverance from the manacles for which they had both longed;
+then Tessa gathered dead palm branches with which she fashioned a rude
+bed for the sufferer, after which she raised his head upon a small
+pillow which she had thoughtfully brought with her, for she was a sturdy
+little peasant and could act as a beast of burden without harm to
+herself; having fixed him up as comfortably as she could, under the hard
+circumstances, she insisted upon his eating and drinking some of the
+refreshments she had carried up the hill for him; she had used what
+skill she had in bathing and binding the wounded leg, and, as the bullet
+had gone clear through, there was little else to do so far as that was
+concerned; then they began to consult as to what method of procedure
+would be best for them to take; in this, of course, Manuello thought
+only of himself, as was natural to a man of his type, while little
+Tessa, as was also natural to one of her trusting and loving
+disposition, also thought only of his comfort and safety.
+
+"I must come to you each day until the wound heals, my dear Friend,"
+said the earnest little woman. "I must bring you what you will need and
+I must be very careful not to be detected in doing this. I wish ..." she
+ended, earnestly, "I wish that dear Estrella could come and see you for
+it would do you more good than anything that I can do for you."
+
+"You are a darling little girl, Tessa," said her turbulent patient. "You
+ought to satisfy any reasonable man; Estrella don't care anything at all
+about me, and I am beginning to think that I can get along without her
+as long as I can have you."
+
+The adoring look in his dark eyes as he said these words was like manna
+in the wilderness to little Tessa, for she could not help being pleased
+to think that, after all, maybe Manuello would fix his affections upon
+her small person, since Estrella had so often flouted him and shown him
+plainly by her great preference for Victorio that she did not love him;
+the name she had just used in her thoughts brought up the hateful
+suspicion aroused in her by the remarks of the Irishman who had seemed,
+at first glance, to be a Spaniard, but who, as soon as he opened his
+mouth to speak, proved his nationality beyond the shadow of a doubt.
+
+But the loving girl put her thought aside almost at once ... she did not
+wish to believe the suspicion to be true and she did not intend to
+believe it--until she had to, if such a sad time could ever come to her;
+just at present all the strength of her being was concentrated upon the
+desire to aid Manuello in whatever manner she could.
+
+To further this desire, she arranged a signal whereby he might know that
+she was coming up the hill and concealed, as well as she could the
+approach to the hiding-place as well as the hut itself, by throwing, in
+apparent disorder, as if blown by a strong wind, such branches and twigs
+as she could find by a hurried search.
+
+She did not stay any longer than she thought was necessary for the
+comfort of her patient for she was determined to continue her care of
+him if possible and realized that a prolonged absence from her own home
+might bring suspicion upon them both; as she was leaving, she looked
+pitifully weak and small to cope with such a complicated situation
+alone; even Manuello realized, for a moment, the devotion of the girl,
+and called her over to his side to say a word or two at parting.
+
+"Dear little Tessa," he began, "this is going to be a hard task that you
+have undertaken. I wonder if I am worth all this trouble. Perhaps you
+would just better turn me over to the soldiers and let them work their
+will on me; it may be that I will never be able to reward you for all
+your care; of course, it may, on the other hand, be possible for me to
+offer you help and comfort when you, yourself, may be in need of it. Now
+that you have freed me from those shackles, I begin to feel my old
+strength and courage coming back, and if I ever am again as I was before
+this last mishap, I will surely reward you somehow for all this
+sacrifice that you are making for me."
+
+This speech, coming from a man in the condition of Manuello, appealed to
+the little woman so forcibly that she knelt beside his rude couch and
+laid both her small, dark hands on his brow as she looked deeply into
+his eyes; this position, being very favorable to the impulse that came
+over the man as he lay there, made it easy for him to draw her head,
+with its great mass of black hair, down upon his shoulder; as her cheek
+was laid against his own, Manuello held her small face closely with both
+his hands while he kissed first her trembling lips, then each of her
+eye-lids, for she had closed her eyes in a sort of blind ecstasy, then
+her low forehead, then the top of her small head and, finally, her
+quivering chin.
+
+The impulse that prompted him to give these welcome caresses lasted only
+a moment for the pain in his leg was beginning to be very insistent and
+a groan of agony took the place of the loving words that had been upon
+his eager tongue during the moment when he forgot his wound, but the
+effect of those few wild moments of unbridled passion went with the
+little woman down the hill and covered her small body with a delicious
+glow that took away much of the terror and apprehension with which she
+viewed the situation in which she found herself.
+
+Ruth Wakefield found Estrella to be much more of a companion than she
+had thought she would, and found that, in the innocence and naturally
+responsive disposition of the girl, she could almost forget the tie that
+had brought them together; had the girl suspected the truth as to
+Victorio's relations with the mistress of the mansion on the hill, the
+situation might have been strained or even acute, but, as it was, Ruth
+only pitied, while she almost envied, the sorrow of the sweetheart of
+her own husband.
+
+On the morning when Manuello had discovered the where-abouts of
+Estrella, the two women had been watching for Father Felix, intending to
+consult with him concerning something that they both wished to do and
+yet were not sure of the wisdom of; when he came, they both waited,
+anxiously, for his first words, for they depended upon them for
+enlightenment regarding a question in which they were both much
+interested.
+
+"Miss Ruth and Estrella," he began, addressing both women, "I have great
+news for you but we must be cautious in discussing what I have to impart
+to you; if, through our carelessness, the information I am about to give
+you, should miscarry, it might mean almost as great a disaster as the
+recent explosion in Havana Harbor. We must be sure that we are not
+overheard. I think we would better repair to the library, Miss Ruth, if
+that would meet with your approval. I think we would be more secure from
+eaves-droppers inside the house than here. I just met Manuello, my
+Dear," he said speaking to Estrella, "as I came up the path. I do not
+like to have him lurking around your dwelling-place. I am sure that he
+is in some sort of hiding from the authorities and I dread to have him
+near you, for he has an evil look in his eyes, lately. Be very careful,
+my Daughter, as you go about the place or into the village ... it might
+even be well for you to remain away from your former home for some time
+to come. I can carry any news of you that will be necessary for them to
+know or do any little errands that you may think should be done.
+By-the-way," he ended, turning his attention, once more, to Ruth, "I met
+your old nurse hurrying along down toward the village as if in great
+haste; as she does not often walk down the hill I noticed the
+circumstances."
+
+"Old Mage!" exclaimed Ruth. "Why, I did not know that she had gone out.
+Do you know anything of this, Estrella? Did she tell you that she had
+work to do in the village? Was there something that had to be secured
+for the larder, at once, that would not brook delay? Dear me, I hope she
+will not over-tire herself. She is not very strong any more and I try to
+have her, always, take very good care of herself. As you may know, good
+Father," she went on, "old Mage is almost the only living human friend
+on whom I can rely and her fealty to me is beyond question. If I should
+find old Mage untrue to me," she declared, "I would not expect the sun
+to rise the following morning. I must look into this, and, if you will
+excuse me for a few moments, I will do so at once."
+
+"Now, my Daughter," said the Priest when Estrella and he were left
+alone, "I wish to say to you, privately, that you must, from this time
+on, avoid meeting Manuello in any way, both for yourself and also for
+the well-being of your good friend, Miss Ruth; the fellow is
+evil-minded, lately, and I believe would not stop at robbery or even,
+though I greatly regret to think so, _murder_," he uttered the dreadful
+word softly but emphatically, "if he believed that he would benefit by
+either crime and I must urge you not to allow him to come here to see
+you under any possible circumstances. As I said before, I can do what
+must be done as between your former family and yourself."
+
+Estrella gladly acquiesced in this good judgment of Father Felix and
+agreed to do all in her power to avoid meeting Manuello which she had no
+desire, personally, to do, as she dreaded his protestations of love as
+much as she would have dreaded his anger for any other reason in the
+common affairs of daily life.
+
+In a short time, Ruth returned, explaining that old Mage had, indeed,
+gone down to the village, though for what purpose she had been unable,
+so far, to discover: they, then, repaired to the library and carefully
+closed all doors and windows before Father Felix began to tell them what
+they were so anxious to hear.
+
+"My dear Friends," he began, "the information that I have to impart to
+you is of a very delicate as well as secret nature and must be so
+regarded by both of you. Estrella, to you, especially, I wish to say
+that you must not, under any circumstances, breathe a single word of
+what I will say to you for it is of vital importance to the native land,
+as I believe, of all three of us. For I have reason to think that you,
+as well as Miss Ruth and myself, are an American. I know that all of
+your sympathies are with our native land, at least, and, in trusting you
+with this information, I am, in a measure, making you one of us in deed
+and in truth, whether you are so by reason of your birth or not. Before
+I go any further, I want your assurance of what I believe to be true."
+
+He waited a moment for the girl to speak, then, seeing her evident
+embarrassment, he added, kindly:
+
+"You need have no fear of either of us, Estrella. If you have friends in
+this wide world, you are with two of them at this moment."
+
+At these earnest words, the expression of the girl's face changed
+somewhat and she replied to the implied interrogatory of the Priest:
+
+"I, also, believe that I am an American, although I do not know anything
+of my own parentage beyond what my foster parents have told me. I do not
+even know," she blushed while she made the statement, "whether my father
+and mother had been married before my birth.... I have no means of
+finding out anything more of myself than that I am an honest girl and
+that I am deeply grateful to both you and Miss Ruth for your great
+kindness to me in my great sorrow. As far as my fealty to America is
+concerned," she ended, proudly, "I am as true to that great country as
+anyone who knows himself to be a citizen of it. I would, gladly, lay my
+feeble life upon the altar of what I believe to be my native land ...
+the United States of America."
+
+She pronounced the words with reverence and bowed her head as if in
+prayer, so that Father Felix no longer hesitated, but proceeded, at
+once:
+
+"At this moment, an American squadron is in Asiatic waters, ready to
+move, at the moment its Commander receives the cablegram from the
+President of our own country, against the Spaniard, almost on his own
+territory. By this move it is hoped to so cripple him that we, here, in
+Cuba, may, with the help of our soldiers and sailors, conquer and drive
+from the Island those who have so long usurped the places of great power
+among us."
+
+When the good Priest had pronounced these fateful words, he found his
+two auditors sitting erect, as if at attention, with hands folded in
+their laps, and eyes fixed upon his face in breathless eagerness. Ruth
+was the first to break the silence.
+
+"I pray the good God," she said, softly and reverently, "I pray God to
+strengthen the hands of those who are to do this great, good work! I
+trust that those who will be engaged in battle may be prepared to meet
+their Maker with clean hearts, if with bloody hands. War," she cried,
+suddenly, losing her attitude of prayer in the violence of her emotions,
+"war is a terrible calamity but it seems that, only through war can a
+nation be purged of such foul crimes as have been committed right here
+in Cuba."
+
+Estrella watched her with flashing eyes and sympathetic expression and
+the good Priest crossed himself and clenched his fists at the same
+time, for, had occasion required such action at his hands, it was
+evident that Father Felix could have changed from the spiritual guide to
+the fiery enthusiast willing to take his place among the fighting men
+who would defend what he believed to be a sacred cause.
+
+"Now, Father Felix," demanded the practical side of Ruth Wakefield,
+"what action can we take in this matter to help the good cause? Is there
+not some preparation that we can make to welcome our soldiers to Cuba,
+for, of course," she lifted her head, proudly, "our boys will win
+whatever conflict they may become engaged in ... it is only a question
+as to how many of them may be injured or even killed in the terrible
+encounter. Every man in America," said this American woman, "is a
+soldier if he is needed in that capacity, for every American, man, woman
+or child, is a _patriot_ ... devoted to the sacred traditions and
+splendid example of those who followed _George Washington_ to victory
+over those who had oppressed and insulted them."
+
+"My Daughters," said Father Felix, rising, "I must leave you for the
+present. I will find out what we may do to assist our countrymen and
+will come again to let you know the result of my search for further
+information. All we can do, now, is to hold the information I have just
+given to you inviolate and prepare ourselves, spiritually, to meet
+whatever emergency may arise. My Daughters," he ended, stretching out
+his hands in blessing over their bowed heads, "we shall have work to do
+and we will do it with our might. May God, in His great Mercy, guide us
+into the path in which He intended us to walk."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+On the day of Manuello's search for the girl he had so madly and
+hopelessly loved, old Mage made a surreptitious visit to the little
+cemetery in San Domingo where she had seen the body of Victorio Colenzo
+laid away in its final resting-place; she went among the new-made
+graves, of which there were a goodly number for so small a graveyard,
+until she found the one she sought: she stopped, then, took the dried
+leaves from the top of her large basket, removed a beautiful bunch of
+roses, tied, carefully, with a broad blue ribbon, and laid them, softly,
+upon the top of the mound of fresh earth; after having done this, she
+took a small object wrapped in tissue paper, from the very bottom of the
+basket, dug a small hole under the roses and buried it, covering it
+carefully, packing the ground over it, at first, and, then putting loose
+earth over the top of the miniature grave, so as to conceal its
+existence as much as possible, she again laid the roses carelessly over
+the spot.
+
+Having performed this little ceremony, old Mage looked down at her
+handiwork and said, apparently addressing herself, as no other human
+being was in sight at the time:
+
+"There! _Now_ I hope that she will forget all about him ... she will
+think that she has mislaid the ring ... I had a hard time to get hold of
+it. I hope that it will never come to life again any more than him ...
+let them both lay there together. You lying pup, you!" she cried,
+shaking her trembling old fist at the grave. "You _lay_ there and don't
+you ever try to come near my dear young Lady again! The _idea_ of an
+ignorant thing like you ever daring to come near her, anyway. I wouldn't
+be so darned mad at you," she ended, "for you were a mighty good-looking
+fellow and any woman might have been proud of your appearance, once she
+could overlook your dark skin, but you even fooled _me_, doggone you!
+You _lay_ there, now, and never do you dare to try to fool any more
+women ... three of us is enough in _this_ neighborhood, anyway."
+
+She drew a long sigh of relief after this speech and hurried out of the
+cemetery with her empty basket; she had slipped away when she thought no
+one was observing her and intended to tell Ruth after her return what
+she had done with the exception of any reference to the ring which, as
+the reader may have guessed, was the wedding ring that Ruth had, up to
+this time, kept always on her left hand or in her jewel-case on her
+little dressing-table before which she always sat when she combed and
+brushed her long and beautifully luxuriant brown hair; she had taken
+the ring off the night before, little dreaming that she was touching it
+for the last time, and sadly laid it among her jewels, thinking of the
+bright face and laughing dark eyes that had looked so handsome to her
+when he had put that little ring upon her finger, whispering of his
+undying love and of the fact that she and she alone was, and had been
+since his first meeting with her, the entire mistress of his hither-to
+untouched heart; she had even shed a few tears over the little ring,
+then, and old Mage, silently witnessing this fact, determined that she
+should never again have that opportunity; so, after Ruth was sweetly
+sleeping, the old woman slipped into her room and removed the object of
+her scorn; she lay awake almost all of that night, planning how to
+secrete or do away with the visible bond that had united her dear young
+Lady to an unworthy mate; at length, toward daylight, it seemed to old
+Mage as if someone had whispered to her what to do with the ring so that
+poetic justice would be done to the first youthful passion of Ruth
+Wakefield's innocent life; acting upon this suggestion, for so it seemed
+to her, feeling sure that she had solved the problem so nearly affecting
+the life of the one she loved best in all her world, she carried out the
+plan she instantly formed, and, while she was a very weary old woman,
+from lack of sleep and unusual exercise, when she again reached her
+much-loved home, she had within her spirit a sense of satisfaction that
+was beyond anything she had felt since Ruth had married the man whose
+grave she had, that morning, visited; she felt, in some sense, to blame
+for the marriage, as she had not strenuously opposed it, and found
+herself much in the position she used to occupy when Ruth had been a
+little tot and she had allowed her to do some small thing of which she
+knew her parents would not approve.
+
+Now, she felt relieved because, as it seemed to her, she had sort of
+evened up matters, and, after informing Ruth that she had gone to the
+grave and put the roses there, she never intended to speak of Victorio
+Colenzo again, and, as far as possible, she intended to rid Ruth of his
+memory; with this thought in mind, she picked up many little memontos of
+him which she found lying about the place ... a guitar here and a ribbon
+there ... a photograph, perhaps, showing the dashing young Cuban in
+military dress, which much became him, or mounted on a fine horse which
+he, for the moment, had secured the use of ... even in one picture he
+appeared standing, proudly, behind Ruth as if protecting her; all of
+these and anything else that old Mage could find that would inevitably
+remind Ruth of the man she had married, she destroyed ruthlessly and
+with inward glee; her object in all this was, really, to protect her
+dear young Lady, and, yet, at the same time, she had as nearly a
+fiendish delight as it was possible for her ever to entertain, in, as
+she naïvely put it to herself, "getting even" with the handsome fellow
+who had "pulled the wool over" her own eyes as well as the brighter and
+stronger ones of her young Lady.
+
+Ruth Wakefield was never enlightened as to this little by-play, but she
+reaped the benefits of it in many ways, for it is true that visible
+reminders are necessary to a great many people, and, even the strongest
+minds are affected by the sudden sight of something reminding them of
+some object formerly dear to them; it will give almost anyone a start to
+come, unexpectedly, upon a picture or almost any tangible token of
+someone once dear, no matter what may have happened to take away that
+quality; lovers, by preserving evidence, like withered flowers,
+pictures, songs and poems, often lay up for themselves future agony of
+spirit ... the objects that are so dear to them may turn about and rend
+their inmost souls; full many times, it were better had the love-tokens
+been destroyed in some such way as old Mage did away with the visible
+memories attached to the objects which her eager hands closed upon; this
+secret employment, necessarily long drawn out, as she did not wish to be
+discovered in her labor of love, took up a good deal of the extra time
+she found herself in possession of on account of the presence of
+Estrella in the home, for the girl took up many household duties, gladly
+and naturally, knowing that in work she could, to some extent, forget
+her own sorrow, and wishing to lighten the labors of old Mage who was
+always kind to her.
+
+After the information imparted to Ruth by Father Felix, regarding
+national affairs, she was very thoughtful and very busy, for there were
+very many ways in which she could make preparations to begin the duties
+which she expected to take up as soon as occasion would require them of
+her; she studied into trained nursing and found a sort of school in
+Havana to which she took Estrella and where they both learned many
+essential things pertaining to the calling which they were both trying
+to fit themselves for; in many ways they were both better prepared for
+the work of caring for the sick and wounded than many women would ever
+become, no matter how much they would be trained, for they were both
+earnest and helpful, tender-hearted and serious; in all wars, there are
+women who seek the familiar association with men which the calling of a
+nurse entails, with no better object than just the proximity to
+masculine humanity involved, but there are, also, such women as Ruth
+Wakefield who had no thought in the matter except to help where help of
+her should anywhere be needed ... to succor those who were not to blame
+for the accidents that had befallen them ... who were, indeed, entitled
+to the tenderest consideration on account of the very accidents which
+had laid them on the clean, white cots that are stretched along the
+wards and in the private rooms of the great, shadowy hospitals where
+tender women bend above the beds of pain and minister to those who lie
+there, suffering and weak, both in body and spirit.
+
+On one of these numerous visits to Havana, Ruth met a man who was an old
+friend of her father's who was much interested in her lonely life and
+who came out to her home to consult with her regarding the prospects of
+her being surrounded by the din and pomp of actual warfare; at first, as
+he viewed the situation she was placed in, he felt as Father Felix had
+as to her staying in Cuba, in her immediate future, but listened to her
+patriotic resolve with high enthusiasm, as he was intensely patriotic
+himself and loved to think that she was every inch an American although
+her life had, almost all of it, been spent away from her native land.
+
+Just as this man was leaving her home, one day, for he had been making
+frequent visits there, he turned to look at her as she stood between the
+pillar-like gate-posts at the entrance to the drive that led to her
+residence; the picture she made, standing there in the glow of the
+setting sun, lingered in his memory long after he had ceased to see her
+as he saw her, then; Ruth was very fond of flowers and often wore a rose
+tucked in among the coils of her beautiful, shining hair; that evening,
+her selection among her flowers for this use had been a bunch of English
+violets; the deep blue of the dainty blossoms accentuated the clear
+gray color of her star-like eyes ... her healthy skin reflected the
+sunset after-glow which was beginning to appear in the western sky; her
+small mouth, with its cute corners, puckered up as if, she used to say
+when a child, it had been too large to begin with and had been shirred
+at the corners to make it the desired size, registered each change of
+her inner feelings; her dress was elegant, yet simple, and her poise was
+splendid; there are few earthly women who have sufficient poise of
+manner and of nervous strength; most of them become excited and
+distraught under slight stress of circumstances, but Ruth Wakefield was
+an exception to this very general rule; there were very few things that
+could shake her from her serenity of purpose and intention; one of these
+things was being a witness to any injustice ... an indignity put upon a
+weaker creature by a stronger one, whether the creature be gifted with
+the power to express its feelings in human speech or not; those who knew
+her best, were well aware of her strong regard for the rights of
+so-called "dumb animals" ... her loving sympathy went out to every old
+or poorly cared for horse she saw; she had been heard to say that she
+would dearly love to have a good pasture, with waving grasses and
+running water and sheltering trees where she could gather together all
+the illy-used horses in the world and then just watch them enjoy their
+surroundings; the smaller creatures, also, were her friends ... little
+Tid-i-wats, to whom we have already been introduced, was a feline of
+very uncertain temper and most impulsive and nerve-racking little
+habits, yet to Ruth she could always go and be sure of a loving
+reception no matter to what lengths she had gone, for Tid-i-wats was far
+from being a perfect little cat; she very often reverted to her original
+type and did things that no cat with a civilized ancestry would have
+even thought could _be_ done; but she knew that Ruth would only say:
+
+"She is not feeling very well, today; she is beginning to show her years
+a little; I noticed a white hair only today, on her little neck; she is
+my own old baby-cat, anyway, and I will always take as good care of her
+as I possibly can."
+
+She would watch Ruth, calmly, while she straightened out whatever she,
+her own self, had made it necessary to straighten, and, then, when the
+young woman would, finally, sit down, no matter where Tid-i-wats
+happened to be located at the time, she would very soon land on Ruth's
+lap with no fear of a scolding even; she took advantage of the gentle
+disposition of her care-taker, same as so many humans did.
+
+Ruth's father's friend looked long and earnestly at the tall, straight,
+slender figure standing there at the entrance to her almost palatial
+home and the picture remained in his memory during the balance of his
+earthly life.
+
+While Ruth Wakefield and Estrella were preparing themselves to assist
+their fellow-countrymen in case they should be needed, events were
+shaping themselves so that it seemed likely that Cuba would be the stage
+for the setting of as heroic a play as the world had ever witnessed:
+Commodore Dewey had bottled up the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and
+Naval-Constructor Richmond P. Hobson had executed his daring and
+unheard-of feat although the gallant _Merrimac_ was sunk in Santiago
+harbor.
+
+Soon after the formal declaration of war on April 25, 1898, President
+McKinley sent forth a call for volunteers to enter the United States
+army and navy. Instantly, almost, the ranks were more than filled with
+active, alert, capable men, anxious, each one of them, to do his full
+share of the work that lay before his beloved land.
+
+It was while active preparations for a war carried on in the interests
+of humanity were progressing rapidly that Theodore Roosevelt became
+prominent as representing the highest type of American manhood; he threw
+himself, bodily, into the breach in the interests of his country; there
+was no personal sacrifice which he was unwilling to make ... no task too
+hard for him to attempt. He became, at once, an acknowledged and adored
+leader of the young Americans who crowded around him, loving him like a
+brother, and, at the same time, revering his quick judgment and his
+dauntless courage.
+
+There is no figure in American history more heroic or more admired than
+that of Theodore Roosevelt, mounted on a noble horse, in the uniform of
+a United States Volunteer and wearing a wide campaign hat.
+
+Ruth Wakefield was kept well informed as to what was being done by her
+own people, mainly through the kindness of Father Felix who seldom
+missed an evening's visit with her and her almost constant companion,
+Estrella; the two girls, for they were no more than that in spite of
+what they had passed through, had become the best of understanding
+friends; the younger girl seldom spoke of her dead lover and Ruth found
+that the memory of her husband had been forced into the background of
+her thoughts by the march of passing events.
+
+One evening, Father Felix climbed the narrow pathway to the mansion on
+the hill and found Ruth alone as Estrella, who was her almost constant
+companion, now, had gone to the village on one of her infrequent visits
+to her little friend, Tessa.
+
+The good Priest was glad to find Ruth alone as he had news of great
+importance for her ... news that would lead to great developments in the
+near future; after being assured of their entire privacy, he said:
+
+"We will have work to do, my dear Daughter, before many more months have
+passed by. The American people have endured the sight of the injustice
+and oppression exercised by the Spanish authorities toward the helpless
+Cubans for a long time, now, and are becoming more and more determined
+to break the Spanish rule. You and I must be prepared to assist and
+succor our own dear boys when they begin to smite the enemy of right and
+justice, hip and thigh. My course in this work has been made plain
+before me.... I have applied for the position of Chaplain in the United
+States service and I trust that they will allow me to accompany my
+little flock right into the midst of every battle in which they will be
+engaged. It seems to me that your path in this matter, my Daughter, is,
+also, plain ... you can turn this charming home into a hospital to which
+the sorely wounded or those who have fallen ill from any cause may be
+brought and where they may receive the tender care which they will
+deserve from every loyal heart and hand. I am certain that you will find
+work for Estrella as well as for every member of your family, here, in
+this connection, also you will be ably assisted by many who will flock
+to your standard when they understand what you are doing. I, myself,
+will always assist you in every way in my power and I may be able to
+spare you some uncertainty and, possibly, also, some unpleasantness. My
+Daughter," he ended, "there will be work for us to do that will require
+all our strength and courage.... May God, in His great Wisdom, guide and
+help us."
+
+Ruth clasped her hands and bowed her head as Father Felix prayed for
+God's blessing on whatever enterprise they should be called upon to
+undertake in the great cause in which they were both enlisted.
+
+After the good Priest had disappeared down the narrow path that led to
+the little village of San Domingo, she sat, for a long time, in deep
+revery, reflecting on the peace and prosperity that then covered the
+tropical Island upon which she had lived for so many years and trying to
+imagine what changes were likely to come in the wake of the probable
+conflict of two great nations, for Ruth realized that America was
+meeting a foe worthy of her steel in Spain whose far-famed Armada had
+been made the subject of song and story; she had no doubt of the final
+outcome ... whatever America attempted, that she would accomplish ...
+but how many splendid American men would have to lie upon the bloody
+battle-fields that would spring up all around her was yet an unsolved
+problem; and that, she thought, proudly and devotedly, would be her
+work ... to find those splendid American heroes, and to do for them as
+much as if each one of them had been her own blood brother ... to succor
+the wounded and bury the dead.
+
+This line of thought led her, inevitably, to the grave already lying
+under the moonlight so near to her home, and, upon a sudden and almost
+irresistable impulse, she snatched a wrap from the rack in the hall and
+started down toward the little cemetery, thinking to bid an eternal
+farewell to the grave of the man who had been, if only for a few short
+months, her husband.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Ruth descended the hill with firm, sure steps for she was strong in body
+as well as in spirit; she had reached the gate of the little cemetery
+before the impulse that had prompted her action had had time to lose any
+of its power, but, as she opened the gate and realized the lateness of
+the hour, her natural caution led her to pause for a second and take in
+her surroundings; she at once became conscious of the sound of a low,
+sobbing voice saying:
+
+"Dear God, I came here all alone hoping that You would forgive him for
+the crime that he committed if I came to you in secret beside the grave
+of him whose life he took ... the sin is lying heavily upon his soul and
+I wish to lift it from him by sacrificing my own peace of mind so that
+it may be bestowed upon him, for he suffers grievously from his wound,
+dear God, he suffers very grievously.... I pray that You will put the
+sorrow for his crime upon me instead of him so that I may help him, for
+he is greatly in need of more help than I can give him, being but a
+simple-minded, feeble, little peasant and unfit to carry this heavy
+load."
+
+The supplication ended in a rush of sobs that shook the inner
+consciousness of her who listened to them, for Ruth was tender-hearted
+above all her other instincts; she advanced into the little cemetery,
+then, with far different feelings than the ones that brought her there.
+
+The sounds that she had heard came from the same direction she had meant
+to take to reach the grave of Victorio Colenzo, so she proceeded along
+the little path that she had followed, in secret, more than once before,
+for, with Estrella in her home, she could not visit the last
+resting-place of the body of the man whom she had loved as very young
+and innocent women will, often, love a creature all unworthy of such
+affection, except surreptitiously; so that it was easy for her to wind
+among the simple little head-stones until she came to the grave she
+sought.
+
+The form her eyes could just discern beside the tomb was small and
+slight and cowering down as if, indeed, in earnest supplication; Ruth
+advanced until she was standing very near the silent woman and, not
+wishing to startle and confuse her by a sudden word, she very gently
+touched her bowed head; instantly, the girl sprang up in wild alarm, for
+it had taken all her courage to come there at all; Ruth reassured her as
+quickly as she could by saying, softly:
+
+"Do not fear, whoever you may be; I am but another woman like yourself
+and I wish to help you no matter what it is that is so troubling you; we
+women should assist each other in this world, for women, as it seems to
+me, were put into the world to suffer, mainly, so we ought to try to
+help each other. Tell me what there is that I can do to help you, now."
+
+Tessa, for the reader has, no doubt, guessed that it was she, began to
+sob wildly and clung to the other woman who had come to her so
+strangely; she could not speak, at first, for crying, and, then, she
+could not speak for fear of injuring the man she loved, and, so, she did
+not speak at all, but ran away without one word of explanation, thinking
+in that way she might avoid discovery.
+
+But the incident had shaken Ruth so that the memory of the man whose
+body lay within that narrow grave grew dim and far away; she knew that
+he had been unworthy of her love and must have scouted it in secret many
+times, for, if he had not done so, how could he have made such love to
+poor Estrella as he had while she, his lawful wife, yet lived upon the
+earth? Ruth Wakefield had often said that truth was truth no matter
+where it fell ... she'd even said that she would blame herself when
+blame was hers to bear, and, so, she could not shield the memory of the
+newly dead too far, and, so, she turned away from that low grave and
+never went there again, and, as she slowly climbed the hill that led her
+to her own loved home, Estrella overtook her in the path and, hand in
+hand with her who had been wronged as she, herself, had been, she left
+the memory of the handsome, gay deceiver lying there within the narrow
+grave that hid his fast decaying body from the world of living men and
+women; from that time, she did not suffer, in thinking of him, as she
+had before; there are turning points in every road no matter where it
+leads to, and this was a turn for Ruth in that sad road where she had
+strayed, but only for a short and most unhappy, if, at moments, wildly
+joyous, time.
+
+When Tessa left the grave of Victorio Colenzo, she fled in haste and
+fright; she did not go at once to her own home for she feared that she
+might be followed; she had become a fugitive as truly as Manuello was,
+for, now, she was to him as if she were, indeed, his wife, attending to
+all wants of his that she could satisfy, and, secretly and silently,
+becoming but the shadow of the gay and pretty girl that she had been
+before; her friends, who saw her often, noted this sad change, but did
+not know its cause.
+
+Father Felix watched the girl at times and pitied her, for he had
+learned that she had been devoted to the handsome peasant whom he also
+was assured was guilty of some crime and, since his disappearance, he
+had figured out some things that made him almost certain what the crime
+had been, for the good Priest was much alone and thought more deeply
+about many things than those who have not followed psychic lines of
+reasoning.
+
+One morning, Father Felix went, again, to visit Ruth, and found Estrella
+with her, and he asked the girl about her little friend who had been
+dear to her from early little girlhood; Estrella told him that she had
+not seen her for some time, as, when she'd gone to visit her, she had
+been gone, and Tessa had not come to see her as she'd asked her to, for
+she had left word for her where to come to find her, knowing she could
+trust her, for she'd always been a true and faithful friend to her.
+
+The good Priest pondered for a moment, then he said:
+
+"I wish that you would go, at once, to see your little friend; I think
+that she is at her home at present, and I wish that you would try to
+discover what it is that is troubling her, for she is most unhappy over
+something and I wish that you would help her if you can for she is in
+need of understanding help at this time more than at any time during my
+acquaintance with her. Go, my Daughter, find your little friend and try
+to assist her if you can."
+
+Estrella, having secured the permission of Ruth, followed the advice of
+the good Priest and departed on her errand of love and kindness.
+
+When Father Felix had been assured of their privacy, he turned to his
+companion and said:
+
+"I have information of importance to give you, my Daughter. We are
+drawing nearer and nearer to the goal we seek. Our compatriots are
+growing weary of blockading Havana and other harbors near to us and will
+very soon advance into the interior of Cuba. When that time comes there
+will be great suffering all around us and I think that it will be best
+for you and me to form a sort of secret society with passwords, which,
+while simple in themselves, will convey to us a secret meaning. You and
+I must act as one in this matter.... I am sure of your fealty and you
+can rely upon mine but how many others there are near to us upon whose
+loyalty we can depend I do not know. Estrella is discreet and thoughtful
+for an uneducated and untrained girl, but she would have no idea of what
+course to pursue under complicated or difficult circumstances, so that
+it may be necessary to keep many events secret from her. There are many
+spies already in Cuba and there are those among us who would be willing
+to exchange the lives and property of their best friends for personal
+emolument. I know one young fellow who has, as I believe, already sold
+his birthright of truth and honor for a mess of pottage and there are
+others of his ilk. I rely on you alone in all this village of San
+Domingo ... you, alone, are strong and capable ... you, alone, are
+thoroughly American and devoted to your native land. I rely on you, my
+Daughter, and you may rely on me. Let us now arrange a secret pact
+between us so that, should we be separated, we may be sure of any word
+that each may send the other. If I send to you a message adding to the
+body of it the word _pax_ alone, then I will mean to signify that all is
+well with me and that I do not know of any secret danger threatening
+you, but if to the word _pax_ I add _vobiscum_, then you are to be made
+aware that danger threatens you, while I may, yet, be safe from it, but
+if I say _Pax vobiscus_ then I'll mean that we are both in danger of a
+similar nature; if I send these latter words, you are to use all means
+of safety at your command to seclude yourself from outside notice just
+as much as possible and to try to find me if you can do so without
+exposure to yourself; but if I say just _pax_ then I mean what the word
+implies, and you may go to and from your home with freedom. I will come
+to see you just as often as I can and I will arrange to have the
+officers of our own army and navy visit you and then you will use your
+own good judgment combined with what knowledge they will give to you as
+to how you will proceed, knowing that my spirit will be with you even if
+my body cannot be ... even if I should be separated from this perishable
+body, my Daughter, I think that God would let me come to you to help
+you.... He would know our need and it is my belief He would supply it.
+Let us pray to Him for guidance, now, before I leave you for the night.
+Father in heaven, protect and guide our footsteps while we stay upon
+this mundane sphere of spiritual action. Help us do what we were meant
+to do and teach us how to walk in unknown paths which we are, now, about
+to enter on. May what is just and right be conquerors in conflicts that
+will, very soon, be carried on about us. May the souls of those about to
+leave this world be prepared for the great change from this world to
+another one, and may we, who are Thy humble servants, do the things that
+will be pleasing in Thy sight. Bless us, now, and guide us unto Thee.
+Amen."
+
+When Estrella reached the home of little Tessa, she found her friend
+about to go somewhere but where she would not say ... she seemed so much
+distraught about it that Estrella did not ask the second time where she
+was going; she could see that she had made some preparations for the
+journey, for she had a small bag filled with eatables and a jug of
+home-made vintage in her hands; Estrella plainly saw how distressed she
+was and how wan and weary, too, and, so, she only stayed a very short
+time; but, when she went away, she only went just far enough to be where
+Tessa could not see her ... then she watched her little friend, but only
+with the kindest thoughts of her, and saw her take an unused, winding
+path a little ways, then hasten on without a path at all, so far as she
+could see; she wound among the cacti, fearlessly, as if upon a very
+important errand, and as if she feared that she would be too late to do
+the errand she was bent upon; Estrella watched her for a time, and,
+then, still with the kindest thoughts of Tessa, followed after her, but
+far enough behind her so she could not see her ... she would stoop
+behind a friendly bit of brush whenever little Tessa turned around and
+gazed about her like a startled little bird about to seek its hidden
+nest; so, unobserved, Estrella followed after her, and came, at length,
+to that small clearing where the ruined hut had stood for many years;
+Estrella knew about it, having found it at the same time Manuello had,
+indeed, for they two used to roam the hills together when they were but
+little children ... sometimes Tessa went with them, but, oftener, they
+were alone; and, so, Estrella peered within the ruined hut and saw its
+occupant as he lay there in bitter pain and wan and weary, too, like
+little Tessa was; she saw the other girl creep past the tumble-down old
+door that she had set up at the entrance to the hut to shield its inmate
+from the winds, and, also, to try to keep the fact that he was there at
+all unknown; she saw the little tender-hearted woman kneel beside the
+rude couch on which her restless patient lay and kiss the lips that only
+moaned her name in anguish and despair; she saw her smooth the black and
+silky hair back from the brow of Manuello, and, then, she heard the
+following conversation.
+
+"Tell me, little Tessa," said her patient, eagerly, "are you sure you
+were not seen when you came here, today? I greatly fear that you will
+yet divulge, in some way, my hiding-place. I could not move a step to
+save myself, no matter who came here to find me. It is terrible to be
+like this. I'd rather die than stay here like this for another day.... I
+wish you'd find a gun, somewhere, and bring it to me the next time you
+come and let me end the lives of both of us. You are like a little
+skeleton, yourself.... I wonder what's the matter with you ... are you
+ill or is it only just the weariness and fright that makes you look so?
+If you should fail me, I would surely die ... a wounded rat that cannot
+even run to save itself. Tessa, tell me," he cried out, peevishly, "are
+you sick? You look so pale today it seems to me you are about to faint
+away ... and what would I do, then?"
+
+"I don't believe that I am sick," she said, cheerfully. "I'm sure I
+don't know why I'm pale.... It is very warm today, for one thing ... I
+hurried up the hill ... Estrella came...."
+
+At that name, her patient roused again:
+
+"Estrella! Are you sure she did not follow you? She could gloat about
+me, now, if she were minded to ... what did you bring for me to eat,
+today?" he ended, changing the subject, abruptly. "I'm almost starved to
+death; I wish you'd come a little earlier, tomorrow."
+
+"I will try, dear Manuello, I will try," said little Tessa, gravely. "I
+always try to come as soon as I can come when I'm alone and can evade
+the children."
+
+Manuello tossed a while in silence, then he asked again:
+
+"Are you sure Estrella did not follow you? Look outside and see if there
+is not someone near the hut. I'm afraid ... I'm dreadfully afraid,
+somehow, today. I've lain right here, now, all these weeks, and have
+not been so frightened as I am, somehow, today. Look outside and see!"
+
+And, then, Estrella crept away for she could do no good by staying, and
+she did not wish to harm either one of her old friends on whose distress
+she looked.
+
+Estrella went back to the mansion on the hill, a sadder, it is true, and
+yet also a wiser woman for she'd seen poor little Tessa's secret burden
+and Manuello's sorry plight.
+
+She went to Father Felix, the next day, to advise with him about what
+she had seen; he cautioned her not to mention it to anyone she knew,
+which advice she followed, strictly; it enlightened him to some extent
+and he pitied little Tessa more than ever, for he knew the sort of man
+her patient was ... he knew that he was selfish to the very core of him
+and had no gratitude for anyone who'd helped him; so he pitied little
+Tessa and began, in many little unknown ways, to help her bear the
+burden she'd assumed.
+
+To begin with, when she came to the confessional, as almost everyone who
+lived in San Domingo did, he only asked her questions such as she could
+answer easily ... he did not touch on murder or on lies or on anything
+that might lead on to surprising her sad secret; he knew her for a
+simple-minded, loving, tender little girl and he pitied her and did not
+try to wring from her her secret, knowing that, in all human
+probability, she would go, some day, to the ruined hut and find no
+Manuello there to either curse or bless her: in fact, he looked upon
+this as the most likely of anything that could occur and, when he saw
+poor little Tessa fading with anxiety and dread, he went, one day, to
+see the patient in the deserted hut, and, after that, there was no
+patient there, for Manuello limped away, as he could stand, at last, and
+hid from even little Tessa for he thought she had betrayed him, after
+all, and, so, he cursed her with the balance of his rotten luck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+June 10, 1898, was a memorable day for Cuba, for, on that date, the
+glorious flag of our own much-beloved country was unfurled over Cuban
+soil, upheld and supported by United States troops, for the first time.
+
+Father Felix had kept himself well informed as to military matters, and
+had often consulted with Ruth Wakefield concerning what would actually
+be needed by our armies when they were finally in the field; in
+pursuance of the purpose to which they had both devoted their lives and
+fortunes, these two had established a temporary hospital not far from
+the city of Santiago, as the good Priest had been informed that one of
+the next moves of our forces would be in that vicinity; so that, when
+our starry banner first floated in the breeze at Camp McCalla, Ruth
+stood beside the new-fledged army Chaplain, and watched, through
+tear-dimmed eyes, the emblem of our liberty and freedom as it was
+proudly raised.
+
+That night passed quietly, but, for five successive days and nights
+thereafter, a bitter battle raged in which our blue-clad boys met and
+finally defeated the Spanish hordes that tried to drive them back or
+leave their lifeless bodies lying there beneath the blistering sun.
+
+When Ruth had sailed from Havana she had brought her little household
+with her and established them in temporary quarters near the hospital,
+and, soon, she saw the little white cots filled with sick or wounded
+Americans and Cuban scouts.
+
+Volunteer nurses were immediately in demand as, in many ways, our forces
+were unprepared to meet the enemy; there are no soldiers in the world as
+brave ... as fine ... as capable ... as are our own United States
+Volunteers ... both men and women, and, so, Ruth Wakefield and Estrella,
+anxious to put into practice what they had learned to do, donned the
+clean white uniforms they had become accustomed to in the training they
+had taken in Havana for this very purpose, and, very soon, to the eye of
+a novice, there were two more trained nurses ministering to the many
+wants of the boys who lay there on those narrow cots, weak and suffering
+but triumphant in spite of their pain, for the cause of right had won in
+the first real conflict upon Cuban soil between the Spaniards and the
+Americans assisted by Cuban insurgents, who, mainly, acted as spies and
+scouts, a work to which they were adapted by nature and long practice in
+a country infested by those whose only object in ruling it had been to
+gain what they could, in resources and amusement, from the natives,
+with no thought either for their comfort or advancement along the lines
+of civilized living.
+
+Among the Cuban scouts who had been wounded on that first day of actual
+combat was one who happened to fall under the care of Estrella for he
+had been carried in right after her entry into the work of the hospital;
+this man had been slightly wounded as he was about to give valuable
+information to one of our own officers, and, perhaps for that reason and
+because he had shown himself to be particularly useful, he had received
+even more than the usual attention on the battle-field, for his wound
+had been dressed more carefully than is customary when first aid is
+given in the midst of the fray, so that the attending surgeon had
+declared his condition such that all he needed was tender care, which
+was why his case had been assigned to a volunteer nurse.
+
+Estrella gravely assumed the duty allotted to her, with some misgivings
+as to her own ability, it is true, but with a strong resolve to do the
+best she could; as she bent over her patient, she noticed, first, his
+almost deathly pallor, then a jagged scar that stretched across his
+cheek and had been lately healed ... the edges of it were yet red and
+angry looking; the girl bent over him pityingly, and, then, she started
+back for she had recognized, even in the dim light that pervaded the
+temporary hospital, the features of Manuello; remembering what she had
+seen in the ruined hut, she shrank from contact with her old admirer,
+but, with that memory came the knowledge that he had been wounded while
+in the performance of a service of benefit to her beloved country, and
+she did not falter in carrying out the instructions of the surgeon in
+charge with regard to her patient, thinking that, perhaps, before he had
+recognized her, she might be transferred to some other part of the
+hospital.
+
+Ruth took her place among the ministering nurses with confidence and
+courage, for she was one who immediately altogether forgot almost her
+own identity when asked to help another human being, and, while her
+sympathy with suffering was remarkable, so that she actually suffered
+pain herself when witnessing it in others, yet she had always been able
+to do whatever was required of her in an emergency regardless of any
+bodily ailment that might be troubling her at the time; now, as she saw
+all around her strong men laid low by violence, her spirit rose to the
+occasion and she was, for the time, at least, the very personification
+of patriotic zeal and her love for her country rose to heights almost
+undreamed of even by herself; she moved among the little cots freely,
+lending a hand here and whispering a word of encouragement there; the
+nurses recognized in her a master spirit, at once, and the surgeons
+looked into her steady eyes, and, instantly, allowed her privileges
+seldom granted to anyone outside of their own profession; her very
+presence seemed to give the sufferers courage to bear their pain, for
+the light that shone from her clear, gray eyes was above the things of a
+merely earthly existence and lifted them out of their bodies, to some
+extent, making them impervious to what would have otherwise been
+excruciating anguish; surgeons, at that time, did not recognize the
+mental attitude of their patients, to any great extent, and they
+marveled at the influence of the mistress of the mansion on the hill,
+attributing it, in part, to the evident superiority of the young woman
+to those with whom she had been associated in Cuba.
+
+In passing among the little cots, Ruth, at length, came to the one
+beside which Estrella was standing, anxiously looking into her patient's
+flushed face, for, with returning strength, Manuello's fever had risen;
+Ruth put one hand on the girl's shoulder and drew her away from the cot
+for a moment while she whispered to her:
+
+"Do not weary yourself too much, my Dear, for we must keep our strength
+so as to be able to help others ... you seem distressed ... do you know
+your patient, personally?"
+
+Estrella was only too glad to tell her kind and understanding friend
+just the situation in which she found herself, so that, when the young
+Cuban opened his large, dark eyes and looked about him in astonishment,
+it was upon Ruth's face he gazed instead of on Estrella's whom the
+former had sent into another part of the work of caring for the
+wounded.
+
+"Where am I?" moaned Manuello. "What has happened to me, now?"
+
+"You have been sorely wounded in the service of your country, my brave
+fellow ... you are now in a hospital where you will receive every
+possible care and attention," answered Ruth in a low, yet clear tone of
+voice. "You are in the hands of those who appreciate what you have done
+and greatly desire to assist in your recovery."
+
+Having assured himself that he was among friends, he began to make
+inquiries as to the nature of his wound, wondering how long it would be
+necessary for him to remain as he was then, but Ruth only told him that
+he must not talk and must use every precaution he could to prevent
+increase of the fever that was now high enough to demand the use of the
+handy little thermometer that Ruth, in common with the other amateur
+nurses with whom she had studied, had learned how to operate; she
+promptly thrust this little fever-gauge into his mouth and told him to
+keep it there quietly until she took it away; gazing at her as if she
+were a creature from another world, Manuello lay there quiescent and
+tractable, all his wild nature being centred upon his desire to again be
+the free, strong being he had but recently been.
+
+Old Mage peered into the room where the cots of the wounded soldiers and
+sailors had been placed and caught a glimpse of her dear young lady as
+she stood by the bedside of Manuello; he had just opened his eyes, and,
+as he lay there with his black curls touching the white pillow, he
+reminded the old woman very much of another handsome, dark young fellow
+whom she believed to be lying in his narrow grave in the little
+cemetery ... the narrow grave in which she had buried the wedding-ring
+that had brought so much sorrow to the one whom she loved best in all
+the world: as the old woman looked at the dark face on the pillow she
+noticed the angry scar that disfigured it and thought that it might have
+changed the face she remembered as without a blemish so that she would
+have difficulty in recognizing it; her mind began to travel along the
+line of thought suggested by this possibility and she determined to rid
+Ruth of the necessity of attending to her former husband, at least, if
+her most dire suspicions should prove to be well founded; she at once
+remembered that she, herself, had not seen the corpse of the man
+interred as Victorio Colenzo and she knew very well how earthly death
+will change the appearance of a human being's body ... then she thought
+of what had been told to her as to how the man had died ... altogether
+it seemed to her very possible that the man she had seen in the little
+cemetery on the day of the funeral she had attended with Estrella might
+have been some one closely resembling Manuello, so that, perhaps,
+Estrella's foster brother had been buried in the supposed grave of
+Victorio Colenzo, who, wishing to be free from both entangling alliances
+he had made in San Domingo, had allowed the name under which he had
+entered into them to be placed upon the simple head-stone that marked
+the grave of another man.
+
+As soon as old Mage had arrived at the conclusion above described, she
+acted on it at once by slipping stealthily up to Ruth and whispering to
+her:
+
+"Come away, my Pretty; you are needed; there is someone outside who
+wishes to speak to you at once. I will take your place."
+
+Ruth, thinking the summons important, yielded her place for a moment,
+intending to return within a very few moments, but no sooner had old
+Mage assumed charge of the patient than she began to devise ways and
+means by which she hoped to prolong the stay of her dear young lady, for
+it seemed to her to be too much for her to bear ... to care for her
+recreant husband under all the trying circumstances.
+
+The first thing that the new nurse did would have been severely
+criticized by the head surgeon had his attention not been fully occupied
+in another part of the large room; to begin with, instead of smoothing
+back the dark hair from the man's forehead as it would seem to one
+observing her from the rear she was doing, she very deliberately pulled
+the handful of curls she was clutching, hoping to make him open his eyes
+so that she could continue her scrutiny of him in order to be as certain
+as possible of his suspected identity; this ruse succeeded, for
+Manuello's large, dark brown eyes flew open and were fixed in horror on
+the face bending over him; it was quite a different countenance than the
+one he had last seen beside him, for old Mage never had been a beauty
+and the loss of her teeth had not added to her appearance while the
+ferocity of her glance was accentuated by the multitude of criss-cross
+wrinkles which surrounded the light blue eyes out of which she was
+glaring at him; the words she hissed in his ear added to the confusion
+under which the helpless man was laboring:
+
+"I thought that you were dead and buried out of sight ... you hateful,
+low-lived pup! How dare you be brought into her place, now? If I did
+just right, I do believe I'd choke the life out of you while you can't
+fight back! The girl's here, too ... you must be a devil in human form!
+You ought to be burning in hell!"
+
+The object that had led old Mage to make this attack upon the wounded
+man was about to be accomplished, for, with a wild scream, he vaulted
+over the foot of the little cot and bounded through the open doorway as
+if he were pursued by demons; his temporary nurse did not try to prevent
+his exit which was what she had longed to bring about, although the
+manner of his going startled even her, as she had no idea of the effect
+that her hasty words would have upon the guilty spirit of the man whose
+crimes, it seemed to him, had found him out; the new wound he had that
+day received, was not of a nature to impede his progress for a short
+distance, and he almost instantly disappeared from among the nurses and
+surgeons; his wild expression so impressed all whom he met before he
+reached the outskirts of the hospital grounds that he was again a
+fugitive, hunted, this time, by both friends and enemies.
+
+As Ruth was about to return to her patient, for she could find no
+immediate need of her presence elsewhere, she met an excited nurse who
+told her of having seen an excessively active young man flying out into
+the open, clad only in hospital garb.
+
+Ruth was hurrying to report the circumstances to the head surgeon and to
+arrange to have searching parties sent out to bring back her pseudo
+patient, when, passing the cot where old Mage was still stationed, she
+noted that it was empty; stopping to inquire the reason for this change,
+her old nurse hurriedly related the facts concerning the exodus of the
+young man, while she secretly rejoiced at the success of her strategem,
+for so she chose to denominate the method she had taken of protecting
+her dear young lady from the nearness of the man she had married through
+mistaken confidence.
+
+Estrella, having been sent to consult with her friend concerning some
+matter connected with the welfare of the temporary hospital, came along,
+just then, and was told what had happened.
+
+"Why," she exclaimed, "where has poor Manuello gone? He is not fit to be
+outside alone. I am afraid I was a coward to leave him when he needed
+care. Poor little Tessa would have stayed right with him no matter what
+he said or did. I have not seen her," she mused, "for a long time,
+now ... not since a number of days before we came away from home.... I
+wonder where she is."
+
+Could Estrella have seen her little friend at that moment, she would
+have lost all pity for Manuello and added to that she already had for
+poor Tessa, for she was then suffering from the last encounter she had
+had with the man who had just fled out into the night; although the
+little peasant would have been proud to have been made the wife of the
+man whom she madly loved, yet she resisted the idea of being merely his
+mistress for Father Felix had forcibly impressed upon the minds of the
+girls of his flock the virtue of chastity; the consequence of this
+resistance had been a blow received by herself which had rendered her
+helpless for the time being, as it had made it impossible for her to
+walk for any distance, and a slash across one of Manuello's dusky cheeks
+which she had made with a knife she had happened to have in her hand at
+the time of his attack.
+
+The heart-sick girl was lying on the rude bed she had made for the man
+who had left her without aid, in the deserted hut into which Estrella
+had once peered, while her friend, so far away from her, was bemoaning
+the fate of her ungrateful former lover.
+
+She had carried some food and water into the hovel upon the day of her
+last struggle with Manuello and she could creep about the inside of the
+small building, so that, being hardy and healthy, she had, at that time,
+subsisted upon the supplies she had on hand, for several days; she was
+just beginning to crawl carefully out into the surrounding brush where
+she was glad to find plenty of ripe cactus-fruit and other wild edibles;
+she was very lonely and frightened but she took her condition as a
+punishment for the sins she had committed since she had tried to assist
+Manuello in spite of the fact that she had known him to be a criminal;
+she told her beads, over and over, using the small rosary which she had
+always worn about her neck, and, as she kissed the crucifix attached to
+the beads, she often prayed for the man who was the direct cause of her
+pitiable condition, for she believed it to be her plain duty to forgive,
+even though she could not forget, him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+When Manuello escaped from the temporary hospital near Camp McCalla, he
+directed his eager steps toward the place of his nativity, because, as
+it seemed to him, he would be safer there than he had recently been; it
+seemed to him that if he could reach the deserted hut where he had been
+in concealment before, he could rest and recover while he made plans for
+his future, for he had decided that it would be dangerous for him to
+follow the American army any longer, at least for a time.
+
+In devious ways and through the use of means known only to such as he,
+he managed to reach a point midway between Santiago and Havana in a much
+shorter time than would have seemed possible to one unversed in the ways
+of the wilderness; here he encountered, suddenly and unexpectedly, the
+good Priest whom he had known from childhood, who, also, seemed hurrying
+in the direction of Havana.
+
+The young man kept away from the habitation of men as much as possible
+after that, and, footsore and weary, but happy in the thought that he
+had reached his goal, he arrived, at length, just at sunset, in the
+outskirts of the village of San Domingo; from there he followed the
+winding path up which little Tessa had so often toiled in his service,
+he thought of her but did not regret the blow he had given her; in fact,
+his anger still burned at white heat whenever he remembered how she had
+disfigured his features, forgetting altogether what she had done for
+him, because she had not done everything that he had asked her to do.
+
+At length, he reached the vicinity of the deserted hut and stole up to
+reconnoitre before entering the ruined habitation; he crept up to one of
+the small windows and peered within; the sight that met his vision
+startled him to such an extent that he forgot, for the moment, his
+habitual caution and remained at the window although he had discovered
+that the hut was occupied; the room he looked into was dimly lit by the
+rays of the setting sun which penetrated the dense growth of tropical
+verdure and found their way into the small western aperture that
+answered the purpose of a look-out toward the village; Tessa was lying,
+looking very wan and care-worn, upon the rude bed she had arranged for
+the man who was then staring at her ... in her thin hand was a crucifix
+which Father Felix had just given to her ... the good Priest was
+kneeling upon the rough floor beside the couch and the tears were
+rolling down his cheeks, for the sight before him would have moved far
+less tender hearts than his; the girl began to speak in a low voice and
+Manuello strained his power of hearing to catch the faint words which
+fell from her pale and trembling lips.
+
+"Good Father," she began, speaking as if at confession, "I beseech you
+to have mercy upon your sinful daughter; I have done grievous wrong
+during my short life and I beg you to intercede with the God of truth
+and justice before whose judgment seat I will soon appear. I ask you to
+pray for me, Father Felix, for I am in need of your prayers. I have been
+a wicked girl in some ways, though not in all, for I have resisted a
+very strong desire which was a part of my sinful nature and which I
+believe I have, now, through suffering, gained the victory over."
+
+The girl ceased speaking from sheer weakness, then, and the Priest took
+the crucifix from her shaking hand and attached it to the cord at his
+waist, then he lifted his clasped hands in earnest and humble
+supplication:
+
+"Father Who art in heaven," he prayed, "listen to us who are in Thy
+gracious Hands, both here and hereafter. Help me to guide this suffering
+soul aright and help her to walk where she was meant to walk, whether
+she regains her health and returns to the life she has had, formerly, or
+whether she passes out of this narrow existence and goes into eternity
+before another morning dawns. Look down, dear Father, in mercy on us who
+are Thy humble servants. Amen."
+
+"Father Felix," began the sick girl, "I must confess to you something
+that has lain heavily upon my conscience for many weeks. I am rejoiced
+that you have found me for I will die easier to know that you have the
+secrets that I have been keeping in my heart, being unable to come to
+the refectory and tell you what I must, now, impart to you. A heinous
+crime was committed in San Domingo some months ago, as I believe by one
+whom you and I both know; I have withheld my suspicions from the
+authorities and, in so doing, I feel that I have done wrong, Father. I
+wish to tell you all I know, now, and let you do what you think best ...
+it will relieve my heart of a very heavy load to tell this to you.
+Manuello...."
+
+Before her lips could utter the next word, the door of the hut which had
+been leaning over the opening designed for it as it had long been
+guiltless of hinges, was violently thrust aside and the subject of the
+remarks Tessa was about to make, rudely entered and advanced to the side
+of the couch upon which the girl was lying; the livid scar upon his dark
+face combined with the pallor that had followed the fever he had been
+having, the freshly bandaged wound, the limp that had followed the rough
+dressing of the bullet-punctured leg of the man, combined with the
+fierce determination that characterized each one of his movements,
+altogether made a most unpleasant appearance.
+
+Father Felix quietly rose and stepped between the sufferer on the couch
+and the young Cuban who regarded the Priest with no respect in the
+expression of his countenance, but rather with contempt and lack of
+personal fear; he attempted to shove him aside so that he might again
+look down on the trembling occupant of the rude bed, but found that
+Father Felix was standing firmly on a sturdy pair of legs which had had
+good exercise in tramping about the hills and valleys in pursuit of his
+chosen profession of saving the souls of those who needed his
+ministrations; Manuello glared at him and snarled out:
+
+"Out of my way with your sing-song prayers and your dangling cross! I am
+a desperate man and do not mean to allow even a Priest to balk either my
+escape or my vengeance! Stand aside and let me stop that mouth forever!"
+
+He again tried to shove the Priest aside, when Father Felix hastily
+threw off his robe so that it might not impede his movements and closed
+with the young fellow, grappling with him with arms left bare from the
+shoulder upon which the biceps muscles stood out in great knots that
+came and went and rippled underneath the skin; Manuello was surprised at
+this onslaught for the good Priest's fighting prowess had never, so far,
+been tested in just this way; but familiarity with certain turns and
+twists told in the young villain's favor in spite of the freshness and
+vigor of Father Felix' attack; the poor girl on the floor was unable to
+interfere and watched the two combatants with horrified eyes as they
+struggled all over the rude room, sometimes one and sometimes the other
+seeming about to conquer; neither one of the contestants had a weapon as
+Manuello had come away from the hospital clad only as the other patients
+were; in his wild flight he had snatched an outer garment from among the
+many lying in a heap outside the door through which he had fled, but,
+with this exception, he wore only what had been put upon him by the
+surgeons.
+
+Like two Titans, the two human beings struggled for supremacy, the one
+being actuated only by a desire to serve the right, and the other
+seeming to have been given almost satanic power as he felt that his own
+life and future freedom depended upon adding two more to his victims,
+for the Priest had already heard enough to make him find out more and
+Tessa had been about to confess all she knew to him, so, above
+everything on earth, the furious Cuban wished to slay the Priest and the
+poor girl whose only fault had been her yielding to his selfishness.
+
+Twice, Manuello's fingers almost closed about the good Priest's throat,
+and twice did Father Felix lift the other man bodily from the floor and
+dash him down in a huddled heap in one corner of the room, but neither
+had quite conquered when an unexpected interference ended the conflict
+very suddenly.
+
+Manuello had crowded Father Felix over toward the tumble-down door of
+the hut and was about to push him through the opening, or, at least,
+attempt to do so, when, all at once the young fellow felt his fingers
+lose their strength and his arms fell away from the body of the
+Priest ... he was conscious of a strange, tingling sensation all through
+his shaken nerves; had he been familiar with the action of powerful
+electric currents, he would have described it as a heavy shock of
+electricity but, although he could not have altogether explained his
+sensations, their effect was instantaneous and resulted in the release
+of Father Felix while his assailant dropped prone upon the floor of the
+hut and groveled at his feet in abject terror, for he thought the end of
+his life had come and, in that thought, the murderer became the penitent
+and, with the fear of death before his mind, he began to mumble broken
+bits of half-forgotten prayers and to beg for forgiveness for his sins
+which he knew to be many and grievous.
+
+As the changed attitude of his foe became evident to the good Priest he
+hurried over to the side of the sick girl with assurances of his desire
+to assist her in every possible way and, with the changed conditions
+surrounding him, he again put on the robe of his holy office, and, with
+it, seemed again to be the sedate and quiet leader of the flock he
+strove to lead into green pastures and beside pleasant waters.
+
+Having ministered to Tessa, for the moment, he turned his attention to
+his late antagonist:
+
+"My Son," he said, "you are wounded and spent with the loss of blood;
+your mind, perhaps, has been turned by your misfortunes so that you did
+not realize either your words or your actions. I hope that, from this
+time on, you will fix your mind on better things than thoughts of
+vengeance or of murder. To begin with, I have a favor to ask of you.
+Will you help me remove Tessa, here, from this place to her home? She is
+in need of tender care."
+
+"I will do what you tell me to," meekly answered the recent antagonist
+of the Priest. "I see that I was wrong in imagining you to be my enemy.
+I think that this last wound has made me crazy for the time, as you have
+just said. From this time on I will try to be as I have been before ...
+glad to be guided by your higher wisdom. I humbly ask your pardon for
+what I have done here, tonight."
+
+Manuello bowed his head for his spirit had been broken by the strange
+happening which we have described, and, at once, his hope began to rise
+again, that, after all, Father Felix would do him no real harm, for he
+seemed, again, the kind and loving prelate whom the man had known from
+his youth up.
+
+When some simple preparations had been made, the two men lifted Tessa
+from the rude couch to the stretcher they had improvised, and, in turn,
+lifted it, with its light burden, to their shoulders, when, from time to
+time, they found an open space in the dense underbrush that hid the
+ruined hut from ordinary observation; thus they descended the hill that
+led to the village of San Domingo; having reached the door of the home
+of the girl, in the gathering darkness, they laid the stretcher down and
+Manuello disappeared as Father Felix knocked for admittance.
+
+To say the young fellow was glad to be released from what seemed to him
+to be the custody of the Priest would be to put his feelings lightly,
+for, having cleared the ruined hut, he quickly returned to it and, lying
+on the simple bed Tessa had so lately occupied, he went to sleep,
+apparently, as sweetly as a new-born infant would.
+
+Old Mage wondered, a little, at Estrella's remark concerning Manuello,
+after he had disappeared; but she finally set her mind at rest by
+deciding that, whichever of the dashing Cubans she had ousted from
+Ruth's help, she had done good work, for, as she said to herself, from
+her view-point it was "good riddance to bad rubbage."
+
+The head surgeon made a note of the occurrence and went on about his
+work, for one man more or less, in time of war, cannot be reckoned as in
+civil life.
+
+Ruth Wakefield had no doubt at all as to the identity of her former
+patient; when a pure girl has given herself to be the wife of any man
+she does not, soon, forget his personality, and Ruth knew very well the
+man she'd cared for had not been the one she'd called her husband ...
+that his body lay within its narrow grave she felt assured but what lay
+buried over him old Mage, alone, yet knew; she'd chuckled, many times,
+as to that burial, and it was hard for her to keep her secret as she
+longed for the approval that she felt she merited in this small matter,
+but the thought that Ruth might differ with her as to what she'd done
+had always, so far, sealed her lips.
+
+"There is a time in the affairs of men that, taken at its flood, leads
+on to fortune," has been said by one who, justly, has been called a
+master in the art of putting words together; William Shakespeare did not
+know the actors in this story, but he knew the minds of men as few have
+known them since his time.
+
+Manuello did not know that such a writer as this master of the English
+language had ever existed, yet he acted on the thought in the above
+quotation, when, the morning after the events related in this chapter,
+he again departed from the ruined hut and disappeared, effectually,
+within the fastnesses that only such as he could know about; every inch,
+or so it seemed, of territory surrounding Havana was familiar to the
+Cuban scouts and Manuello had grown up among the cacti and the palms and
+desolation that followed in the wake of Spanish oppression and
+injustice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+July 1, 1898, at sunset, the fair folds of our own stars and stripes
+were gently floating over San Juan hill.
+
+On that day some of the most heroic deeds in American history had been
+performed by those who represent the highest types of American virility.
+
+Roosevelt's Rough Riders had, that day, advanced behind their intrepid
+leader, into the very jaws of death and very many of them never came
+again into the pleasant walks of life they'd known before that fateful
+day ... very many of them lay scattered over the different heights that
+led on to the very top of San Juan hill, inert and helpless human
+tenements that had once held the proud and willing spirits of the men
+who followed Roosevelt with love and daring.
+
+Some of them were picked up and carried to temporary hospitals that had
+sprung up near the scene of active warfare; in one of these shelters for
+the wounded Ruth Wakefield stood, that evening, bending low above a
+little cot on which was stretched a manly form ... the form of one who'd
+ridden with the rest of those who followed him they called, in
+brotherly affection, "Teddy," and who was beside him when his horse was
+shot from under him.
+
+"Nurse," he whispered, through the bandages that bound his head, "Nurse,
+it would have done you good to hear him say 'Forward! Charge the hill!'
+It would have heartened you could you have seen him, when he was
+unhorsed, grab a rifle and fire it as he went on up, on foot."
+
+"You must not talk," said Ruth. "You must rest quietly, now. We won the
+hill," she added, proudly. "We won the hill and I'm as proud as anyone
+could ever be of Roosevelt and of you all who followed after him. I
+sometimes wish," she ended, "I sometimes wish that I had been a man to
+go into the battles instead of only caring for the wounded ... yet I'm
+thankful to be of some assistance to the ones who need the help that I
+can give to them."
+
+"You should have seen," began the man again, "you should have seen our
+Teddy charge that hill! They do not make a man like that except about
+once in a century or so ... they do not make such men as that in every
+age.... I tell you he's a holy terror when it comes to fighting, Nurse!
+He mowed them down ... he made them crawl and creep.... I always knew he
+could do more on horseback than any man that ever lived but I never
+knew, until today, what he could do on foot."
+
+"Our Teddy is a wonder.... I agree with you in everything you say of
+him, but, now," once more she was the nurse in charge, "you must be
+very still ... that is," she ended, with a happy little turn of thought,
+"if you ever want to go where Teddy is, again."
+
+That was enough to silence him and he lay very still and fixed his eyes
+upon her face, and, finally, he slept, and rested from his labors for a
+time; but what he'd said stayed in Ruth's inner consciousness and the
+heart that throbbed within her beat more proudly after that, because she
+was, as was the man his comrades praised, an American; to her that
+title was enough to fill with pride a human heart ... to be a true
+American ... a citizen of the United States of America ... it seemed to
+her meant more than any royal appellation ever could; no crown adorned
+with priceless jewels could replace that name to her; at one time in her
+life, this question had been asked of her:
+
+"What would you do if you must choose between all that you love on earth
+and fealty to some other than your native land, and this one country
+that you call your own?"
+
+"What would I do?" she answered. "I would not renounce my fealty to my
+native land.... I would keep God and my conscience and my country ... no
+one could take them from me ... all the rest I'd leave behind and cleave
+to them."
+
+Ruth Wakefield meant this statement and she proved it later on beyond
+all shadow of a doubt.
+
+When her first patient slept, Ruth went to stand beside another cot for
+she was always privileged to go wherever she might choose; her help in
+many ways, including financial aid, had made this hospital possible and
+she went at will among the other nurses who looked up to her as women
+will to one who is a natural leader of the ones with whom she
+associates.
+
+She came, at length, to a cot that was apart from all the rest because
+its occupant had needed to be isolated for good reasons; he was violent,
+at times, the nurses said ... when his fever rose he soon became
+delirious and they had hard work keeping him under any sort of control;
+he was a native scout, they told her ... he had done good work that day
+upon the side of right, and, so, Ruth went to care for him, for it was
+just as natural for her to take heavy work as it was natural for the
+rest to let her do it.
+
+Soon after she had taken charge of him, he stirred uneasily and mumbled
+in his restless sleep ... he spoke a name she'd hoped to never hear
+again ... the name of him whom she had loved enough to marry....
+
+"Victorio Colenzo," moaned the man, "Victorio Colenzo is dead and I ...
+I am his murderer ... it was my hand that took his life.... I am a
+murderer, good Father Felix.... I am the murderer of the man I hated,
+for he took the girl I loved from me.... I killed him with my own
+machete and he is dead.... I am the murderer of Victorio Colenzo ...
+shrive my soul, good Father Felix, for I am about to go before my
+Maker."
+
+The moaning ceased then, and Ruth bent over him to see if he still
+lived, for she could see his very lips were livid and his eyes seemed
+set and glazed as if with death's own dews; she put her hand upon his
+head and looked into his face with earnest pity in her tender eyes, for
+she was very pitiful and even lenient when faults of anyone except
+herself were to be considered.
+
+"The poor fellow is delirious," she thought. "He does not know what he
+is saying. Odd that he should use that name. Poor fellow ... he will not
+last long, I fear. I wonder if Father Felix could come to him."
+
+With that thought, she turned to go to try to find the Priest, for he
+almost always could be found where there was suffering and need of him,
+but Manuello (for the reader has discovered who her patient was)
+snatched at her hand as she was just about to go away and said to her:
+
+"Please intercede for me, good Angel ... tell them I have never had a
+chance in all my life ... tell them ... intercede...." and, then, his
+weak voice died away in moans, again, "Tessa, please," he said, "don't
+look at me that way!"
+
+Again Ruth leaned above his bed, for in his eyes there was a look that
+seldom comes except when death is near. She felt a gentle hand upon her
+arm and knew that Estrella stood beside her ... she had come to seek
+advice from her superior.
+
+So they stood ... the widow and the sweetheart, and the murderer of the
+man they both had loved, as virgins love, lay there before them.
+
+Suddenly, he roused himself, as with a last and desperate effort, from
+the lethargy of death itself ... he looked upon them standing there
+beside his bed ... the woman he had loved as wild and rough and lawless
+men will always love a woman and the one who seemed to him as if she
+were an angel straight from paradise ... he imagined he had passed from
+life as he had known that word, and was beyond all earthly help; and,
+so, he did not call for human help but cried aloud on God to save his
+deathless soul. It was horrible to hear his human lips cry out to God as
+they were crying then, and Ruth regretted that Estrella stood so near to
+him whom she had called her foster-brother, for she'd whispered
+Manuello's name at once, so she sent her to find Father Felix if she
+could and to bring him there to help this suffering soul.
+
+After the girl had gone away, Ruth stood alone beside the cot and looked
+with great commiseration on the almost senseless clay before her ... on
+the staring eyes and sullen, dark-skinned pallor of the heavily scarred
+face ... on the lips that once wore careless smiles but, now, were
+drawn and pale ... on the broad shoulders and powerful muscled arms. As
+she gazed at him it seemed to her a very pitiful condition under which
+he labored; she wondered why it had to be as it was with this strong,
+untutored man; she wondered why he had to lay his strong, young body on
+the altar of his passions and see it consumed as it had been by hate and
+treachery; and, then, she remembered the service upon which he had just
+been bent ... and her heart yearned over him for that alone; she leaned
+above his face and searched it for a sign of returning strength but
+found none there; his eyes stared into hers, it seemed, and then they
+sought the moving shadows on the canvas overhead.
+
+Ruth raised her head from gazing into Manuello's eyes and seemed to see,
+above the cot on which he lay, another and a different form yet like to
+that she saw inert before her; it was as if a glorified replica of the
+man were floating over him; in many ways it was exactly like the
+Manuello lying there upon that little cot, and, yet, the form was more
+ethereal ... more delicate ... more beautiful than he could ever be and
+live upon the earthly plane where he had found so many things to lead
+him down and seldom found a single thing to lead him higher, or, at
+least, found anything that he could fully understand, for, although
+Father Felix tried to show him how to go to climb to better thoughts, he
+had not seen the steps at all but blundered on along the path he found
+himself upon.
+
+As Ruth began to realize the change that she had seen take place, a rosy
+flush crept over her fair face, she clasped her hands and bowed her head
+in silent prayer:
+
+"Father in heaven," she thought, "look down in mercy on this soul about
+to come before You for Your judgment. Have pity on his faults for they
+were very many ... have mercy on him, for his sins were very heavy in
+his human life. He did not know the way to go, dear Father ... he could
+not see the steps at all. Have pity on him for he will have need of pity
+such as only You can give to him. Amen."
+
+And when she lifted up her face again, good Father Felix stood beside
+her, crucifix in hand. His head was also bowed in silent prayer for he
+had witnessed many earthly deaths and knew, at once, that Manuello, as
+he had been known in human life, had passed beyond all human judgment
+and gone on to his reward or punishment in another world where
+everything that he had done upon the earth would be accounted for by him
+and him alone; the good Priest knew, however, that God is good as well
+as just and he remembered Manuello's ignorance and superstition, too,
+and hoped that, after he'd been purged of earthly sins by deep
+repentance, he would come into the light that is God's Smile and shines
+for all who seek it honestly, no matter what their sins on earth have
+been, but only after long and terrible remorse for harm that they have
+done while in the body that God gave them to use and not abuse.
+
+The road that leads into the light that is God's Smile is often hedged
+about by thorns and bitter herbs instead of delicate and fragrant
+flowers; sometimes poisonous reptiles lurk along the way and strive to
+strike their fangs within the heart of him who toils there; sometimes,
+human passions guide a strong man into devious and sinful acts as
+Manuello had been guided, more than once; he'd yielded to them just
+because he had not learned the way to handle them and they had mastered
+him and made of him their slave instead of being what he ordered them to
+be; he'd thrown the remnant of his human life into the balance in the
+cause he really loved ... the cause of freedom for his native land.
+
+And Ruth and Father Felix thought of him as of a patriot only as they
+stood beside the cot on which his lifeless body lay; they covered up his
+face as gently as if they had not known of any sin committed by the
+hands now lying still and cold and helpless ... they closed his staring
+eyes as softly as they would have closed the eyes of any human being who
+will read these words had he or she been left for them to care for when
+the soul had left its earthly tenement; disembodied Spirits often linger
+near to such as these who stood beside that cot, for they know that
+they are like to them in very many ways, though yet abiding in a human
+frame ... they know that such as Ruth and Father Felix feel the same,
+sweet, almost holy joy that comes to those who meet and make welcome the
+ones who leave the earth-plane, newly dead; though death, I trust, is
+only just the change that frees a soul from earthly burdens and releases
+it from earthly darkness, so that it may climb, when it is purged of
+earthly sins, into the light that is the Smile of God and shines for all
+who seek it earnestly.
+
+I do not think that there can be an everlasting hell except for those
+who wish to dwell in darkness. I do not think there can be perpetual
+punishment except for those who do not wish to climb beyond it. Ruth and
+Father Felix felt that this was so, although the good Priest tried to
+think far otherwise, and, yet, deep down within his inner consciousness,
+he felt that God, although He is so just, yet pities those who err and
+welcomes all who wish to put their sins behind them in the path they
+find themselves upon, no matter whether they may find that path upon the
+earthly plane or on a higher one. They turned away from that white cot
+with almost God-like pity in their inmost hearts for him who lay there,
+or for him who had just left his body lying there upon that little cot.
+
+Ruth sought Estrella so that she might not, again, behold the face of
+him, who, for the love of her, had done a fearful crime; she wished to
+save the girl for she had been as innocent of wrong as she, herself, had
+been; both had been led away by human passion, it is true, but led
+within the bounds of human law, and, so, according to that human law,
+neither one was culpable ... the man, alone, had sinned, and whether it
+had been because he had been stronger, every way, than were the women in
+the case, we cannot judge. 'Tis God alone must judge us all, and may He
+guide us all, at last, into the light that is His holy Smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+When Ruth had left the cot where Manuello died, she, first, found
+Estrella and told her what had happened after she had gone, and, then,
+as she had liberty to go where she desired, she started out, just as the
+dusk was falling, to drive along an unknown road, which as she thought
+must lead away from the battle-field; she felt secure for armed men of
+her own race and nation were patrolling all the roads surrounding the
+hospital; the freshness of the coming night appealed to her and, under
+its enticing influence, she went much farther than she meant to do; her
+horses often shied at little heaps that seemed to take on most fantastic
+shapes with the increasing darkness.
+
+She knew full well of what these little heaps had been made up, and,
+yet, surrounded as she was by horror, she did not feel afraid, for she
+was lifted up by patriotic fervor and a great desire to help where help
+of her was needed as were so many of the Red Cross nurses whom she met;
+splendid women volunteered their services as nurses during the progress
+of the Spanish-American war, and wore, with pride and reverence, the
+brilliant cross that indicated what the calling they had chosen was;
+Ruth Wakefield served her country with her might and wore her uniform as
+proudly and conscientiously as any General could; she drove along that
+lonely, unknown road as quietly and fearlessly as if her horses trotted
+over the finest boulevard in some populous city of her own United States
+and firmly held within her strong and steady hands the lines that guided
+the high-lifed team she had secured for her own use since coming to take
+charge of the hospital which she had endowed with her own funds.
+
+Suddenly and without warning, her team was startled by a man who rose to
+his full height and stood erect and tall beside the road as if he'd
+risen from the heaps of dead that lay beside the way; the horses soon
+became unmanageable and overturned the vehicle, so that Ruth suddenly
+found herself thrown against a slight embankment lining the road, while
+her frightened team turned back toward the hospital; her first thought
+was of them, but, remembering that, only a few miles back, she had
+passed one of the patrols, she hoped the team would be secured and taken
+into safety; then, shudderingly, she realized that she was all alone in
+a strange and hostile neighborhood, and, acting on a sudden impulse, she
+hastily climbed over the embankment as she thought she heard a noise
+approaching on the road; she turned and started back but kept herself
+concealed as much as possible behind the friendly embankment.
+
+As she proceeded she began to feel a sort of faintness, almost amounting
+to nausea, creeping over her and dreaded the long walk to the hospital,
+but decided to go on until she saw an armed man dressed in the uniform
+of the United States army; she wondered, at first, why she felt faint
+and almost sick, and, then, she realized that the offensive odors that
+assailed her sensitive olfactory nerves were those that rise when
+material bodies have been deprived of the higher life that gave them
+animation ... that the horrors of a bloody battle-field surrounded her,
+and, as she advanced slowly and with dreadful anticipation ... as she
+even stumbled over more than one unconscious form, that, only a few
+short hours before, had been as full of bounding life as she was then,
+she thought of what the suffering must be of those who lay among the
+dead, perhaps for weary, pain-filled hours, alive yet helpless; the
+thought was a terrific one for any tender-hearted woman to entertain,
+and Ruth had always been particularly thoughtful of the comfort of
+anyone who happened to be near to her, and, so, she soon became enthused
+with the idea that she might search among the heaps of dead and find,
+maybe, someone who lived and might, if he were rescued, yet be happy in
+the world she lived in, and, so, she softly called to see if anyone
+could hear her voice and guide her to the object of her search:
+
+"Are any here who are in need of earthly help?" she asked. "If any here
+can hear my voice, pray answer me and tell me where to come to find
+you."
+
+She waited for an answer but none came, at first; and then it seemed to
+her as if she heard a far-off whisper far away ... she listened
+breathlessly ... it came again and, then, she followed it until she
+found the one from whom the whisper came.
+
+He lay among a heap of bodies tossed about as if they had found death
+together; one whose body lay across his own, Ruth lifted, though she
+shuddered while she did it, for the stark, stiff form was that of one
+who'd, only lately, been as full of life as she was then; she laid it
+softly down and sought the one whose whisper she had heard; her hand
+crept up, along a rough and blood-soaked uniform, until it found a face
+and found it warm with sentient life; she was electrified by joy at
+finding one who lived among the dead, and hastened, then, to separate
+him from the other bodies lying all around him; it was as if they'd
+followed after him ... as if he'd been a leader of the rest ... for he
+was well in front of all of them and yet they were so near that, when
+they fell, they fell together, all around the one whose life she sought
+to save.
+
+She was intent on saving life and did not shrink although her gentle
+hand found many bloody wounds in searching for the one from which his
+life-blood flowed full fast; she found the place, at last ... a deep
+flesh-wound that touched an artery in his right arm ... she had a silken
+scarf about her throat, and, wrapping this about the arm above the
+wound, she made a tourniquet by using a small surgical instrument which
+she always carried for that purpose in the pocket of her nurse's apron
+which she still wore; this stopped the flow of blood at once, and, as
+the brachial artery was untouched, the man gained strength enough to
+whisper:
+
+"Tender Heart ... I'm going to name you right away. Tender Heart, how
+did you happen here ... at night ... alone?"
+
+"I think I came to find you," answered Ruth. "I thought my horses ran
+away and dumped me on the ground, but, now, I think I came here just to
+find you and to bind that poor arm. Now I'll go to bring assistance to
+you just as soon as I can do so."
+
+"Tender Heart," he whispered, for his voice was growing fainter, "if I
+should not be here when you come again, good-bye.... God bless and keep
+you safe from harm."
+
+She knew the meaning of the words and almost flew along, although she
+often stumbled as she went among the bodies lying there upon the
+blood-soaked ground; she reached the hospital at last ... the time
+seemed long to her ... and, there, in front of it, stood her two
+frightened horses, looking all around as if in search of her; she
+soothed them with her reassuring voice, and then she found a vehicle
+adapted to the use she wished to put it to, and two assistants from the
+hospital staff; thus equipped, she took the lines again and drove along
+the road again but with a different object than the one she'd had
+before; turning off the road, she found the object of her search and the
+assistants lifted him upon the stretcher they had brought and, very
+soon, the man lay, white and spent with loss of blood, but conscious, in
+a little cot, and Ruth, forgetting her own needs, stood there beside it.
+
+"Tender Heart," said her new patient, after he had been refreshed and
+bandaged thoroughly, "Tender Heart, I'm very grateful to you. Let me
+introduce myself to you ... your name, you see, I know. I am one of the
+five men who answered Roosevelt when he asked for volunteers to follow
+him to gain the very top of all the ridges that cropped up about San
+Juan hill." He smiled, "I think you know me, now, as I know you. We're
+both Americans.... I know that, too ... we both love Teddy.... I could
+see your eyes flash at the mention of his name. He is a man among men. I
+wish you could have heard him when he said 'I did not think you would
+refuse to follow where I would lead.' I stood beside his horse as he
+said those sad words ... the others followed, then. They followed Teddy
+up that hill ... they took it, too. We won the day. The Spaniards fled
+before us. You know me, now," he ended, whimsically, "just as well as I
+know you."
+
+"Yes," said Ruth, "I know you, now, and you know me ... we're both
+Americans and both of us love Teddy and are proud of him and what he did
+this day. And, now, you'd better go to sleep and rest up for we still
+have work to do ... the Spaniard is not conquered, yet. They'll need us
+both and so we must do all we can to keep our strength. I'm going, now.
+Good-bye until tomorrow."
+
+"Goodnight, Tender Heart," he said. "Goodnight."
+
+Ruth went, then, to the little cottage where she found old Mage and
+Tid-i-wats awaiting her; Estrella stayed on duty in the hospital where
+she had learned to do her work with neatness and dispatch.
+
+Ruth always told old Mage the happenings of the day as they were seated
+at their evening meal; her old nurse loved to listen to her animated
+account of every little thing that she remembered that she'd seen or
+heard about; she had an unusual memory of small details and a most
+graphic power of description; these she employed to interest and amuse
+her old nurse who had been alone with little Tid-i-wats, almost all day;
+in recounting recent events she passed as lightly as possible over the
+occurrences of the battle-field where she had found and rescued one who
+had been left as dead among the lifeless bodies of the slain; she did
+not wish to shock old Mage too much and, somehow, she did not wish to
+speak of him she'd rescued ... somehow, she feared that her auditor, who
+was always eager for romantic episodes would, maybe, choose to enter
+into rhapsodies concerning the possibilities of her own future if she
+talked too much about the handsome stranger, for remembering how he'd
+looked resting, as she'd seen him last, upon the little cot, his
+dark-blue eyes regarding her with whimsical tenacity, she freely
+acknowledged to herself that he was handsome and distinguished in
+appearance; so she changed the subject when old Mage began to question
+her too closely about him, and, in the changing of the subject, the rosy
+flush that was so much a part of her expression, crept over her fair
+face and lighted up her deep gray eyes until her countenance was
+glorified, as if her inner consciousness shone through her delicate and
+expressive features; old Mage observed this blush and speculated on its
+cause and wondered whether Ruth had found another man more worthy of
+affection than the one she hoped she had almost forgotten.
+
+When Ruth returned, the next day, to the hospital, she went among the
+little cots until she came to that one where he lay ... the man she'd
+helped to rescue from a slow and very painful death; she found him lying
+wide awake and very thoughtful:
+
+"Tender Heart," he said, "Tender Heart, you've come to me, again; I've
+longed for you and now you're here beside me."
+
+She rested one of her soft hands upon the cot and his hand searched for
+hers and found it; then their fingers intertwined and clung together for
+a moment only, but the memory of that hand-clasp lingered with them
+forever after; it was as if their very souls had intermingled in that
+clasping of their hands ... it was as if their spirits swung, together,
+out ... far out ... beyond the things of earth ... and, then, still
+farther out and on and up into eternal peace and lasting joy and
+gladness ... it was as if they had been translated into disembodied
+spirits while they still remained on earth ... as if a higher and a
+holier love than any earthly love can ever be had sought them out and
+found them there within that shadowy hospital ... it was as if they had
+gone on into the astral world and left their human bodies where they
+seemed to be themselves ... as if they had been separated from the
+material surroundings that seemed to be about them.
+
+Ruth blushed until the rosy flush crept up to her brown hair that seemed
+to frame her face, and looked at the soft fingers that his hand had held
+and then she smoothed his pillow with them as she said:
+
+"I'm very glad to find that you are better than you were last night. I
+surely hope that you'll recover very rapidly. I'm told that men like
+you will soon again be needed. It is reported that another battle will
+be fought not very far from here."
+
+"I surely hope," he said and said it very earnestly, "I surely hope that
+I'll be able to take my part in whatever engagement is entered into by
+our troops, and if, perchance, I should be left again upon a
+battle-field, I trust that you will come and find me, Tender Heart, I
+trust that you will find me and, if it pleases you, I hope you'll keep
+me, Tender Heart."
+
+She blushed again at that and simply said:
+
+"Now you must go to sleep and rest and gain what strength you can, for
+men like you," she ended, archly, "for men like you are almost always
+needed very badly."
+
+Ruth Wakefield was no flirt and never had been one; she was quickwitted
+and she had a wide command of language, and she smiled as she went on
+upon her rounds among the little cots when she remembered that neither
+of them really knew the other's name; she liked the name he'd given to
+her ... she liked the way he said it ... she liked the fine expression
+of his speaking countenance ... she liked his eyes ... she liked his
+manly way of meeting whatever came to him with courage and with cheerful
+readiness to serve the country they both loved ... her heart went out to
+him in very many ways, and, then, she looked again at those soft fingers
+that his hand had held ... she seemed to feel again the subtle,
+unexplainable, electric thrill that crept through all her being at his
+touch ... that seemed to answer to the look within his eyes ... the
+accent on his tongue, and, then, she blushed again and went about her
+work within that shadowy hospital where many strong men lay in bitter
+pain with renewed courage and with a new and hither-to unknown
+tenderness.
+
+She stood, at length, beside a cot whereon lay one whose face was hidden
+while surgeons dressed a gaping wound he had received upon his head;
+Ruth stopped and gave her scissors that she always carried in the pocket
+of her apron to the one who needed them for use in cutting away the dark
+hair that grew along the edges of the wound; it clung in tiny ringlets
+and was black as night and very soft and thick.... Ruth could not help
+remembering, that her hands had often strayed among such soft and dark
+and clinging ringlets, but she shuddered as she thought of them and of
+Estrella who had deemed herself to be the only woman Victorio Colenzo
+had ever loved, and, then, she wondered if all men were like to that one
+she had married thinking him to be as he professed to be ... judging him
+to be as truthful as she was ... she wondered if the man she had just
+left would be like that under similar circumstances ... he was ready in
+his hints at tenderness ... was he, too, perhaps, a gay deceiver?
+
+While her thoughts were rambling on in this way, her eyes were idly
+looking at the man who lay upon his face and writhed under the stitches
+that the surgeons took to close the gaping wound upon his head; he
+turned his face an instant toward her and she recognized him as a
+Spanish officer she'd seen in San Domingo under most distressing
+circumstances; she had gone, as she had often done before, to minister
+to the needs of those who were among the poorer classes in the village,
+one day, and found before a hovel a most richly caparisoned horse held
+by an orderly; inside, there knelt upon the floor a young and pretty
+peasant girl; she was imploring this same officer who lay upon that
+little cot not to make her go with him to be his helpless slave; Ruth
+rescued her and told the man to go his way in no uncertain language;
+now, he lay there dressed as if he were an American soldier; she
+recognized him perfectly for his face had often haunted her, it was so
+sinister and devilish.
+
+She sought out Father Felix, then, and told him what she had discovered,
+and he took what steps were necessary in the matter, for he who'd named
+Ruth Tender Heart had named her very well indeed; it seemed to her she
+could not bear to turn this Spanish spy over to the proper authorities,
+and, yet, she knew it was her duty to do that very thing, so the good
+Priest helped her to do her duty as he'd promised her he would, and,
+after that, there was a wall at sunrise and a platoon of armed men, and,
+then, that Spanish spy soon disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+We intimated when we first began this tale that Father Felix was a man
+to be admired, not only for his strong religious zeal, but for his great
+virility and patriotic fervor.
+
+Never had he shown these qualities more fully than during the naval
+battle of Santiago which engagement took place shortly after the events
+narrated in the last chapter; there was work to do on land as well as on
+the water at that crucial time; more than 18,000 helpless persons ...
+men, women and children ... marched out of the beleagued city seeking
+safety in the open country surrounding it; among these were many wealthy
+women of the higher class whose delicate silken garments were bedraggled
+and torn by the hardships of the journey which it was necessary to make
+on foot over muddy roads and through barbed wires which had been
+stretched irregularly all around Santiago and its vicinity by the
+Spanish soldiery for the purpose of turning back the invading Americans
+who were advancing upon them.
+
+Among these women there was one who reached the hospital over which Ruth
+Wakefield presided; she was bespattered and weary and sick at heart,
+but there was a light in her dark eyes and a steadiness in her firm hand
+that appealed to Ruth at once and made her single this one woman from
+among all who came to her that day for help; as soon as she had changed
+her apparel and washed the grime of travel from her person, she asked to
+be allowed to assist the others who were at work among the little cots
+that were now filled with suffering humanity; she took her place so
+quietly that it seemed to those among whom she moved that she had almost
+always been right there and would always continue to be there; Estrella
+liked her from the first of their acquaintance and the older woman found
+the girl so pleasing that whenever she could do so, she gave her hand a
+little squeeze or patted her upon her shoulder to make her know that
+they two were congenial and going on, together, toward the same loved
+goal; this silent association became at once a bond between these two
+who, in their nurse's uniforms, looked enough alike to be twin
+sisters ... they had the same dark eyes and sensitive and drooping
+lips ... they had the same fair skins, although Estrella had been tanned
+by more outside exposure than the other had ... they moved in the same
+way and both were tall and straight and lithe and quick; Ruth noticed
+them together and at once began to wonder why they looked so much
+alike ... then she thought of what Estrella'd told her as to what she
+knew of her own family, and, immediately, Ruth began to speculate and
+piece together little circumstances and then she soon began to hope that
+poor Estrella, maybe, might, in this way, find her own people; so she
+asked some kindly questions of the woman who had come to them that day,
+and she found that she had had a little sister, long ago ... a little
+sister who had disappeared and whom they'd mourned as dead for many
+years; Ruth told her all she knew about the girl ... all except her
+intimate association with the man whom, she, herself, had married; she
+did not feel that she could speak of him to this dark stranger ...
+anyway, it would not matter, now, and if Estrella wished to speak about
+it later on, then she could do so; they called the girl, then, and found
+she had a little dainty cross of gold that she had always worn about her
+neck.... Manuello's mother had preserved it for her while she was an
+infant thinking it might prove the child's identity, so that the ones
+who'd cared for her might be profited thereby, and, since she knew about
+it, she, herself, had held it sacred as the only link that bound her to
+her unknown family ... and so it proved, indeed, the link that proved
+her as the sister of the lady who had come to them that day from the
+beleaguered city of Santiago.
+
+Estrella's blood, it seemed, was Spanish ... she had descended from the
+ones who knew the roses of Castile ... she'd always seemed far
+different from the peasants among whom she'd lived until she met Ruth
+Wakefield who recognized in her a higher strain ... a higher nature ...
+than she found in any of the peasants whom she met in San Domingo; old
+Mage, even, looked upon Estrella differently than on the other servants
+whom she always treated with great condescension, for she felt herself
+above the most of them as she was always nearer to her dear young lady
+than any of them were; Ruth trusted her with Tid-i-wats, for one thing,
+which separated her from all the rest, for Tid-i-wats, was most abrupt
+in very many ways, and, sometimes, even went so far as to just sink her
+long, sharp claws right through whatever garments anybody wore, so that
+they found and often even penetrated the skin beneath the garments; she
+would do this deed in such a loving way that many who were sadly
+scratched by her would try to smile and take this punishment as if it
+were but joy and gladness ... old Mage squirmed sometimes, 'tis true,
+beneath this discipline that Tid-i-wats gave very freely, but she never
+put her down or turned against her,--only saying:
+
+"Tid-i-wats! Good land! Your blessed little claws are very sharp
+indeed," and, then, she'd often turn to Ruth and add, "I tell you
+Tid-i-wats is just as young and spry as she ever was ... no one would
+ever think how old she is if he could feel her claws."
+
+When Estrella found that she was not alone, but had a family, and a
+loving, wealthy sister, old Mage was very glad indeed ... she'd found
+the girl a little in her way for many reasons; Ruth deferred to her a
+little, pitying her so much, and old Mage knew that if Ruth pitied
+anybody very much she might, in time, begin to love the person whom she
+put her tender pity on, and, then, to the old nurse, Estrella always
+brought up the memory of the man who had deceived her ... made her think
+him to be far better than he'd ever been ... and, so, altogether,
+Estrella's good fortune pleased old Mage in very many pleasant ways.
+
+To say that Ruth was glad to have Estrella find her people was to put
+the case too lightly altogether; she was far too unselfish not to
+rejoice in her good fortune even though her going might mean great human
+loneliness for her: she had in her own inner consciousness a kind of
+spiritual and lasting strength on which she always leaned when outside
+companionship failed her in any way ... she never was alone although she
+often seemed to be so ... in fact, Ruth Wakefield often found herself to
+be alone among a crowd of human beings ... it seemed to her their many
+diverse thoughts disturbed the peace of mind she always longed to
+have ... her pity was so great ... her sympathy so broad ... and sorrows
+and sore trials are so common to the entire race of men and women ...
+that she seldom found much joy among the people whom she met; she gave
+most liberally to all she came in contact with ... she gave
+encouragement and comfort and sympathy and help ... but seldom did she
+find a human being who could give her anything at all for any length of
+time, at least:
+
+"They come and they go," she often sadly said. "It seems to me that
+there is nothing steadfast in this world except the God on whom I always
+lean when all else fails me.... I wish I _could_ find something strong
+enough to tie my faith to ... I _wish_ I could ... it would be wonderful
+to know that I could always find good, solid ground beneath my human
+feet ... it would be wonderful to feel that nothing mattered between
+another human being and myself ... to feel that nothing, good or bad,
+could ever really change our feelings toward each other ... but I'd have
+to know for sure that it was so ..." she'd add, "I'd have to know for
+sure, I'd have to try it out somehow ... so many things have slipped
+away from me ... so very many things ... I'd have to know for sure,
+somehow, before I'd dare to trust too much."
+
+While these personal matters were taking the attention of some of those
+within the shadowy hospital, Father Felix was undergoing an altogether
+different experience.
+
+The good Priest had, more than once, covered the entire eight miles of
+entrenchments around Santiago on foot and with a heavy pack containing
+supplies on his broad back; during the time that elapsed between the
+naval battle of Santiago and the surrender of the city on Sunday, July
+17, 1898, he had marched with his little flock of soldiers over many
+stony trails and through many miry passes, and, while the engagement
+itself was in progress, he had performed many heroic deeds and, more
+than once, he had fervently thanked God for his sturdy strength of arm
+and limb because he was thereby enabled to give material as well as
+spiritual aid to those who came within the reach of his hands; had
+anyone been watching a certain shady spot near Santiago on July 3, 1898,
+he might have witnessed a peculiar scene.
+
+A rather short thick-set man, dressed as an army Chaplain and wearing a
+crucifix attached to a strong chain around his neck, was bending over
+one who lay there in the shade; he seemed to be examining the man to see
+if life remained in his body, and, yet, he always held the crucifix
+before the face of him who lay there as if he wished him to behold it,
+in case his earthly eyes should evermore see anything; he tried in every
+way he could to gain some recognition of his holy office from the man
+over whose earthly tenement he was then bending, but, as he did not
+succeed in this, he gently laid the crucifix upon the apparently
+pulseless breast, and went his way to find, perhaps, another one to whom
+he might administer the final consolation of the church whose dogmas he
+believed in.
+
+The man he'd left behind him stirred uneasily, and, as he writhed and
+twisted there, the crucifix slid off his breast and fell upon the
+ground; it lay where it had fallen until Father Felix came again and
+brought with him another sufferer; he looked upon the breast of his
+first charge and did not see his crucifix ... it lay beneath the body of
+the one he'd left it with; he gently said:
+
+"I left my crucifix with you, my Friend ... I thought it might be a
+consolation to you if you came to life again at all. I do not see the
+crucifix ... could anyone have taken it during my absence, I wonder?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know anything about your crucifix, good Sir," the man
+replied in a weak voice. "I have other things to fix my mind on than
+anything like that. For one thing, I am wounded and I need a surgeon
+more than I do Priests or crosses."
+
+"I'll supply that need as far as I am able," Father Felix said. "I know
+I am an amateur and yet I have set broken limbs and tied up arteries and
+sewed up wounds full many times because there was no one better near
+enough to do it. Where are you hurt, my Friend?"
+
+"I am not hurt at all, you blundering old fool, you ..." the man began.
+"I'm dead and buried ... killed completely ... that is all ... and I
+don't want any old woman's work. Go get a surgeon for me ... quick! I'm
+losing lots of blood ... I need a surgeon, I tell you ... go get me
+one!"
+
+Father Felix did not say a word in answer to this tirade for he had
+heard full many such remarks since he had been at work among the
+soldiers, and, so, he bound the wounds of the second sufferer he'd
+brought before he stopped the flow of blood from his first charge, for,
+well he knew the loss of some good red blood might make it easier for
+him to help the man ... he was too full of life and anger ... too full
+of unrepented viciousness ... for the good Priest to help him very much,
+and, so, he let him lay there in the shade and curse and fume and rage
+until he worked his evil temper off a little; then he gently said to
+him:
+
+"Now, if you think that I can help you any, I will do all I can for you,
+Friend, but if you'd rather lie there on the ground and take the name of
+God in vain, why, I must let you do so. There is no one within hail
+except myself, who knows a thing about surgery, unless this man, here,
+does; I do not know about that part but he is wounded, too, so that I
+guess I am your only hope here on the earth at present. May I see your
+hurt and maybe bind it up and make your suffering less than it is, now?"
+
+Sheepishly, the man looked up at him, and moved a little so the crucifix
+became exposed; Father Felix quickly picked it up and put the chain
+around his neck again, and then he added to the things that he had said
+before:
+
+"I'm sure I'm very glad I found my crucifix ... it is of value to me for
+it has been the means of consolation to a great many sufferers from this
+sad war; it seems to help so many to behold the sufferings of One Who
+gave His precious life to save the lost and suffering souls who wander
+on the earth. He loved you, Sir, and, in His Name, I love you, too, and
+wish to help you, though you flout my work in your behalf. I am an
+amateur, but I can bind the only wound I see about you, Sir. Shall I do
+it, Sir, or not? I'd like to do the work the very best I could, but, if
+you say me nay, I'll leave it as it is."
+
+The man grinned like a bashful boy, but he bowed his head in assent and
+Father Felix went to work and bound his wound and left him lying there
+beside the other sufferer and went to find another man to help; his
+stocky legs and muscular arms came in quite handily, that time, for,
+when he came back to the shady spot, he bore one on his shoulder who
+looked and seemed as if already dead and gone beyond the things of earth
+but Father Felix laid him gently down and knelt beside him while he
+gently laid his recovered crucifix upon his almost pulseless breast; the
+first man watched the operation silently, and, then, he moved a little
+farther from the deepest of the shade and said:
+
+"Better bring him over here. It's better in the shade. I'll make a
+little more room here beside me and maybe I can help some in the
+dressing of his wounds."
+
+"I thank you, Sir," the Priest replied. "I surely thank you kindly, but
+this man has gone, I fear, beyond our earthly aid; and, yet, I could not
+bear to leave him lying out there in the sun; the heat is terrible out
+there and flies and insects gather round and many lying out there suffer
+from their stings. I'll leave my crucifix, here, on his breast, and, if
+he moves or speaks, will you please tell him I will be right back?"
+
+And then good Father Felix made another solemn trip to that sad
+battle-field and brought another man into the shade; and he whom he had
+brought there, just before, lay silently ... the silent crucifix upon
+his breast. The priest leaned down to listen for his breathing, then,
+and raised his head with joy depicted on his countenance.
+
+"He lives!" he cried aloud. "This poor fellow is alive! Perhaps it may
+be possible for us to bring him into consciousness again. Now, Sir," he
+addressed the man he had first brought into the friendly shade, "maybe
+you can help me. Take one of his hands between your own and rub it just
+as hard as you can rub it, Sir; that's right ... now, take the other one
+and do the same with it. Your strong vitality will maybe help his
+weakness, Sir. We two together may be instruments in God's Hands to
+bring him back to earthly life again."
+
+He put some drops of cordial on his tongue and chafed his limbs and
+turned him over many times until he saw some signs of returning
+consciousness and then he raised him up and rested his head upon his
+helper's breast and held the crucifix before his face so he would see it
+if his eyes would open; and his helper held the hands of him who seemed
+about to die and gazed with eagerness into his countenance.
+
+The good Priest saw this look upon his helper's face and joyed to see it
+there instead of the malevolent expression that had rested on his rather
+handsome features only a short time before.
+
+At length, the sufferer resting on the other's breast opened his wide
+eyes and gazed upon the crucifix and motioned that it be brought nearer
+to his dying lips; he kissed it, then, devoutly, and his deathless
+spirit passed to Him Who gave it life at first.
+
+Father Felix gently laid his body down upon the ground and placed the
+crucifix upon his cold, still breast, and, then, he said to him who
+watched it all in silence:
+
+"You see, Sir, some are happier to have the crucifix to kiss before they
+go to meet their Maker; I did not know that you felt as you said you did
+about it. I beg your pardon, Sir ... I humbly beg your pardon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+On July 17, 1898, United States troops marched into and took possession
+of the city of Santiago, thereby completing the assurance of
+independence to Cuba.
+
+On that auspicious day Ruth Wakefield closed her temporary hospital and
+turned over to its new owner the little cottage which she had built to
+shelter her small family during her stay near Santiago; with tears of
+joy as well as sorrow, she had said good-bye to Estrella and her
+new-found relatives who were about to return to the home of the latter;
+Father Felix had decided to return to his little flock at San Domingo as
+he felt that his work with the army was finished, so that, in his
+company and with old Mage and Tid-i-wats safely ensconced near to her,
+she sailed upon the first steamer going toward Havana after there was no
+longer need of her help among the American soldiers.
+
+It was with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow that she left the scene
+of her recent activities ... she was carrying with her many sad memories
+of heroism and of suffering borne with patriotic patience ... her heart
+was heavy when she reflected upon the horrors she had witnessed, but
+her spirit was loyal to the sacred cause for which so many splendid
+lives had been sacrificed ... she could see, with prophetic vision, a
+happy and prosperous race of people taking the place of the down-trodden
+and pitiful company of cowering peasants with which she had been all too
+familiar ... it seemed to her that she could see the smiling faces of
+many happy children crowding along the narrow streets of the small
+villages of Cuba ... it seemed to her that she could almost hear old men
+relating the long-past horrors that had been common under the iron heel
+of the Spanish oppressor ... relating these remembered facts to those
+who shook their heads, half doubtingly, as they listened to them.
+
+Ruth herself, was looking forward with bright anticipation to her return
+to her own beloved home ... dear to her, not only because of its
+intrinsic attractiveness, but also because of the precious memories it
+held of her parents whom she constantly mourned for and kept alive
+within her loving heart; for so it is, as I believe, that those who are
+beyond the earth yet live among us who are yet in human form; I think
+that those who are made welcome in the hearts of men and women continue,
+often, their stay within the circle of humanity; so long as mortals
+remember and long for them, so long will they care to wander among the
+hills and mountains and along the pleasant valleys and by the oceans
+and the rivers of the earth; if they should be forgotten by all
+humanity, it does not seem to me that they would often wish to look upon
+the moonlight or the sunlight of our world; if nowhere in our world
+their spirits could find a resting-place, it seems to me they would not
+care to stray among mortal men and women.
+
+Freed souls, as I believe, are not compelled to associate with those who
+are uncongenial to them; they do not have to yield their finest taste
+and dearest wishes, as so many mortals do, to what is far beneath
+them ... far beneath their inner consciousness of right and wrong. They
+do not, as I hope, just because they made some sad mistake, go on
+suffering for dreary years, as many women have, because they saw no way
+of sure release except through death itself.
+
+It is a pitiful but well-established fact that many wives and mothers
+have borne long years of martyrdom because, in their first youth, they
+made unfortunate matrimonial alliances.
+
+There are so very many ways to put on binding-chains in human life;
+there are so many changes common to most mortals, steadfastness and
+truth are such rare qualities, that I sometimes wonder how men and women
+manage even as well as they do.
+
+Sometimes, we criticize our fellow-men and fellow-women pretty harshly,
+but, then, perhaps, we only see one side, and if we could look down from
+some great height, perhaps we, then, would marvel that they do as well
+as they do, now, with human life.
+
+There have been those who honestly expected that, when they would leave
+their earthly tenements, they would go to sleep, when they had gone
+across the unknown river that they knew as death's cold stream, and,
+maybe, sleep a thousand years or so; they must have dreaded that last,
+long sleep, especially if they, as might have happened, had never been
+very sound or very quiet sleepers ... if they had always seemed to be on
+guard and wakened at the slightest unfamiliar sound ... the thought that
+they would just lie silently within the narrow grave they must have
+known it was intended they should be put in must have been a most
+unpleasant one; they must have edged around it all they could and seldom
+mentioned it to anyone around them, and, yet, that horrid thought ...
+that last, long sleep ... must have, often, been present in their waking
+thoughts, and must have, even, sometimes, haunted them in their dreams.
+
+But I believe that we go right on living when we leave the earth-plane;
+I believe that most of us will be wide awake and conscious from the very
+start of that larger life that we will, then, begin to live. I hope that
+we will find that we do not have to sleep at all unless we choose to do
+so.
+
+Ruth Wakefield kept the memories of her parents in her heart and so she
+always had them with her where she went, and, now, that she was going
+back where they and she had spent so very many happy years together, it
+was natural that she should think of them even more than common; a
+feeling of deep sadness stole across her mind whenever she reflected on
+her parents and their home, somehow; she could not account for this at
+all ... she could not satisfy herself that she had any real reason for
+this feeling of sadness ... but it would creep over her in spite of her
+efforts to banish it from her mind; old Mage felt this and tried to
+cheer her dear young lady up ... little Tid-i-wats felt it and rubbed
+against her lovingly and purred her little happy song of comfort and
+content ... and, yet, Ruth Wakefield dreaded, while she longed for, her
+own home, and, as the vessel they were on drew near to Havana, this
+feeling of unaccountable sadness deepened with the girl ... she drew her
+breath in sharply and a deep and heart-felt sigh broke from her lips as
+they reached the landing-place and left the wild and treacherous waters
+far behind them.
+
+Father Felix wondered if this evident sadness and dread were due, in
+part, to the experiences through which they had both passed, and also,
+the thought of the man whom Ruth had married surreptitiously would often
+cross the mind of the good Priest, for he knew well she often must
+remember him and his dashing, dark and manly beauty; old Mage almost
+cursed him in her fierce old heart when she noticed that Ruth was sad
+although she'd always been so glad to come back home.
+
+"It's that fellow's fault!" she grumbled to herself. "It's all his
+fault ... I hope he's good and dead by this time! I'm sure I'd help to
+make him so, most willingly! What did he want to come into her young
+life and almost ruin it for? The low-lived pup!"
+
+They started out, as dusk was falling, the day they reached Havana, to
+go to San Domingo, and, then, home; Father Felix went with them as far
+as his refectory, and there he bade them a cheerful good-bye and said
+he'd come up, soon, and see them in their home again.
+
+Ruth, somehow, feared to say good-bye to the good Priest and kept his
+hand in hers much longer than was her wont with any man ... he was a
+bulwark for anyone who clung to him for strength ... his was a nature
+strong and good and clean and kind.... Ruth felt this more than usually,
+that evening, and dreaded to go on without him; he noticed this strange
+mood in her and said with cheery acquiescence:
+
+"Perhaps I'd better go on up the hill with you, my Daughter. I can as
+well as not. No one awaits me except my little choir-boys and they have
+managed a long time without me. If you will wait a moment while I look
+about a bit, I'll just go on up with you and see you nicely settled in
+your own old place and then I'll come back here and settle down
+myself."
+
+Suiting his actions to his words, the good Priest looked around and
+climbed the hill with Ruth and her small retinue; the path seemed so
+familiar with the shadows falling all around it, that she laughed and
+said to Father Felix:
+
+"I am a coward, after all ... afraid of friendly wind-mills like Don
+Quixote ... having had to do so much with Spaniards may have made me
+like them in some degree at least.... I wonder if Cervantes was afraid,
+himself, of things that no one ought to be afraid of! I wonder if Sancho
+Panza was afraid, too ... was Rozinante...."
+
+And, then, she stopped, for they had reached what had been, once, the
+outer gate of her palatial residence; there was no gate there ... there
+was no residence ... there was no life there ... it was the tomb of hope
+and home for her; the dwelling had been razed completely ... in its
+stead were only smouldering ruins ... all her precious memories ... her
+visible and tangible reminders of her parents ... had been swept
+away ... she had paid an awful price for helping those who needed help
+from her.
+
+Father Felix stood beside her with his hand upon her shoulder ... he
+could not say a word of consolation or of any sort of help ... he was
+dumbfounded by it all; old Mage sunk down upon the ground and wept, and
+Tid-i-wats came close to Ruth and rubbed against her garments; stooping,
+then, she picked her little pet up and held her closely clasped within
+her sheltering arms; then she went to her old nurse and said to her:
+
+"Do not despair, my dear old Friend. God will provide for us, some way.
+This is a dreadful thing, but we must make the very best of it that we
+can possibly. I will try to think of some way whereby we may be
+sheltered for this one night that is before us and then I hope to find
+some way to rebuild a portion of the residence we used to have here on
+this blessed spot. Let's bear this, dear old Friend. Let's think we gave
+our home to save this country for the people who inhabit it and may
+their homes be just as full of peace and comfort and joy and gladness as
+this one that is gone has been for all who came beneath its friendly
+roof."
+
+The Father Felix stood beside her and said:
+
+"My Daughter, come with me; I'll house you all for this one night at
+least; I'll find a way tomorrow, somehow, for you, so that you may go on
+in the path that you were meant to walk in. My Daughter, let us pray for
+guidance in this unexpected sorrow. Let us pray."
+
+They knelt there underneath the friendly stars and the good Priest
+prayed, earnestly:
+
+"Dear, kind and loving Father," then he said, "look down upon us as we
+kneel before Thee, here; direct us with Thy holy Wisdom, for we falter
+and are cast down with the burden of this day. Direct the feet of her
+who has been sorely stricken, here, tonight; direct her feet so that she
+may go on upon the path that Thou hast pointed out to her. Help her to
+go on with courage and devotion to the cause for which she has made this
+great and almost overpowering sacrifice. Help her to show in all her
+acts, henceforth, the same sweet resignation to Thy Will that she has
+shown so far. And help me, Father, help Thy humble servant who is but
+feeble and who often fails in doing all he should for Thee and for Thy
+children, help Thy humble and most unworthy servant to stand as if he
+were a pillar, so that she may lean upon him if her courage falters, or
+if she should stumble or grow weak in walking in the path that she was
+meant by Thee to walk upon. Look down in mercy on Thy servants as we
+kneel before Thee here. Amen."
+
+Tid-i-wats endured this, patiently, until he went beyond the common run
+of prayers for him when they had been together, then she squirmed and
+twisted in Ruth's arms, and, finally, escaped her altogether; then old
+Mage corraled her and the two of them had quite a little conversation on
+the side:
+
+"You naughty little thing! You must behave yourself and be a nice little
+lady. Can't you see what's happened to us without making us a lot of
+trouble, too?"
+
+And Tid-i-wats said, plainly:
+
+"I'll do just as I please, you mean old thing you! Don't you _dare_ to
+hold me when I want to get away! I'll show you what my claws will do to
+you, old Mage! You let me go this minute!"
+
+Then she used some language only known to cats and those who know the
+devious ways of little petted cats.
+
+Then Ruth turned to her and whispered:
+
+"Little Dadditts! Little Tid-i-wats! Be a nice lady, now ... be a very
+nice little lady, now. Dadditts ... little bit of Dadditts...."
+
+Then she held her close and tried to comfort her and gain some comfort
+for herself, but her tears would come to think how happy they had always
+or most always been in that fine home which seemed so much a part of
+life to Ruth that, now that it was gone from her, life seemed a sordid
+and a sorry thing.
+
+But she went with Father Felix, quietly, to the refectory and there they
+all found comfort and refreshment, for the good Priest always had
+prepared himself to entertain some unexpected guests, and, with
+returning security and peace, his parishioners had brought some supplies
+to welcome him on his return; so they fared quite well considering what
+had met them when they reached the place where Ruth had thought to find
+rest from her arduous toil; instead, she had to meet renewed unrest and
+many problems to be solved in her near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+When Ruth Wakefield awoke the next morning after her arrival in the
+village of San Domingo, she became conscious of her surroundings with a
+sudden start; at first, she scarcely realized just where she was, for
+her long trip on the boat following her strenuous and nerve-wracking
+labor of the past few weeks, had left her very weary in mind as well as
+in body, so that her sleep had been profound and restful; she looked
+about her wonderingly and did not recognize anything near to her except
+little Tid-i-wats who was cuddled up in a little soft round ball right
+beside her pillow; then, from the adjoining room, she began to hear old
+Mage, who was, evidently, making her customary strenuous efforts to
+continue her slumbers.
+
+Gradually, Ruth remembered the desolation to which she had returned,
+and, hastily dressing, she left the refectory intending to go at once to
+the spot where her much-loved home had been, and ascertain, under the
+light of day, the extent of her loss, also, she wished to make some
+plans, while she could do so quietly and unobserved, as to the future of
+her little family, who, as it seemed, was now without a roof to shelter
+them.
+
+She slowly and cautiously ascended the hill; the pathway was almost
+obliterated by the growth of the wild things that had been allowed to
+run riot over it and she followed it more by instinct than anything
+else; as she gained the point from which the proud edifice she had so
+loved used to become visible to anyone approaching it, the fact that no
+buildings of any kind were in sight pressed upon her inner
+consciousness, and it was only with great effort that she proceeded at
+all; somehow, she had hoped, she now found, that the hasty survey they
+had made the night before might have been overdrawn in some respects and
+the corroboration of her worst fears was hard for her to bear; but she
+had become accustomed, from long endurance, to meet whatever came with
+calmness and courage; so she straightened her slim, tall figure to its
+full height, and advanced with the air of a soldier marching forth to
+meet the foe.
+
+She had passed the spot where the entrance gates had been; the pillars
+on either side of the entrance were almost entirely demolished and there
+was nothing to be seen of the gates themselves; all along the driveway
+débris was piled in disordered heaps; evidently, no one had been here,
+or so it seemed at a first glance, anyway, for some time; vegetation had
+even partially covered a part of the ruins of the dwelling itself; with
+repeated gasps of horror, she ran from what had been the front entrance
+to her home to first one side and then the other; finally, she sat down,
+disconsolately, like Niobe, amid the ruins of her former happiness; she
+knew that she was where her library had been; here she had found her
+most satisfying, lasting happiness, surrounded as she had been by the
+books she had loved; she could see the half-burned remains of many of
+her favorites lying all around her; thinking to save some portion of one
+of these, she picked it up, fondly, and laid it in her lap, while she
+bent over it searching for some word of comfort or some sustaining
+sentence; it seemed to her that some of the authors she had so dearly
+loved and almost reverenced, would surely come to her aid in this dire
+calamity ... it almost seemed to her as if one or more of them would
+actually speak to her in such a way as to impress her mind with their
+fine thoughts.
+
+Suddenly, she became conscious of the nearness of some human being;
+looking up, surprised and even alarmed, she beheld the man whose life
+she had been instrumental in saving after the battle of San Juan Hill.
+
+"Tender Heart," he said, softly, "Tender Heart, what have we here? Why
+are you so sad? You came to me in grievous trouble and I, it seems, have
+found you under similar circumstances. Tender Heart," he pleaded,
+"Tender Heart, let me help you as you helped me if I can do so."
+
+She turned and looked into his eyes ... she rose to her feet and took
+one hesitating step toward him ... she stretched out both her hands,
+and, somehow, then, she felt his strong arms fold themselves around her
+yielding form ... she felt his heart beat very near to hers ... she felt
+his lips against her hair ... and, then, she turned her face from his
+broad shoulder where it had found a resting-place, and, as her lips met
+his, it seemed to her that, after all, she had come home; a feeling of
+deep security and sweet peace crept over her:
+
+"Tender Heart," he murmured very near to her small, shell-like ear, for
+she had, once more, put her head against his shoulder, "Tender Heart,
+you do not know my name.... I am, to you, but one of those five men who
+volunteered, at once, to follow Teddy up San Juan Hill.... I am, to you,
+but only him you rescued from almost certain death upon that bloody
+battle-field. Are you sure you are not making a mistake, sweet, trusting
+Tender Heart, to grant me this great privilege, knowing as little of me
+as you do?"
+
+He waited for her answer, for some time, but, then, he waited willingly
+indeed, for her soft nearness was enough to make him very happy; when
+her answer came she spoke in such low tones he had to listen very
+closely ... he had to put his arms about her a little closer than they
+had been yet ... he had to lift her from the ground and bring her soft,
+red mouth upon a level with his head, indeed ... and then, he heard her
+say:
+
+"I know you just as well as you know me. We do not know each other's
+names ... we do not need to know them ... now ... I only know I love
+you, Dear ... and, now, I know that you love me."
+
+And, then, he set her feet upon the ground again and looked down into
+her clear, gray eyes, and found within their shining depths the very
+things he wanted most to know; and she looked up and saw a man who was a
+man indeed ... a man on whom she knew that she could lean ... a man whom
+she would love to walk beside ... a man of whom she could be always
+proud.
+
+Standing there, they gazed into each other's eyes and read their future
+in them ... read the happiness that they might know together on the
+earth, and, then, they saw beyond the chance and change that seem to to
+govern earthly things, and saw themselves together in some higher,
+better sphere. They plainly saw, there, in each other's eyes, the
+promise of another, more etherial world, where they might spend long
+ages of eternal joy and gladness in each other's company.
+
+Father Felix found them so, for he had followed Ruth to see if he could
+help her meet the problems that confronted her; the good Priest
+hesitated for only a moment before he said:
+
+"My Daughter, I trust that you have found true happiness. Sir, I do not
+know you very well, but I can give you most profound assurance that you
+have found a jewel among women; if she has any faults I have not found
+them, yet, and I have spent full many happy hours in her society; my
+work is to find faults, if so be I can trace them out; I am a hunter,
+and a most successful one, of human frailties, and, when I give you my
+most profound assurance that I have not found a fault in this one woman,
+the statement is worthy of respect.
+
+"Your coming at this time is most propitious, for I was almost at my
+wit's end as to how to help her bear the direful calamity that has just
+come upon her. She has not remembered half she's lost, and, now that she
+has found you, Sir, I trust that she will nevermore remember much of it,
+but that she will go on, with you beside her, leaving far behind her in
+her earthly path sad memories of happy days that nevermore can come to
+her."
+
+The man, then, gave to Father Felix his right hand and kept his left arm
+round Ruth's slender waist:
+
+"I do not doubt your word," he answered the good Priest. "I feel that
+every single word of what you've said is strictly true, and, yet, I have
+some fault to find with this young lady, here; she came away and did
+not leave a message behind for me, and I have had a weary, most
+disheartening time since she departed. I came to San Domingo, I traced
+her that far, easily, and, then, I found a little girl named Tessa
+something, who said she knew the very place to find her in ... she said
+she knew she'd go where, once, the mansion on the hill had stood ...
+and, so, I came straight here, and, so, I've found her. Tender Heart,"
+he asked, "have you told the good Priest how we met?"
+
+Then Ruth blushed her pretty, fleeting, characteristic little blush, and
+said:
+
+"Father Felix knows me even better than I know myself, for he has told
+me many times what I would do before I did it. Father Felix knows me
+better, even, that _you_ do," then she turned to Father Felix, laughing
+like a happy little child, and added, "He don't even know my name and I
+have no idea what _his_ is; he calls me Tender Heart because I am so
+easily misled by tenderness and I call him ... why, I have never called
+him anything at all."
+
+"Yes, you have!" he interrupted, eagerly. "You called me 'Dear' just
+now ... so she is Tender Heart and I am Dear and that's enough, I think,
+don't you?"
+
+The good Priest smiled upon them almost condescendingly, for he was far
+above such little human twists and turns, or so he seemed to be at
+least, and so he was in very truth, for he had had his romance ... he
+had seen the grave close over the bright curls of one he dearly loved
+who loved him just as dearly as he did her; it was after that that he
+had taken up the work he did so well; he left his human happiness behind
+him in that narrow grave and looked beyond it to a higher, better kind
+of happiness; Ruth knew a little of this romantic sorrow for the good
+Priest had imparted it to her, and, so, her tender eyes filled up with
+sudden tears and her low, sweet voice trembled into even softer cadences
+than usual as she said:
+
+"Dear Father Felix, you are more to me than any loving brother that a
+woman ever had ... you are the only one who ever understood my human
+sorrow and I think that you will fully understand my human happiness. I
+wish with all my heart that you could be as happy as we are," her fair
+face flushed again, "for you deserve far more of happiness than I do ...
+as for him," she added, archly, "as for him ... do not be too sure of
+perfect human happiness for him.... I am but a mere child in very many
+ways.... I have so very much to learn.... I'm sure I'll always do the
+very best I can, but whether that will be the very best that could be
+done, of course I do not know."
+
+"I'll risk it, anyway, and I will risk it gladly, joyfully," the man
+averred. "I'd go again upon that bloody battle-field if you'd be sure
+to find me, Tender Heart," he ended, "if only in that way we two were
+meant to meet."
+
+When Ruth went back to the refectory she found old Mage and Tid-i-wats
+as lively as two crickets and as cheery as could be ... she introduced
+the man whose life she'd saved, or so it seemed, to them, and each of
+them acknowledged the introduction in her own peculiar way; old Mage
+stared at the man and sized him up most shrewdly, and, then, she gave
+her verdict very plainly by her manner of addressing him:
+
+"I'm glad to see you, Sir," she said. "I'm surely very glad to see you
+for I've often heard my dear young lady speak of you; I hope you'll stay
+around here near to us for we will have another home to build and
+Tid-i-wats and I are not much help to her.... I'm growing to be an old
+woman, now, and Tid-i-wats is so peculiar that she never is much help to
+anyone."
+
+And, then, the little cat came close to him and smelled his hands and
+rubbed against his legs, and, finally, when he sat down, she jumped up
+in his lap and settled down and twisted round and licked herself and
+washed her face and made herself entirely at home; and then she looked
+up at old Mage and Ruth and whispered to them that she liked him very
+well indeed, and, so, he was adopted into that small family.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+An author who has been considered by very many people to be a most
+successful writer, one whose words have set before very many eyes vivid
+pictures of individual characteristics and national events as well,
+whose Indians are known all over the world, and whose historical novels
+will be eagerly perused as long as there are American eyes to read the
+pages of any book at all, used to make a sort of summary of the
+principal events in the lives of his very interesting characters: it
+always seemed to me that there was something very wholesome and
+satisfying in the way he finished up his books, and, so, I'd like to
+relate just a little more about the people I have tried to picture in
+this little book of mine.
+
+Ruth Wakefield found her earthly mate when she found him whose life she
+helped to save upon the battle-field at night, and spent full many happy
+years in his society; they built a modern home upon the site of the
+mansion on the hill and did much good among the peasants living near to
+them; the man became the author of very many books, and Ruth assisted
+him in very many ways.
+
+Old Mage and little Tid-i-wats lived out the span of earthly life
+allotted to each one of them, beneath the tender eye and ready hand of
+her who loved them both, and, when the time that had been set for them
+to leave this world behind them, came, Ruth Wakefield staid beside them
+to the very last, and ministered to them as no one else would ever do.
+
+The man she'd found had named her well when he said "Tender Heart!" to
+her, that night upon the battle-field.
+
+Her heart was very tender, always, except with reference to herself; she
+often did upbraid herself and never gave herself much credit; she often
+mourned, in secret, over her few brief memories of the wild, impulsive,
+almost insane, so-called love of him she'd married in her untried youth;
+she often said:
+
+"Poor Boy! Poor, lost and misled Boy! I ought to have treated him far
+differently than I did; his earthly path crossed mine for some good
+reason, I presume; and I did not do all the things I might have done,
+when I was near enough to help him, for him ... yet ..." she always
+ended, "I did the very best I could do for him, it seemed to me, at the
+time I had the opportunity, and I always meant and prayed to do just
+right. I went wrong, somehow ... or he had gone too far along a certain
+road before I ever met him for me to turn him back ... anyway, I pity
+him with all my heart and hope that he is happy where he's gone.... I
+hope he's found the very place he belongs in.... I know I always think
+of him with tender pity and no resentment, although, according to the
+standards of the world, he did me grievous wrong. Poor lost and misled
+Boy! He often looked so sad and desperate ... I wish I had done better
+by him while I had the chance."
+
+Her tender heart was uppermost in almost all she did except when she was
+doing for herself, and, then, she'd say:
+
+"My tastes are very simple ... I do not need very much of this world's
+goods ... it takes so very little happiness to make me almost wild with
+joy.... I've had to look on sorrow often, and, when I come to Joy, I
+bask in it as if it were God's holy sunshine."
+
+But, if it should be that old Mage or Tid-i-wats or anyone of all of
+those who were dependent on her, from time to time, for she, somehow
+always seemed to accumulate those who needed her help round her, why,
+then it was quite different to Tender Heart ... then, she'd say and say
+with vigor:
+
+"Of _course_ I can arrange to have it that way! Why, certainly, if that
+would bring happiness, I'll fix it right away."
+
+And sure enough she would arrange it, no matter what it meant for her of
+loneliness or labor ... no matter if she had to go along a lonely road
+that had been full of peace and happiness for her before the one who
+left her lonely had come into her daily life and made it hard for her,
+in that way, while the days were going by, yet made a grievous change
+again, in going; she set her teeth and did the things she had to do to
+make the other person happy, or to do the things he said would make him
+happy, then she turned her face toward her own life, cheerfully,
+although her hours were often very sad and lonely.
+
+But this was all before she met the man whose life she'd helped to save
+upon that battle-field ... all before she'd lost her cherished home and
+built another one. From that time on unto the end of earthly life for
+her, she found sweet satisfaction and content, for she had found a
+steadfast love to lean upon, a strong and true and virile human being,
+whose tastes were similar to hers, who loved his native land, America,
+with all his heart, as she did, too.
+
+It heartens all humanity to meet a happy pair who are congenial.
+
+It gives all other human beings courage to go on upon the path that has
+been set for them to go upon, to know that there is happiness if only
+they could find the way to reach it.
+
+Estrella soon forgot the handsome lover over whom she mourned so
+bitterly; the memory of him soon became a wild, sweet dream, and had she
+met him as he was in San Domingo, after she had found her proper place
+in life, it is probable that she would have turned away from him; life's
+contrasts have so much to do with early love that it is often difficult
+to know what love is really like; Estrella, when she was an unknown
+waif, was differently placed than she was later on. Victorio Colenzo
+would not have seemed the same to her that he did when she was but an
+unknown, simple girl; education made a change in her ... her sister
+looked to that. She grew to be a splendid woman, in very many ways, and
+married one who was her peer.
+
+Poor little Tessa seems the most forlorn of all the characters in this
+book. She tried so hard and failed so utterly in almost all she ever
+did. But Father Felix watched her tenderly, and helped her on, and,
+finally, one day, he married her to one who loved her truly in his own
+rude way, to one who was a sturdy peasant like herself, who had no
+romance in him, but who was true to her, and kind, as kindness goes
+among his sort of people; he provided for her and their children; she
+had many more necessities and even luxuries than most of those who were
+associated with her. She, sometimes, dreamed of Manuello; she never knew
+how his life ended.
+
+Ruth Wakefield looked her up, from time to time, but did not tell her
+very much about the Spanish-American war or those who entered into it;
+she knew she could not really understand much more than would the
+helpless baby at her ample breast, for Tessa did not stay the slim,
+small person that she was at first; she grew to be as wide, almost, as
+she was tall, and seemed to be quite happy as she was. She always limped
+a little from the blow that Manuello gave to her; the deep, sad scar he
+left upon her gentle heart could not be seen, and it, somehow, grew over
+as her flesh and family increased.
+
+Estrella always remembered her and sent her many costly and curious
+things which were her constant delight. She loved to display these
+mementoes of her girlhood's friend; her children, and her heavy husband,
+too, were, always proud of them.
+
+It seems to me that, when such souls as animated little Tessa's form
+leave this world behind them for all time, it must be that they find
+some soft, warm places, where they can sit at ease and watch dear little
+children play, and, maybe, join them in their play, and dream of happy
+hours, and forget all the trials of their lives upon the earth.
+
+The course of human life will, sometimes, like a placid river, flow
+along for many years without a single change that is any more disturbing
+than a little, gentle ripple or an easy turn; then, all at once, like
+the water, that has been so clear and still, when it has reached the
+rapids and becomes a raging, turbid torrent, so human life may,
+suddenly, be stirred to its very depths; something may transpire that
+will call for the most sublime courage and the most strenuous endeavor,
+combined with the most harrowing self-sacrifice.
+
+Like a stroke of lightning out of a calm summer sky, more than one great
+event in our national history has thrust itself upon our startled
+consciousness. At these times, leaders have appeared who have taken
+their places at the head of affairs as naturally and as calmly as if
+they had been, always, guiding those who followed after them, although,
+perhaps, before the time that they were needed, they were,
+comparatively, unknown. And so, it seems to me, it will be always. There
+is a Plan, an infinite, a just, a universal Plan, to which all things,
+mundane or otherwise, must, in the end, conform. To keep ourselves
+informed as to the part that we were meant to take in this great Plan,
+it seems to me, should be our constant study and our constant strong
+desire.
+
+The light of truth and understanding, that is God's Smile, looks up into
+our faces from the heart of every flower, whether bathed in moonlight,
+or shining underneath the sun; the simplest soul or the grandest
+intellect, alike, may bask beneath this light and feel its healing
+power.
+
+I love, above all else, the God of truth and right and justice, Who
+rules all worlds and watches over everything that lives and moves and
+has its being in His whole universe.
+
+It seems to me that there is implanted, although it may be completely
+covered up, at times, in the nature of every human being, a reverence
+and a most affectionate regard, that rests upon implicit faith, for Him
+Who gave to us, at the very beginning of of our human lives, an
+infallible guide ... conscience, or inner consciousness of right and
+wrong ... which, if always heeded, will show us where to go and what to
+do, no matter what vicissitudes, disappointments or sorrows we may meet.
+
+And, next to God, it seems to me, it is both natural and right to love
+the land of one's nativity.
+
+I know I hold in my regard, above all personal advantages, above all
+temporal happiness or praise, America ... the great United States ...
+_that one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was
+free_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An American, by Belle W. Gue
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An American, by Belle W. Gue
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An American
+
+Author: Belle W. Gue
+
+Release Date: July 10, 2011 [EBook #36679]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AMERICAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Charlene Taylor,
+Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<h1>AN AMERICAN</h1>
+
+<h2>BY BELLE WILLEY GUE</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/title.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>BOSTON<br />
+RICHARD G. BADGER</h3>
+
+<h3>THE GORHAM PRESS</h3>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1921, by Belle Willey Gue</span></h3>
+
+<h3>All Rights Reserved</h3>
+
+<h3>Made in the United States of America</h3>
+
+<h3>The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3>TO THE MEMORY OF HIM WHOM WE ALL DELIGHT<br />
+TO HONOR AS FIRST IN PEACE ... FIRST IN<br />
+WAR ... AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS<br />
+OF HIS COUNTRYMEN ...<br />
+GEORGE WASHINGTON</h3>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br />
+<a href="#PLOT">PLOT</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>AN AMERICAN</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+
+<p>There are many characteristics that are essential to true Americanism;
+among these, none is more prominent than an inborn desire, not only to
+obtain personal liberty, but, also, to see justice done to others.</p>
+
+<p>We, as Americans, say, with loving pride, that we are citizens of that
+<i>one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was free</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Oppression of the weak and ignorant, by those who are wiser and stronger
+than they, has, always, aroused in us pronounced, and, often, openly
+expressed, indignation. More than once, have we, as a nation, arrayed
+ourselves upon the side of the down-trodden and pitiful, and, in every
+such instance, we have greatly increased and enhanced the well-being of
+those whose cause we have espoused.</p>
+
+<p>We have never gone out of our way to look for trouble, being more
+inclined to attend to our own affairs than to oversee those of our
+neighbors, and, yet, when, repeatedly, gross acts of injustice and
+cruelty have been forced under our observation, we have, at times, been
+aroused to a state of what we have honestly believed to be righteous
+indignation, and, in these circumstances, we have conducted ourselves
+in accordance with our ability and the fervor of our convictions.</p>
+
+<p>Prior to the evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-eight, our relations with the government of Spain were amicable;
+while we, as a people, sympathized, to some extent, with the uprisings
+of native Cubans, yet, those who were at the head of our national
+affairs did not, in any instance, uphold or palliate the unlawful acts
+of the insurrectionists; but, during the hours of darkness of that
+never-to-be-forgotten night, a dastardly and totally inexcusable deed,
+in spite of the recent renewal of our friendly intercourse with the
+Spanish government, made of that nation a foe to be contended against
+with all the might that was in us.</p>
+
+<p>While our only object, in the beginning of the Spanish-American war, was
+to teach the Spaniard the lesson he had so richly deserved to learn, at
+the same time, as the results of autocratic misrule were brought, more
+and more closely, under our direct observation, we took much honest
+pride in the reflection that we were not only resenting, as became free
+and enlightened men and women, an injury to our own well-beloved
+country, but that we were, at the same time, giving to a people, whose
+necks were raw and bleeding from the yoke of a tyrannical exercise of
+absolute power, an opportunity to throw off that yoke, and become, in
+due time, a self-governed and a self-respecting and an independent
+nation.</p>
+
+<p>Our short and fiery encounter with Spain demonstrated, as many years of
+unbroken peace and prosperity had not done and never could do, the
+invincibility of American arms, and the unexampled superiority of
+American daring, devotion, inventive genius and self-adjusting prowess;
+it was supposed that we had a very inadequate naval equipment, and that
+our standing army was very small, besides being poorly trained; in spite
+of this widely spread supposition, our troops won many brilliant
+victories upon the sea as well as on the land.</p>
+
+<p>The same spirit that saved the day for freedom and the right at Bunker
+Hill and Bennington animated the descendants of those gallant and
+intrepid warriors, who, soon after the heroic birth of our Republic,
+defended the cause they deemed to be a sacred one with all that they
+held dear, when they, too, went to meet the carefully trained and richly
+caparisoned phalanxes of those who bowed their heads and bent their
+suppliant knees unto an earthly king.</p>
+
+<p>An American volunteer is as nearly unconquerable as any merely human
+being can ever really be; his whole being is entirely devoted to the
+principle for the vindication of which he is about to enter into bodily
+combat; he is not hampered or bound down by anything that does not meet
+with the approval of his own conscience; physically, mentally, and
+morally, he is the equal of any enemy against whom he may be pitted;
+above him there floats a flag that has never been defeated, behind him
+are glorious deeds of valor that are well worthy of emulation, and
+before him are the hopes and aspirations of those who, with their feet
+firmly planted upon solid ground, practical, energetic and capable, yet,
+always, move among their fellows, seeing visions, dreaming dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly before the beginning of the Spanish-American war, there were
+some, across the water, who dared to complacently imagine that the
+glowing spark of patriotism, implanted in the breast of every true
+American at the time of his birth, had lost its kindling power; those
+who were depending upon this erroneous idea must have had their
+complacency somewhat rudely shaken when it became known, all over the
+world, that, within ten days after President McKinley issued a call for
+one hundred and twenty-five thousand volunteers, seven hundred and fifty
+thousand eager patriots answered to that call, offering their energies
+and, if needs be, their lives, to the service of the land they loved and
+honored.</p>
+
+<p>After thirty-three years of peace, the fighting men of America buckled
+on their armor, bade a tearful farewell to their homes and families,
+and, determined, enthusiastic and buoyant, went, blithely, forward to
+meet, and conquer, a foreign foe; there was not one among these who did
+not realize and consider the seriousness of the enterprise he had
+started out upon, yet neither was there one who did not add, in every
+way within his power, to the light-hearted joyousness, and gentle,
+childish humor, with which our fearless and devoted "boys" undertook to
+secure the freedom and general well-being of the Island people, as well
+as to resent the insult that had been offered to our own country.</p>
+
+<p>The central figure of the Spanish-American war, from its hasty inception
+until its brilliant and triumphant close, was that of a gallant
+gentleman, mounted on a high-lifed horse ... as sternly devoted to
+principle and duty as any Puritan had ever been, as full of the bounding
+joy of life as any boy who followed him, leader, comrade, friend and
+brother, fearless, resourceful, primitive, refined, highly educated, yet
+as simple-hearted as an innocent child, bold, yet cautious and careful,
+unselfish, yet richly endowed with worldly wisdom, respected almost to
+the height of reverence, yet looked upon as a cheery, helpful companion,
+by those with whom he was most closely associated ... THEODORE
+ROOSEVELT ... a typical American, using that word in its widest and
+loftiest sense.</p>
+
+<p>After the close of our struggle with Spain, we discovered that we had
+not only given, but, also, derived, many benefits as the results of that
+short, but decisive, conflict; we had acquired considerable territory
+over which to extend the advantages to be gained from our educational
+and commercial institutions; we had come into such close contact with
+the people of these, and adjacent, territories that we were enabled to
+understand their needs and their desires, more fully than we could,
+otherwise, have done; we had presented to the powers ruling the Old
+World an object lesson as to the people of the United States of America
+being, at any and all times, and under every possible circumstance,
+fully able to take care of themselves, as well as all that,
+intrinsically, belongs to them; we had set before the mighty nations of
+Europe an example of the proper attitude of the strong toward the weak;
+we had bound together, in a common, just and righteous cause, all
+factions, all clans, all religions, and all parties, in short, we had
+bound together the entire population of our well-beloved country, and in
+such a way that the bonds were indissoluble, unbreakable, and permanent.</p>
+
+<p>While we are, above all things, a peaceful and a law-abiding people, yet
+we not only can, but always will, defend our altars and our homes
+against any harm that may be threatened to them; while we do not seek an
+encounter with any government other than our own, yet at the same time,
+we are not afraid to meet any nation on the face of the earth, in open
+combat, giving our enemy the privilege of selecting his own weapons and
+following out his own ideas as to legitimate warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The blood of the sturdy and militant Anglo-Saxon, flowing, now, in
+Yankee veins, is richer and more life-supporting than it was before the
+Mayflower landed her precious freight of human strength and more than
+human aspiration upon Plymouth Rock.</p>
+
+<p>All the fond hopes and all the high ambitions, all the daring and all
+the deep devotion, all the practical achievements and all the airy
+dreams, of their revered forefathers, are, now, alive and potent,
+although, it may be, hidden, in the breasts of all my fellow-countrymen.</p>
+
+<p>If all the titles that have ever been bestowed by human beings upon each
+other ... all the names that indicate the possession of wealth or fame
+or place or power upon the earth ... should be displayed before my eyes,
+and I be asked to select but one among them all to be the one by which I
+would be known, I would without a moment's hesitation, choose AN
+AMERICAN.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PLOT" id="PLOT"></a>PLOT</h2>
+
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield, as the daughter of the United States Consul to Cuba, has
+lived in a beautiful home which her father prepared for his family on a
+height above Havana harbor since early childhood. Having lost both her
+natural protectors ... her parents ... through earthly death, she has
+been much alone with trusty servants, as she has found little
+companionship among the natives of Cuba. However, she has found a highly
+respected friend in Father Felix, Priest of the village of San Domingo;
+to him she has confided her great anxiety concerning some prisoners
+confined, ex communicado, in the village jail, at the end of the prado,
+or central park of the village.</p>
+
+<p>"The Lady of the mansion on the hill," as she is known among the
+villagers, has not, though, told the Priest her real reason for wishing
+the freedom of the political prisoners. Victorio Colenzo is a handsome
+but unscrupulous fellow of mixed blood, being part Spanish and part
+Cuban; he has found the lonely American girl and has courted her with
+such dash and apparent sincerity that she has married him secretly, not
+even informing Father Felix of her union with the attractive stranger.
+This man is among the political prisoners and it is to free him from
+bondage that Ruth Wakefield has furnished Father Felix with means with
+which to overpower and overawe those who have him in charge. Ruth
+Wakefield is herself deceived, for in the village is a girl, named
+Estrella, whose lover Victorio Colenzo is known to be by her associates,
+among whom is another of her lovers ... Manuello ... a native Cuban.
+This man is also in the San Domingo bastile. Father Felix, at the head
+of a procession of his followers, breaks into the jail and confronts the
+keepers with a crucifix which he holds before them, commanding them to
+release the prisoners; superstitious terror finally induces them to
+yield to his demands; in the confusion, Manuello contrives to sever the
+handsome head of Victorio Colenzo from his strong and manly body, so
+that his corpse is found when the doors are finally thrown open to the
+people; Estrella finds this body and weeps above it. Father Felix meets
+Ruth Wakefield by appointment to report as to what he has done, and, in
+this manner, she discovers the perfidy of her so-called husband. She
+confesses the truth to Father Felix who sympathizes deeply with her as
+he knows her to be innocent. She visits the morgue and meets Estrella
+whom she befriends and, eventually, adds to her household. She has among
+her servants, a unique character, named Mage, who has been her nurse in
+babyhood and who is always faithful to her in her own strange way; this
+old woman, throughout the entire twenty-one chapters of this story,
+continues to perform unexpected and startling deeds.</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage accompanies her dear young lady when she goes to San Juan and
+is stationed not far from the battle-field of San Juan Hill. Here, as
+elsewhere, she continues to exhibit her own individual characteristics
+as her central and almost sole idea is to protect and assist Ruth
+Wakefield, whom, although she regards her with unlimited respect and is
+entirely devoted to her interests, she still thinks of as the small
+child she loved before they landed upon the Island of Cuba; realizing
+how different she is from those around her, only increases the worship
+of her faithful attendant, who, on the other hand, does not hesitate to
+use language that will express what she wishes those whom she is
+addressing to fully understand.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello has a primitive, passionate, unbridled and selfish nature; he
+is wildly in love with Estrella and because she has selected another
+lover he has committed murder; with this man out of his way, he hopes to
+succeed with Estrella and goes to her intimate friend, Tessa, to find
+out how she actually feels about the death of her lover, Victorio
+Colenzo; Tessa secretly adores Manuello; she is, also, a native Cuban,
+but her nature is more sluggish than that of Manuello and she has a
+dog-like affection for Estrella, who has become separated from her own
+family as a child and is a member of the household of Manuello, being
+known as his half-sister among the villagers; the handsome peon makes
+love to little Tessa but she is loyal to Estrella and does what she can
+to contribute to her happiness, although, when Manuello becomes a
+fugitive and has been wounded, she ministers to him in a deserted cabin
+up among the hills where it is almost entirely hidden in a jungle of
+weeds and rank vegetation. This cabin is the scene of many pitiful
+endeavors on the part of little Tessa who resists the desires of
+Manuello to make her his mistress although she dearly and devotedly
+loves him. Here, at one time, she is secretly followed by Estrella who
+is led to suspect some secret by Tessa's actions; Estrella informs
+Father Felix of the situation. Tessa, in one of her struggles with
+Manuello, has wounded him in one cheek with a knife which she happened
+to have in her hand. Father Felix visits the hut and Manuello, after
+severely wounding poor little Tessa, so that she is unable to leave the
+place, disappears, but turns up again, after the battle of Camp McCalla
+in a temporary hospital where Ruth Wakefield and Estrella are acting as
+nurses. Old Mage takes a hand in this affair and so frightens Manuello
+that he escapes from the hospital although he is wearing many bandages,
+and, painfully, but determinedly, reaches the deserted hut where he
+hopes to hide until he has recovered from his wounds. As he approaches
+the hut he realizes that someone is within it and looks through a small
+window, seeing Tessa lying on the rude bed she originally prepared for
+him, and, beside her, kneeling on the floor, Father Felix who has found
+the weak and suffering girl and is engaged in prayer; Manuello breaks
+into the cabin and attempts to thrust the Priest aside so that he may
+wreak his vengeance on the helpless woman. Father Felix, however, proves
+to be a worthy antagonist and does not hesitate to use his strength in
+the defense of the innocent, even though it becomes necessary for him to
+seriously injure the young man who is like a wild beast foiled of its
+prey. This struggle in the deserted hut, with the wounded girl looking
+on, continues for some time, but the younger man is finally overpowered,
+and, seeing himself to be at the mercy of his antagonist, becomes the
+penitent sinner and confesses to the Priest who labors with him lovingly
+and ministers to his spiritual condition. The two men then improvise a
+stretcher and place Tessa upon it, after which they carry the girl to
+the door of her own home in the village. Here, the Priest dismisses
+Manuello and tells him to go in peace. The young man then limps back to
+the deserted hut and remains there unmolested for some time when he
+disappears again from the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>The Americanism of Ruth Wakefield is pronounced. Father Felix is
+equally devoted to their common country. These two often confer as to
+possible complications connected with international affairs; at one of
+these consultations, Estrella happens to be present and declares that
+she believes that she, also, is an American and that she wishes to serve
+under the same flag as that to which the other two have so often
+pronounced themselves to be devoted. She offers to assist Ruth in every
+way she can should there be an occasion that would demand their help.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield is awake in her own room and looking down upon Havana
+harbor on the night of February 15th, 1898 and sees the blowing up of
+the Maine with her own eyes; Father Felix also sees this and hurries up
+the hill to talk matters over with Ruth; they form plans as to what they
+can do for their own country and in the service of the down-trodden
+people of Cuba whose sufferings under Spanish tyranny they have so often
+witnessed. Ruth opens her home and offers it as a refuge to all those
+who wish to escape from Spanish oppression.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix keeps Ruth well informed as to military matters and, when,
+on June 10th, 1898, our stars and stripes are waving, for the first
+time, over Cuban soil, Ruth Wakefield is standing beside Father Felix,
+who has become an army chaplain, at the window of a temporary hospital
+which her wealth has made possible. This hospital is situated near
+Santiago and many American soldiers as well as many Cuban scouts are
+cared for within its shadowy rooms.</p>
+
+<p>After the battle of San Juan Hill on July 1st 1898, Ruth Wakefield is
+one among many volunteer nurses who went to the assistance of a
+righteous cause. She stands beside a little cot and meets a man who
+speaks to her of "Teddy" and of the grand and glorious work that he had
+done that day; with this bond between them, they soon become friends.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth, as one who has authority, moves from cot to cot and, so, comes to
+stand beside the murderer of her husband or him whom she had called so,
+for Manuello evened up some of his wickedness by serving nobly in the
+battle of San Juan Hill and died in consequence of that day's dreadful
+harvest of human forms. Estrella, too, and Father Felix, come to stand
+beside his cot, but Ruth is all alone when his soul leaves the clay that
+it has been inhabiting for awhile, and, so, she realizes as never
+before, that the man she knew as husband was beneath her in every way
+and in that terrible and heart-rending moment, she begins to learn the
+way to forget the first wild love of her young womanhood and find the
+steps that lead to saner, quieter and happier hours and days and years.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth is given privileges that are not accorded to many near a bloody
+battle-field, and, when she leaves the hospital for the night on July
+1st, 1898, she drives her team along a lonely road, hoping to leave
+behind her, not only the scenes she has just been among, but, also, the
+thoughts that those scenes have awakened in her mind. She thinks she is
+going directly away from the recent battle-field. Her team is startled
+by the sudden rising of a man near the road and runs away, throwing her
+out upon the ground; she climbs over a low embankment beside the road
+and finds herself among the dead; she is almost stupefied by this
+knowledge, but, soon, her instincts for helping those who are in trouble
+rise above her fears and she cries aloud and calls ... asking if any
+there are in need of help that she can give to them. A faint voice
+answers her and she seeks it out and finds an officer who has been
+stricken down at the head of his squad of men; they are all lying in a
+disordered heap and Ruth is obliged to lift one dead body off of the man
+who seems to be alive. Having found him, she proceeds, from her
+knowledge as a nurse, to aid him ... finds a wound from which his
+life-blood is flowing fast and forms a tourniquet with a silken scarf
+she happens to be wearing. He revives enough to whisper to her, naming
+her, on the instant "Tender Heart" by which title he afterwards
+addresses her.</p>
+
+<p>Having rendered all the aid she can, she speeds away, without fear, now,
+as she has an object in her flight, until she secures help when she
+returns and removes the one whom she has found among the dead to the
+hospital, where, after a long period of suffering and faithful nursing,
+he recovers sufficiently to accompany her when she returns to her home.
+Here he proves himself to be worthy of her love which is bestowed upon
+him with the approval of Father Felix and even of old Mage. Ruth's home
+has been destroyed by fire and her entire estate has suffered much from
+vandalism and from enemies of Cuba and of her own country as well, but
+she still has plenty with which to rebuild her home and to assist many
+in the village of San Domingo who require aid and comfort from those who
+are stronger than they are.</p>
+
+<p>Among other patients in her temporary hospital near Santiago, Ruth
+discovers one who is a Spanish spy, for she remembers meeting him when
+he was a Spanish officer under most distressing circumstances, when it
+had been his great desire to do a grievous wrong to a young, ignorant
+girl whom Ruth rescued from his vile clutches. Ruth hesitates to report
+this case to the authorities as she is well aware of the fate meted out
+to spies, and she compromises by telling the facts to Father Felix, who,
+while he is very tender of the innocent, is just and stern where
+hypocrites and liars are concerned. The good Priest soon disposes of the
+Spanish spy.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix distinguishes himself in many ways during the hostilities
+between the opposing forces in the Spanish-American war and does much
+good, for he does not hesitate to do anything that he finds to do
+regardless of whether it is in the line of his profession or not. He has
+many experiences as thrilling as the one in the deserted hut with
+Manuello. He throws himself into many a breach ... wins many a
+hard-fought battle, and, through it all maintains not only his religious
+attitude toward all mankind, but manifests a gracious and uplifting love
+for all who dwell upon the earth, and, at the end of his activities,
+resumes the humble station he occupied at first, for, as he believes, he
+can do more good right there in the little village of San Domingo than
+in a wider and more elevated station.</p>
+
+<p>Many refugees leave Santiago during, and directly after, the naval
+battle of Santiago; among these are very many wealthy women who are
+forced to leave their splendid homes and flee, in silken garments, with
+the riff-raff of the city.</p>
+
+<p>Some among these wealthy women sought to help in temporary hospitals,
+and one of them, at least, came to that which Ruth Wakefield had
+endowed; this woman was noticeable in many ways, being of superior
+intelligence as well as birth and breeding; she, soon, became proficient
+as a nurse, and when Ruth sees her standing close beside Estrella in the
+hospital, she suddenly recognizes a subtle resemblance between the two
+young women and calls their attention to the fact. And, so, it develops
+that Estrella finds her own blood-kin ... her own loving sister ...
+there in that shadowy hospital, for it is proven beyond a shadow of a
+doubt by a little trinket that the girl has always worn about her
+neck ... a little cross of golden memories, through which, and through
+the girl herself, her lineage is traced, so that she remains with her
+own kin, and does not return to the little village where she suffered so
+much sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Tessa, with the stolidity of the Cuban peasant, seems to entirely
+recover both from her wounded leg and her wounded heart, for she marries
+a sturdy workman who supplies the earthly wants of Tessa and her
+numerous progeny. If she ever remembers the romantic days through which
+she has passed, her appearance belies the fact, for she becomes,
+apparently, contented with her lot in life.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>AN AMERICAN</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+
+<p>About the beginning of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, there
+had been aroused in the hearts of the people of the United States a
+strong feeling of pity and compassion toward the inhabitants of the
+Island of Cuba who were under the ironshod heel of Spain and who had
+made many appeals for help to our own government in one way and in
+another.</p>
+
+<p>The time was ripe for a revolution among the dark-skinned populace of
+the large cities of the Island Empire and many confusing circumstances
+combined to add to the confusion of sentiments entertained toward the
+government by those who suffered from its rulings.</p>
+
+<p>Many indignities had been heaped upon the Cubans by those who claimed to
+represent the young King Alfonso XIII, who, in his far-away palace in
+old Madrid was as unconscious of what was done in his name, very many
+times, as he would have disapproved of it had he known it.</p>
+
+<p>The young King and his mother, the Queen <i>regent</i>, tried, in every way
+within their power, to adjust matters amicably between their rebellious
+subjects and those whom they had sent across the sea to govern them, but
+they found this a very difficult matter indeed, and between the fiery
+tempers of the natives and the over-bearing arrogance of the officers
+who represented them, the poor crowned heads of sunny Spain certainly
+had a pretty hard time of it.</p>
+
+<p>The Queen mother was naturally a gentle and a very highly educated and
+studious woman, while the boy King was as far from being the typical
+idea of a reigning tyrant as a handsome, well-trained young fellow could
+well be.</p>
+
+<p>But those who represented these two crowned heads were of quite another
+pattern as to character and disposition and many were the cruelties
+charged to the account of certain ones among their number due to the
+opportunities afforded them of gratifying their lowest impulses and
+following along the paths that led, for the time being, into what seemed
+to them to be very pleasant pastures and beside very still waters,
+which, as is well known, often, besides being still, run deep.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, just as dusk was falling over the little town of San
+Domingo, there appeared, passing along one of the quiet, shadowy narrow
+streets, a rather strange procession ... well in advance of the rest of
+the motley company appeared a village Priest bearing in his hand a
+crucifix which he held before him as if to fend off something evil ...
+he was dressed, as is the custom of the Catholic Priests of Cuba, in the
+flowing vestments of his office and the long cord that was knotted round
+his ample waist had a huge cross dangling from the end of it which
+struck against his well-formed legs as he strode along with head held
+high as if he saw beyond the things of earth and gazed upon some
+beatific vision which upheld him and lifted him above his immediate
+environment.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, there was one who walked beside him though he, himself, was
+unaware of it, except subconsciously, for Father Felix, as this Priest
+was known, was wandering among strange thoughts as he passed along that
+almost silent little street, that one sad evening.</p>
+
+<p>He had been, for many peaceful years, the Priest who had officiated at
+almost all the public meetings of the village, but, never in his life
+devoted, as it was to the consideration of holy, high and spiritual
+matters, had he been called upon to conduct so weird a service as he
+was, then, about to do.</p>
+
+<p>He wondered, as he marched along, whether he was doing just exactly
+right in leading these, his simple-minded followers, into what it seemed
+to them they must do, that night ... he wondered whether, even now, he
+would not better turn to those who followed after him and call to them
+to halt and to consider well before they took another single step that
+might, each one of them, be an irrevocable and a much-to-be-regretted
+step, for it might lead to what they could not know of ways that might,
+as well as not, prove very winding and even thorn-strewn ways for those
+who followed along them. And Father Felix knew that he, alone of all
+that little company, was gifted with the power to reason out a fair and
+just conclusion from the premises presented to them all; he knew that he
+alone had enough of education to even understand the meaning of the
+words that had been spoken to them all ... he knew that those who came
+along that little street behind him had trusted to him most implicitly,
+for many years, in matters that required thought, and, although they had
+been the ones to beg him to take the step that they were then about to
+take, he knew that, even then, right at the last, had he been minded to,
+he might, yet, turn their minds away from what they seemed to be so set
+upon.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that, if he wished to do so, he could make them see the matter
+under their consideration in quite another light from what they saw it
+in at that time ... he knew that he could bend their wills to make them
+match with his own will for he had done this very many times before ...
+he was a natural leader, and being well equipped for leadership, he
+took that place as if it were his natural right ... and so it seemed to
+be.</p>
+
+<p>Any stranger, glancing along the line of human beings that followed
+Father Felix and his upheld crucifix, would have noticed many weak and
+vacillating faces ... many weak and vacillating wills as evidenced by
+the expressions on those weak and vacillating faces ... many wills that
+could be bent by anyone who had a strong and capable and domineering
+mind, and Father Felix had a mind like that ... a natural leader's most
+commanding mind ... he was a man to win respect wherever he might go ...
+a man to dominate the wills of those about him ... a man to lead the
+crowd ... a man to guide the minds of those he met, and, after having
+occupied the one place in the village that commanded the respect of all,
+for long, of course they looked to him for guidance and followed where
+he led as little children follow after the one full-grown human being in
+their midst.</p>
+
+<p>But, as they marched along, full many whispers ran along that motley
+little company and gave some prescience of the clamor that would come if
+all their bridled tongues should really become loose again, for, now,
+they only spoke in whispers dreading discovery of what they were about
+to do by some of those against whose orders they were doing it.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what the Governor would say if he could know the thing that
+we're about to do," a beardless youth began, as he edged a little nearer
+to his mother's side, "I wonder what would happen to us, now, if he
+discovered our intention."</p>
+
+<p>The mother only put her finger on her lips and shook her head at him,
+but, later on, when they had gone a little further on their journey, she
+whispered to him:</p>
+
+<p>"I hope the Governor will never know who did what we're about to do, at
+least, for, if he should discover which of us accomplished the purpose
+that all the villagers are interested in, we would suffer for our
+temerity in doing this ... I almost wish we had not joined this mob, my
+boy ... I almost wish, at least, that I had left you home to mind the
+house while I will be away from it," and, then, she ended, sadly, "God
+knows if we shall ever be allowed to see our home again."</p>
+
+<p>There was one who walked among that little company, that evening, who
+was not as the rest in very many ways, and, yet, her lot was cast in
+with the rest for she had lived in that small village since her infancy,
+and, so, it seemed to her and them as well, that she was one of them
+and, so, must be among them even then, when they were casting in their
+lots, at Father Felix' instigation, with the ones who so violently
+opposed the reigning powers that they were held, then, and had been so
+held, for many weary months, as <i>incommunicado</i> in the village jail or
+prison in the wide and beautiful and picturesque great prado in the very
+centre of the town.</p>
+
+<p>The girl who, in very many ways, was different from all the rest was
+walking in the very centre of the little crowd and, as the others
+jostled against her, her great blue eyes stared almost vacantly, as it
+seemed, around her like a startled fawn's when something unknown
+ventures near to its retreat within its native forest.</p>
+
+<p>She drew her slender figure up to its full height, and she was taller
+than the rest of those who walked beside her, when someone whispered to
+her:</p>
+
+<p>"What think you of all this, Estrella? Is it to your taste to be a part
+of those who, in their puny strength, contend against the strong? Do you
+think that you'll enjoy the future that we are advancing to? What do you
+think will happen to us when we reach the prado, anyway? Do you think
+the Governor has found out what we are going to do and if he does what
+action will he take? I'm more than half afraid myself ... I don't deny
+that I'm afraid ... how do you feel about it all?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I know just how I <i>do</i> feel, Tessa," said the taller
+girl, "I think that I'm afraid, too ... I know my knees are trembling a
+very little, so I must be scared the same as you say you are. Let us
+keep as close together as we can, so, if anything happens to one it will
+be sure to happen to us both ... it seems to me ..." she ended,
+dreamily, "that even death itself could not be much worse than the
+things that we've endured just lately, here."</p>
+
+<p>And then the two young creatures shuddered at the very thought of death
+and huddled just as close together as they could and marched along among
+the rest as quietly as if they had not been afraid of anything at all.</p>
+
+<p>At last they reached the prado and Father Felix paused and held his
+crucifix even a little higher than he had done all along and waited for
+the little company to assemble directly in front of him, when he
+stretched his arms out wide in silent blessing on their undertaking, and
+proceeded toward the little prison that stood at one end of the prado
+facing the great public square where games were held when <i>fiestas</i> were
+in order.</p>
+
+<p>But it was for no festal undertaking that they had gathered there, that
+evening; silent preparations were making as they halted ... battering
+rams were being raised and carried forward by the men and tears and
+flowers seemed to be the offering of the women in the crowd to the ones
+they hoped to liberate from the dark, forbidding precincts of the
+edifice before them.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix motioned those who held the battering rams to hold them in
+their hands in readiness for instant action at a word from him ... then
+he called aloud to him who kept the keys to bring them forth and give
+them to him, or he would be, in case that his request should be
+refused, compelled, in spite of his strong desire to avoid all violence
+if possible, to use force in effecting the object for which the
+multitude surrounding him, outside, had gathered there.</p>
+
+<p>He waited, patiently, for several minutes, but, as he received no answer
+to his demand, he called again:</p>
+
+<p>"Bring forth the keys at once!" he cried raising his voice so that it
+carried far beyond the limits of the building that stood there before
+him, "bring them forth unless you wish to force me to use violence for I
+am determined to liberate the prisoners you hold within, and, if you do
+not bring to me the keys so that I may open the strong doors with them,
+why, then, I'll be obliged to break down the barriers that are between
+the ones you hold within that prison and the freedom that is their
+natural right. Once more do I command you ..." he cried in a stentorian
+voice, using the quality of voice that he employed when he intoned with
+due solemnity, the holy mass, "bring forth to me the keys that I may
+liberate my children that you hold without the right to hold them, or,
+if you refuse to do my bidding, then may the consequences of what will
+follow that refusal be upon your own head...."</p>
+
+<p>As, still there was no answer from the dark and gloomy precincts of the
+edifice before him, he prepared to carry out the threats that he had
+made.</p>
+
+<p>First, he commanded those who held the battering rams in readiness to
+advance until they were the proper distance from the doors for the use
+of their rude weapons, then he told the others to await his word but to
+be in readiness, each one, to follow where he led, then, holding high
+his crucifix and calling most devoutly, on the name of God, he came as
+near to those who were about to use the battering rams as he could do
+and not impede their movements, then he cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Advance and give no quarter! Do your duty as I have instructed you to
+the full extent of it! Follow me, my little children, God is good and He
+will care for us in this our desperate undertaking."</p>
+
+<p>As the heavy detonation of the strokes of those who held the battering
+rams rang through the building, cries were heard as if of those who were
+in agony and many shuddered at the sound for well they thought they knew
+its cause ... it seemed to them that they would be too late ... that
+those they sought to rescue were even at that moment being foully
+murdered in their cells because they were about to save them from the
+fate that they had been condemned to undergo.</p>
+
+<p>The fair Estrella clung to her dark little friend and whispered to her:</p>
+
+<p>"Tessa, it is more terrible than we imagined it would be ... what shall
+we do? How can we bear to go yet nearer to the horror that the prison
+hides from us? Tessa ... little Friend ..." she ended, "I'm awfully
+afraid ... are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm almost scared to death myself, Estrella," Tessa whispered back, "I
+know I'll die of fright alone if this keeps on much longer ... hear that
+scream! It's very terrible!"</p>
+
+<p>But, then, all sounds were hushed, for prison doors that had been locked
+as tight as any prison doors could be had yielded to the heavy blows
+that had been rained upon them and, as they opened, they could plainly
+see, in the dim light that fell within that prison's entrance, that they
+had been, indeed, too late for him who lay at his full length across the
+entrance to the prison, for his body had been twisted in its fall so
+that his head that had been almost severed from it lay askew as if its
+eyes, that stared as wildly and as full of earthly horror as dead eyes
+could, had been trying to discover something strange about the figure
+that, but only lately, was as full of life and vigor as was any figure
+standing there without that prison door.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella gazed at that still figure ... then she screamed in almost more
+than human agony and darted forward till she crouched beside it as it
+lay there at the entrance to the prison ... straightening the handsome
+head, she lifted it until it rested in her lap, and, then, she softly
+smoothed the dark and clustering curls that hung above the broad, full
+brow, and looked within the great brown eyes that stared at her, or so
+it seemed, as if the owner of them had been walking in his sleep, and
+then she pressed her virgin lips upon the full, be-whiskered mouth of
+him whose head she held within her lap.</p>
+
+<p>She fainted, then, and fell across the body of the man who lay across
+the entrance to that prison, and Father Felix lifted her and laid the
+senseless, almost severed head upon the floor again, and supported her
+until he left her with her little friend, outside, among the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>And then the village Priest came back and led the men who held the
+battering rams within the prison to the cells of those they wished to
+liberate and commanded them to break down those doors as they had broken
+down the other ones, but, here, he found his way was barred, for, just
+as soon as blows began to fall upon the doors of those narrow cells
+those within those cells began to call to them and caution them that, if
+the doors were broken down, they'd find the prison-guards behind them
+with their loaded guns and the prisoners told their friends that those
+loaded guns were pointed at their breasts and would be fired at them
+just as soon as their cell-doors gave way.</p>
+
+<p>When Father Felix heard this ultimatum he thought that all his efforts
+had been useless and his deep-laid plans of no avail until he heard a
+voice behind him softly whisper ... a voice that he had never heard
+before:</p>
+
+<p>"Be not weary in well-doing. The cell-doors will open and the prisoners
+come forth alive if you but use the proper means to bring about that
+end. Call out to those you wish to succor, now, and tell them to be of
+good cheer for deliverance is at hand."</p>
+
+<p>The soft voice drifted away into silence, then, but the village Priest
+obeyed its mandates and reassured the ones within those narrow cells and
+gave them courage to withstand the threats of instant death that faced
+them there.</p>
+
+<p>And, then, he turned to those who waited his commands and told them
+that help was very near ... that, waiting there within the corridors of
+that small prison were those who'd come from far to bring to them
+assistance ... the kind of help that loaded guns would not affect. Then,
+he told them of the punishment that would await the ones who disobeyed
+the orders he was just about to give ... a punishment that would not
+only last through earthly life but would go on into eternity ... a
+punishment that would not only blast the earthly tenements but would
+condemn the souls of those who chose to act in opposition to his orders
+to everlasting torment.</p>
+
+<p>And, then, he turned to those who, breathlessly, were waiting for the
+orders he was just about to give, and said to them:</p>
+
+<p>"When I have counted up to three, prepare to break the doors down ...
+when I have counted up to six, if so be they remain unopened, go on and
+break them in!" he stopped a moment, then, to ascertain whether his
+followers fully understood the instructions he was giving to them ...
+seeing all of them alert, he continued, "to you who are within, I make
+this unalterable statement. Choose between a longer lease of earthly
+life and instant death! Choose between forgiveness for your past sins or
+everlasting punishment! Open these doors from within or we will break
+them down and those whose human bodies we will find, lying stark and
+cold in earthly death, will not be those of our dear friends who are
+your prisoners, for there are those within those cells of whose presence
+you are unaware but who are potent in the cause of right and truth and
+justice. I will now proceed to count ... one ... two ... three ..." at
+that, he heard a key thrust rapidly within a lock, but, as it was
+unturned, he went on counting, "four ..." he heard another key inserted
+in a lock, "five ..." he waited just a second longer, then, than he had
+done before, hoping that the keys would turn before the final number had
+to come, but, as they did not do that, he opened his mouth to pronounce
+the fatal word and was about to utter it, when, suddenly, all the
+cell-doors opened and the prison-guards within had fallen on their knees
+in superstitious terror of what they did not know, and, so, instead of
+uttering the fatal number, good Father Felix said, "Thank God!" and
+raised his crucifix and pronounced a blessing on them all, both
+prisoners and those who'd guarded them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Father Felix ceased to be engaged in silent prayer he lowered the
+crucifix he held in his right hand and placed it in the bosom of the
+robe he wore and welcomed those who came from out that gloomy
+prison-cell with praises and with prayers upon their trembling lips; he
+took their hands in his and held them for a moment as they passed in
+slow procession, for they were very weak from fasting and from long
+confinement, on their way out into the open light of day.</p>
+
+<p>The first of all who passed from out those gloomy cells was he who'd
+called to Father Felix to stay the hands of those who sought to liberate
+the prisoners ... he was taller than the rest of those who crowded out
+into the corridor and they seemed to follow him as if he were their
+natural leader.</p>
+
+<p>He only paused a moment when he reached the side of the Priest and
+hurried on as if he sought someone whom he hoped to find among the
+motley multitude who surged around the broken doors that led into the
+prado where most of the women were assembled waiting for the more
+desperate action of the men who'd gone inside the prison.</p>
+
+<p>The liberated prisoner, although he, too, was weak and worn as all of
+his companions were, yet rushed with rapid strides from side to side of
+the excited mob whose clamor, now released, quite filled the prado with
+vociferous shouts of joy, until he seemed to find the object of his
+hasty search, for, when he came to where Estrella lay supported by her
+little friend upon a hastily constructed bed of straw and grass, he
+stooped above her anxiously and leaned to look within her face, but,
+when her wide and terror-stricken eyes looked into his, he turned away
+as if he had not found the one he was in search of after all.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella raised herself upon one elbow and rested on the ready shoulder
+of her little friend while she gazed after his retreating form with an
+eagerness not unmixed with sudden fear; it seemed as if the girl were
+fascinated by him, and, yet, dreaded his approach, for she did not even
+speak to him although she knew that he had been one of those whom they
+had come to liberate and had looked forward to greeting him when he
+should be released.</p>
+
+<p>But the horror that had been thrust upon her at the very entrance of
+that dark and gloomy prison had quite unnerved her and had made her
+shrink from any contact with the prisoners who, now, came trooping out
+and mingled with the crowd by which they were soon, as it seemed,
+absorbed.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly, a trumpet blast rang through the wide and spacious
+prado and a company of mounted cavalry, with naked swords uplifted, rode
+madly in among the crowd and scattered it as chaff is scattered by a
+furious wind ... cries of agony were heard as some were trampled by the
+horses, tortured by the cruel spurs which their infuriated riders were
+driving into their tender skins, and many men and women fell into
+disordered heaps of human misery in wildly scrambling toward a place of
+temporary safety.</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers gave no quarter to the fleeing masses of the people but
+kept driving all of them who stood upon their feet at all toward the
+open streets of the little village that led out of the prado, ordering
+them to cease from disturbing the peace and calling upon them in the
+name of the young King, Alfonso XIII, to disperse at once and to return
+to their homes in the village without delay.</p>
+
+<p>The most of those within the prado had been driven out before the
+commanding officer of the soldiers noticed that the prison doors were
+open, even then, at first he did not perceive just what the crowd had
+been collected for, or he might have given other orders than he had.</p>
+
+<p>When he beheld the broken doors he marvelled greatly, for this was an
+unlooked-for and unprecedented method of liberating political prisoners
+in San Domingo and the commanding officer did not know just what action
+to take in the matter but felt that he must wait for further orders
+from his superiors in command before taking any drastic steps to quell
+the evident uprising of public opinion.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix had seen the soldiers as they dashed into the prado and he
+hastened outside the prison intending to meet them and hold some
+colloquy with their leader, but, when he had reached the centre of the
+prado the soldiers were driving the crowd out at the farther end of the
+enclosure, so that, instead of meeting the leader of the soldiery he
+came upon his own people as they lay in disordered heaps or staggered to
+their feet.</p>
+
+<p>Observing Estrella and Tessa crouched back against a wall as far away
+from the soldiers as they could manage to put themselves, he approached
+them and asked them what they knew about this new phase of the
+tumultuous doings of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The two girls greeted him joyfully for they had had their fill of horror
+and welcomed the Priest who represented to them the sanctity of the
+church:</p>
+
+<p>"Father Felix," cried the little Tessa, "tell us what we are to do next
+and where we are to go and what we are to do when we get there, for we
+are dreadfully upset and poor Estrella has had a terrible shock and is
+still weakened from her fainting fit, while I am just as I have been
+right along ... scared half to death."</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest stopped beside the girls long enough to tell them to
+quietly go to their own homes and stay indoors until morning, then he
+passed on to the other groups, and, where he could do so, assisted them
+to leave the prado, preparatory to seeking their own places of abode
+where he advised them all to remain if possible without molestation from
+the authorities.</p>
+
+<p>When Father Felix had reached the little cluster of people surrounding
+the liberated prisoner whom we have mentioned before, he came to a halt,
+and, beckoning the young man referred to to follow him, he passed on out
+of ear-shot of the rest and said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish that you would explain to me how it happens that Estrella is in
+need of help and you, although free, are not by her side. How does it
+happen, Manuello, that your half-sister has only her little friend,
+Tessa, to lean upon, while your strong arms are without a burden?"</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow hung his head as if ashamed, for a moment, before he
+answered Father Felix, and seemed to ponder deeply over his reply to the
+good Priest's intimate question:</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you about that in a very few words, Father," he at length
+summoned courage to say, "I have only within the past few most
+delightful moments been freed from a loathesome dungeon and have been
+receiving the felicitations of some of my friends on my fortunate
+escape. I did not realize that Estrella needed my services ... if so,
+of course I will at once offer them to her."</p>
+
+<p>Bowing low before Father Felix, he put his right hand to his head as if
+to doff its covering, but, finding it bare except for his thick mop of
+dishevelled brown hair, he smiled, instead, and, suiting his actions to
+his words, approached the two girls who still remained where Father
+Felix had left them as if afraid to move:</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me!" he cried, gayly, extending one strong arm to each of the
+maidens, "Accept my escort to whatever place you desire to go!"</p>
+
+<p>Estrella seemed to take no notice of the offered arm, but Tessa eagerly
+laid hold of the proffered protection and snuggled her small person
+against the tall figure of the young fellow who turned to her companion
+as if to discover the cause of her apparent coolness.</p>
+
+<p>"Why so silent, fair Lady?" he inquired, "Have you no congratulations to
+offer me upon my recent harrowing experience and subsequent and most
+fortunate escape?"</p>
+
+<p>Estrella did not answer him at first, but gazed intently into his eager
+face as if to read there the inner motives that prompted his
+lightly-spoken words.</p>
+
+<p>After she had looked into his face for a few seconds of earnest
+scrutiny, she said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Manuello, why did you not speak to me when we first met after your
+liberation from the prison? Why have you spent the time since then among
+the others instead of looking after my interests? Have you ceased to
+care for me during your incarceration? What have I done to deserve such
+treatment from you? Have I not treated you as a sister should? In what
+way have I offended you, Manuello?"</p>
+
+<p>As she uttered these words her fair face flushed with the tide of deep
+emotion that swept over it and her blue eyes grew dark and full of
+feeling. She placed one of her hands on his arm, lightly, but held
+herself aloof from contact with his person.</p>
+
+<p>He recognized this attitude of hers by standing a little more erectly
+and holding the arm on which her hand had been laid, stiffly extended a
+little from his body:</p>
+
+<p>"How suddenly affectionate you have become, my soft and yielding sister!
+It seems to me that I remember how earnestly you plead with me to cease
+embracing you whenever opportunity was afforded to me, before I went to
+prison for my sins.... I think you are the girl who used to say to me
+'please, Manuello, don't hold my hand so tightly! You are too rough!' I
+do not wish to be considered rough by any woman, and, so, I am more
+cautious in approaching your sacred person, now that I have had time to
+reflect upon your many words."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you speak so to her, Manuello," exclaimed the dark-skinned
+Tessa, "now that you are free once more? Poor Estrella has had a most
+terrible experience, here, tonight ... you ought to comfort instead of
+scolding her."</p>
+
+<p>The tender-hearted little girl looked up at the big man reproachfully
+and reached around his back to pat Estrella's shoulder, but he only
+stalked along between the two girls, sullenly and almost silently.</p>
+
+<p>At length, they reached the little cottage where Estrella and her family
+lived and Tessa ran along a little further to her own home while
+Manuello and his half-sister entered their own dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>It happened that they were alone, at first, as the other members of the
+little family had not yet returned from the prado, and, in that interval
+of time, considerable was said and done by both of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Manuello," said the girl, putting one hand on each of his broad
+shoulders, "have you no pity for me, now that Victorio is dead? You must
+have seen his poor, mangled body lying there at the entrance of the
+prison, Manuello ... can you tell how he came to die just as he and all
+the rest were about to be released from prison?"</p>
+
+<p>Her tear-stained face was very near to his and his own lips began to
+tremble before he mustered courage to answer her:</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I'm sorry for you, Estrella," he began haltingly and slow,
+"of course I pity you as well as any other woman whose lover's newly
+dead. As to how he happened to be killed ... why, I guess you will
+never know just what did happen in that prison when those battering rams
+began to rock it by their impact ... I am certain that I cannot give you
+much explanation as I, myself, was one of those who suffered, although
+you do not seem concerned as to that in any way."</p>
+
+<p>"You escaped alive, Manuello, and poor Victorio did not for his poor
+head was almost severed from his body ..." said Estrella, weeping
+violently, with deep-drawn sobs of agony, "I lifted him and tried to
+hold his head upon my lap ... oh, Manuello," she continued, clinging to
+him involuntarily, "it was very terrible!"</p>
+
+<p>Her sufferings seemed to move him for he put his arms about her
+shoulders and drew her head forward until it rested on his broad and
+palpitating breast:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little girl!" he murmured, softly, stroking her fair hair, "Poor
+little Estrella! I <i>am</i> sorry for you ... I <i>do</i> pity you, though why
+you chose Victorio for your lover was always beyond my comprehension."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Father Felix left the prado he went directly to the church where he
+officiated, and, thence, into the small refectory behind it; here, he
+removed the flowing vestments he had worn when engaged in the enterprise
+which we have described in a previous chapter of this book, and assumed
+a more conventional and handy garb for he had work to do that would
+require all the strength of his arms and all the muscles of his broad
+back; he had set himself a task that was never meant for priestly hands
+to do, and, in the doing of it, he would need all the strength that
+years of careful living and an inherited and bounding health had
+bestowed upon him.</p>
+
+<p>He, at once, began preparations for the work he had to do, and, to begin
+with, he adjusted the heavy cross which he always wore about his neck so
+that it would hang exactly in front of him and not over-balance his body
+by being on one side or the other; this cross had been a relic much
+prized by him of an old Priest with whom he had studied and whose
+sainted memory he revered almost as much as that of the saints whom he
+had been taught to worship along with the Virgin Mary and The Babe of
+Bethlehem; then, he put on next to his skin a hair-cloth shirt so
+constructed as not to scratch and yet to be very warm; over this he
+placed a heavy riding-coat which had been given to him by one of those
+who attended the services he conducted in the church; these garments,
+together with heavy breeches and warm, woolen stockings worn under heavy
+boots, completed, with the addition of a broad-brimmed hat, a disguise
+that would deceive almost any person who was acquainted with his
+ordinary appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Having clothed himself to his own satisfaction, he took a heavy stick he
+had handy in his strong right hand and proceeded to leave the vicinity
+where he was accustomed, at all hours, to be found, and, stealthily and
+quietly, exercising all the precaution of which he was capable, he
+proceeded up the street that ran behind the little church with as much
+of haste as was consistent with the object of his journey.</p>
+
+<p>When he had gone about two blocks from the church he turned sharply to
+his left and proceeded about as far again up the street that led away
+from the village, then, turning again to his left, he walked briskly for
+another block or two, when he came to a sharp turn and paused as if in
+doubt as to just which turn to take, when, suddenly, as if from the
+ground at his feet, he heard a low voice addressing him in no uncertain
+language:</p>
+
+<p>"Turn toward the right side of this street," whispered the voice, "take
+the right-hand side of this street and then turn again toward the left
+when you have gone for two more blocks toward the right. You will find
+the object of your search has been in waiting for you for some hours and
+is now growing impatient ... so make all possible haste, good Father
+Felix ... make all possible haste for she is sore pressed with fatigue
+and fear."</p>
+
+<p>When the voice had ceased speaking to him, Father Felix followed the
+direction it gave him, implicitly, and found, indeed, as it had assured
+him, the object of the night-journey he had just made, waiting for him
+with great impatience, coupled with much fear and dread of consequences;
+he hastened to reassure her as soon as he reached her side by saying
+softly to her:</p>
+
+<p>"Be of good cheer, dear Madam. The work that you commissioned me to do
+has been well done and all of the prisoners excepting one are now at
+liberty. Unfortunately, one of our friends lost his life just before the
+wide doors of the prison were burst open ... no one seems to know how
+this came about, but we found his dead body across the very entrance as
+if, indeed, he had been about to join our ranks outside when death
+overtook and stopped him."</p>
+
+<p>"Which of the prisoners was killed?" asked the woman who had been
+waiting there for his coming, eagerly and apprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not suppose that you were acquainted with the young fellow ..."
+answered the good Father Felix, soothingly, "he was called Victorio
+Colenzo ... he was the lover of a girl I know very well and she was with
+the crowd, who followed me; she dashed into the entrance of the prison
+and held his head, which had been almost severed from its body, in her
+lap until she fainted and became mercifully unconscious of her horrible
+surroundings ... the poor girl was almost crazed with agony and regret,
+for she had flouted him to some extent because of his revolutionary
+sentiments...."</p>
+
+<p>He had gotten that far in his narrative little thinking of the intense
+interest it had for the woman listening to it, until he happened to look
+earnestly at her when he saw, in an instant, that it held for her great
+personal appeal; he stopped at that knowledge and waited for her to
+explain the situation if so be she wished to do so; at length, between
+low-drawn sobs, she said, falteringly:</p>
+
+<p>"You say Victorio Colenzo was the lover of some light girl you know?
+Indeed, you are much mistaken. Instead of being any girl's lover, he
+belonged solely to me. He was my own dearly beloved husband, Father
+Felix. I had not yet told you of our marriage for I wanted you to think
+of me only in my own personal right, but I am the widow of the man whose
+shameful and horrible death you have just been describing to me ... I am
+the weeping widow of Victorio Colenzo, Father Felix, and, if it be in my
+power, his death shall be avenged in blood!"</p>
+
+<p>As she ceased speaking she put her hands before her face and gave way,
+utterly, to her great sorrow, for she had but spoken the solemn truth
+although no one of her many acquaintances suspected that she was a
+married woman at all.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix was dumbfounded by the intelligence the young woman had
+just given to him and pitied her from the very bottom of his tender
+heart and he blamed his blundering tongue for giving to her such a shock
+as he had just been the cause of; at the same time he could not blame
+himself as much as he might have done had he not known of the marriage
+contract of Estrella and this same man of whom he had been speaking; he
+hastened to place this young girl in the right light before his
+companion by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Madam, as to the girl of whom I was just speaking, she is in
+every sense of the word a good girl and innocent of any wrong intention;
+if there is a sinner in this matter it was he who is now not to be
+condemned by any human being, for he has gone before his Maker Who will
+mete out to him whatever is his just dessert. I am deeply grieved that I
+should have caused you this deep grief at this time, but, as the
+circumstances are, you would have been obliged to know it very soon in
+any case."</p>
+
+<p>The young woman who had been waiting for the Priest to come to her to
+make his report as to how he had done the work that she had set for him
+to do, was beautiful as any dream of womanhood could ever be.</p>
+
+<p>Her great gray eyes, that shone like stars upon a misty night, were
+lifted to his face and questioned him as to the truth of his last
+statement while they plainly showed the almost holy faith she had in all
+he did:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Father Felix," she said, finally, stifling as best she could the
+sobs that shook her slender figure, "dear Father Felix, I know you speak
+the truth, and, yet, it does not seem to me that he could have ever been
+a hypocrite such as a man would have to be to be what you infer he was.
+He was my darling husband ... if he, also, was the lover of a trusting
+girl, then he sinned most grievously ... it breaks my heart," she ended,
+clasping her soft, white hands together spasmodically, "it breaks my
+heart to think he could be such a villain as you say he was. Dear Father
+Felix," she began again, for hope will sometimes come upon the very
+heels of wild despair, "dear Father Felix, are you sure that this man
+who is newly dead can be the Victorio Colenzo that I know ... the man
+who is ... I hope he is ... my own dear husband? The one I mean was a
+prisoner with the others you have liberated ... it was for his sake
+alone that I arranged to have you do the work you've done ... might it
+not be that you have been mistaken in the man? Might there not have
+even been two men bearing the same name within that prison?"</p>
+
+<p>Eagerly and hopefully, she questioned the good Priest. He sadly shook
+his head and said to her:</p>
+
+<p>"The young man whose body lay within the entrance to the prison when we
+had battered down the door, was tall and very dark ... his hair was like
+a raven's wing for blackness ... his eyes were like the falcon's in
+their keenness ... he was a handsome fellow in every possible way and
+the girl, Estrella, of whom I spoke, fairly worshipped him although her
+own family flouted her for doing so, as he only came to see her at long
+intervals and seemed ashamed to be seen with her ... seldom ever went
+out anywhere with her, but they were plighted lovers ... that I know ...
+they came to me together, one evening, in the church, and I blessed
+their future union, believing him to be an honest man and knowing her to
+be a gentle, true and loving girl."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear he was my husband, Father Felix.... I fear the very one I hoped
+to liberate has lost his life and lost his honor, too. Father Felix,
+tell me how to bear this great and hopeless sorrow! <i>Is</i> there any way
+to bear a sorrow such as this one is? <i>Can</i> I shut my Husband's memory
+from my heart because I can no longer have respect for him? <i>Is</i> there
+any way," she wailed, pleadingly, "<i>is</i> there any way to bear a sorrow
+such as this one is? <i>Tell</i> me, good Father, <i>tell</i> me, is there any
+way of escape for me who am as innocent as is this young girl of whom
+you have just spoken? Is there some way in which I can assist her,
+Father Felix? Perhaps it is my duty, under these circumstances, to hunt
+her up and try to help her, who is, also, as it were, a widow of my
+darling Husband. Must I do this, Father? Would it be my duty, as the
+wife of Victorio Colenzo, to look this girl up and try to help her bear
+her sorrow on account of his death?"</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest looked at her in deep amazement, but he answered her as
+calmly as he could command his voice to speak:</p>
+
+<p>"No, my Daughter, no ... that would be going beyond reason as to duty.
+It might be right for you to send her something if she were in need of
+monetary assistance.... I do not think she is, however, I do not think
+Estrella is in need of anything to live upon ... they had not been
+married, you understand ... she was not his wife as you were ... only
+just he'd promised he would marry her, sometime. No, you owe her nothing
+more than womanly sympathy in her bereavement and you do not need to see
+her at all, for that matter. It would give you unnecessary pain, it
+seems to me. As for her, if we can, we will let her remain in ignorance
+of the character of him she loved ... she would the sooner repair the
+injury, it seems to me, if she could still respect his memory. It must
+be doubly hard for you, my Daughter, to lose him and respect for him at
+the same time ... yet, it would have been a terrible knowledge for you
+to have gained ... that he had misled this innocent girl ... even during
+his life. A man has little thought of the women who love him when he
+plays fast and loose with more than one of them at a time, anyway. I
+wish I knew what words to say to you to make you strong to bear this
+misery, dear Daughter ... you must bear it all alone, I know that
+much ... only God in His great Mercy, can assist you in this matter ...
+only He can tell you what to do or how to endure your agony of spirit,
+for only He can understand your heart. I am but a feeble instrument in
+God's Own Hands, my dear, afflicted Daughter.... I am but a very feeble
+instrument.... I wish I knew the way to help you bear this thing. I wish
+that I could say the fitting word to turn your mind to other thoughts,
+for only in the mind can fitting help be found ... only the spiritual
+side of your strong nature can uphold you now."</p>
+
+<p>He'd kept on talking to her hoping to alleviate her pain in some
+degree ... hoping that her fits of violent and heart-breaking weeping
+would grow farther and farther apart until they would cease altogether
+so that, being calmer, she could better face this heavy burden that was
+hers, and hers alone, to bear. Seeing no cessation of her sobs and moans
+of agony of spirit, he began to speak of other matters, hoping to
+distract her mind and turn her thoughts to other things, thereby giving
+her an opportunity to face the sorrow that had come upon her so suddenly
+with more strength than she would have if she continued to dwell on it
+alone. So he bethought him of the soldiery and of their coming riding
+into the prado and he began to tell her of this phase of the adventure
+he had on her account, mainly. She listened calmly to this narrative and
+even asked some questions, haltingly, but, just as soon as that account
+was ended, she began again to ask concerning poor Victorio:</p>
+
+<p>"Where have they taken his remains, good Father? Where can I find my
+darling Husband's body? How can I bear to have to see his face which has
+always to my knowledge been so full of life and youth and perfect health
+lying stark and still with no expression in his glorious dark eyes that
+always looked so lovingly at me? Father Felix, even now, it seems to me
+that there must be some mistake about my Husband's being the same man
+who was the lover of this girl you know about.... I think that I will
+see her ... there ... beside my darling Husband's body and decide the
+matter for myself instead of listening to the tales that have been told
+to me. That is how I think I will proceed," she ended, then, quite
+calmly, as it seemed, for secretly she then began to hope that it was
+not her husband, after all, "That is how I will proceed about this
+terrible calamity, Father Felix. I will see this girl beside the body
+of the man she says has been her lover ... he may not be my darling
+Husband, after all."</p>
+
+<p>And so their conference ended, he giving her explicit directions as to
+where Victorio's body had been placed, and she thanking him for carrying
+out her wishes even though, as it seemed then, the very thing she had
+him do the work for had failed her utterly.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix went back, then, to the refectory, with this complicated
+matter bearing hard upon his heart. He pitied both the suffering women
+very much and wished to help them both if so be he could find the proper
+way to do the task in.</p>
+
+<p>He pondered deeply on the various situations he'd surprised in carrying
+out the project of the woman he had met, that night; she had not told
+him of her plans in their entirety, and, so, it seemed, the very plans
+she doted on the most had very far miscarried and the work, so far as
+she had been concerned, had not only been as futile as any work could
+ever be, but, also, it had brought to her a new and horrible calamity
+besides the failure of her plans and loss of him she evidently deeply
+loved as tender women love but only once in all their human lives,
+perhaps, for Victorio Colenzo had been a man to claim the love of tender
+women ... he was very tall and very handsome, too; his deep, dark eyes
+were very full of loving expression and his strong arms, folded close
+about a tender woman's yielding form, would lift her spirit up and make
+her almost wild with joy and gladness.</p>
+
+<p>And, as it looked now, those strong arms had been folded, not only round
+his own wife's tender form, but, also, about, at least, one other
+woman's, too. Good Father Felix reflected on the fraility of man and
+pondered deeply on the tenderness of women, but he did not, even then,
+reach the very root of the whole matter, for he, being what he was,
+would not be very likely ever to know the heights and depths, as well,
+of human love, for he had always been a religious devotee in spite of
+his great strength of limb ... he'd only used his bodily powers to
+forward the work to which his whole life was devoted utterly, and, so,
+good Father Felix could not fully understand a man such as Victorio
+Colenzo must have been to leave the record that he'd left behind him
+when he died, there, in the entrance to that dark and gloomy prison,
+just as he had been about to come again, a free man, into the glorious
+light of day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+
+<p>Father Felix had prepared the widow of Victorio Colenzo for the sight
+she would behold when she went to the rude dwelling where they had laid
+the form of the prisoner whose dead body had been found lying in the
+entrance to the prison on the day the people battered down the doors and
+set at liberty several political prisoners confined therein, but no one
+could, really, prepare a woman for the vision presented to her eyes when
+she entered the cottage that had been turned into a temporary morgue,
+for more than one of those engaged in the deadly strife with the
+soldiery in the prado after the deliverance of the prisoners had given
+up his earthly life, either at the time of the attack or afterwards from
+wounds inflicted either intentionally or inadvertently by those who had
+been sent to the prado to quell an uprising of the Cuban populace.</p>
+
+<p>As the woman we have before described entered the rude shelter where the
+dead bodies of several of the residents of the little village lay, she
+was surprised and grieved by the number of the dead and, also, by the
+many mourners who crowded among the slabs on which the bodies lay, for
+there was little of orderly array there, everything being of the rudest
+and most primitive pattern as the reigning government did not wish to
+dignify those who had opposed it even after death had taken from their
+limbs the power to oppose anything in the world of men and women.</p>
+
+<p>The woman, who was of a higher class than most of those assembled there,
+was treated with marked deference as became her superior position both
+as to wealth and education, for the widow of Victorio Colenzo occupied a
+proud place in her own right, having been, for a long time, the occupant
+of a large and beautiful residence that commanded a wide view of the
+harbor of Havana and was situated on an elevation above the little
+village of San Domingo; this home had been hers long before she had ever
+met the handsome peon whom she had acknowledged as her husband to Father
+Felix after having learned of his death.</p>
+
+<p>It was through her own instigation that the man had taken the position
+which had, subsequently, placed him among the prisoners for offenses
+against the reigning government who had been liberated under her direct
+orders and with her pronounced sanction, although she had not actually
+taken part in the work which she had directed.</p>
+
+<p>This woman was of another type entirely as compared with the others in
+that small dwelling and walked among them almost haughtily in spite of
+her eagerness in the search after evidence that would convince her that
+she had not been utterly mistaken in the man she had secretly married,
+believing him to represent the finest and highest example of patriotic
+courage and devotion that she had met during the whole of her long
+residence in the Island of Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>She had come to the Island, in her first youth, as the daughter of the
+American Consul who represented the United States in the council
+chambers where were gathered those who discussed affairs of state with
+the ruling Spanish powers; her father had purchased the beautiful site
+on which he had built the home that was still hers, although both of her
+parents had died, there in Cuba, within the past few years; the girl had
+been left practically without living relatives, and, so, loving her
+Island home, she had remained there in spite of the solicitations of
+many American friends who had visited her in Cuba and urged her to
+return to the United States with them; she was of a reticent and
+retiring disposition, loving a good book more than almost anything else
+in the world, and being surrounded by a splendid library, her time was
+fully and pleasantly occupied, as she had trustworthy retainers who
+followed her mandates because they loved to fulfill them and pitied her
+loneliness while they almost worshiped her superior manners and style of
+speech as well as of living; Father Felix, alone, understood her mental
+attainments and was greatly bewildered when she told him that she had
+married Victorio Colenzo as he considered her far removed from the peons
+who were the regular inhabitants of the Island and among whom he labored
+as a missionary rather than as an equal, although his deep humility of
+manner always led them to believe that he was on their own level of
+intelligence, while the aloofness of this one woman set her apart from
+all of her neighbors and made her seem to them like a being from another
+and a higher world.</p>
+
+<p>As she walked among the slabs on which the dead bodies had been laid,
+that morning, for she had come down from her home early, having slept,
+during the past night, only the few hours preceding her meeting with
+Father Felix, as she hoped to have her doubts set at rest and to be
+assured that the man she had secretly united to herself by marriage was
+still worthy of her respect and love which she had given to him without
+further knowledge of his character than what he chose to exhibit to her
+in their infrequent meetings prior to his declaration of undying worship
+and deep and overpowering love for herself as well as of patriotic zeal
+which latter emotion she fully sympathized with, as she regarded it as
+similar in many ways to her own feeling for her much-beloved land which
+was all the more powerful because of her isolation from others of her
+own nation, she representing, to herself at least, the whole of the
+entire broad expanse of the United States; it was this sympathy with
+the ardent patriotism of Victorio Colenzo that had led to her present
+plight for, believing him to possess the strong feelings for his native
+land which he had professed to her to have, she had urged his
+participation in the plot which, on its discovery by the Spanish
+authorities, had plunged him, with others, into the prison from which,
+through her own earnest efforts, they had just been liberated, or, at
+least, a part of them.</p>
+
+<p>Now, she reached the side of the farthest slab in that small room, and
+noticed, at once, crouching down beside it, a fair-haired girl who
+seemed, beyond all doubt, the one bereft by the condition of the body
+lying there, so straight and still, beneath the rude pall that had been
+thrown over it so that even its face was hidden from sight. She softly
+touched the mourner on the shoulder nearest to her and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"My poor Girl, for whom do you mourn? Is it the body of your brother
+lying here, or, yet," she went on, hesitatingly, for a horrible
+suspicion began to thrust its ugly head before her vision, "can he who
+lies here so quietly have been, maybe, your husband? You are young but I
+know well that the girls, here, marry very young...."</p>
+
+<p>She ended haltingly, for the girl had raised her lovely face,
+tear-stained and drawn by sorrow, and looked up into the face that bent
+so near to her own:</p>
+
+<p>"He was my plighted husband, Lady; he <i>would</i> have been my husband had
+death not intervened to take him from me! I <i>love</i> him so ..." she
+suddenly screamed in agony, "I <i>love</i> him so ... Victorio! Why have you
+left me all alone in a cruel world to be a widow before I was a wife?
+Victorio...."</p>
+
+<p>And, then, she rose, as one who had that right, and turned the pall back
+from the countenance of him who lay there on that senseless slab.</p>
+
+<p>The other woman did not scream, as poor Estrella had ... she did not
+even move, indeed, but stood as if she had been carved from marble, for
+her face was almost just as pale as death itself ... the pulsing blood
+receded from her cheeks and from her trembling lips ... she stood so
+tall and still that the poor girl became conscious of her in spite of
+her own grief and wondered if she, also, sought to find some one she
+loved among the dead; with that thought in her mind, she stepped back
+from the corpse she had been leaning over, and said to her who stood
+there silently as if her interest in the affairs of life had, suddenly,
+ceased:</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon for my selfishness. Are you, too, one of those who
+lost some loved one yesterday? Do you seek, here, in this sad place, the
+body of one whom you've loved as I have loved the man who lies here ...
+dead ... before me?"</p>
+
+<p>The older girl was silent, for she could not talk to poor Estrella as
+she wished to do ... as she had meant to do in case her worst fears had
+to be realized; she did not wish to add a single hair's weight to the
+sorrow that the poor girl felt for him who had been false to both of
+those trusting women who stood there beside his corpse; she did not wish
+to harm the innocent girl, for she could see how true and loving she had
+been by gazing, only for a moment, in her wide, blue eyes, and, yet, it
+was her right and, perhaps, it was also her duty, to the man who had
+been her earthly husband, to claim his body and to bury it as would
+become the husband of a woman such as she had, always, been; but, as
+he'd always begged her to keep secret their marriage which had taken
+place in Havana instead of having Father Felix marry them at his
+request, for political reasons, he had told her, with the thought that
+she, being an American, might complicate his position with the Spanish
+government, as he had occupied a place of trust under the Governor,
+until the proper time would come to expose his actual feelings for his
+native land.</p>
+
+<p>And, so, she had to think of this side of the complicated problem
+presented to her by her strange position while she stood there with that
+weeping, loving, sympathetic, untaught girl clinging to her hand and
+questioning her. At length, having collected a little of her usual
+unselfish consideration for the people living on the Island, she turned
+to poor Estrella and said to her, softly, and, yet, without
+condescension in her manner:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my poor Girl, I, also, seek someone I love among the newly
+dead.... I, also, wish to find the man I loved as you have loved the man
+who lies here on this slab.... I, also...."</p>
+
+<p>Then, her courage failed her utterly and she fainted dead away, even as
+poor Estrella, herself, had, when she had first beheld the body of the
+man who had made love to both of them.</p>
+
+<p>The fair-haired girl bent over the older woman and lifted her in her
+strong arms and carried her into the outer air and found the carriage
+where it waited for its mistress and placed her in the care of those who
+served her; then, for the first time, she realized who the lady was
+who'd found her there beside her dead, as she supposed, for Victorio had
+no family in San Domingo, having only come there recently, and having
+held himself as somewhat superior to the most of his own countrymen whom
+he met, so poor Estrella claimed his body as having been his sweetheart,
+since he had, as she believed, no wife in all the world, for he had
+often told her he had never found a woman he could love before he met
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Now, she helped to chafe the hands of her who lay there in that costly
+carriage with her brown hair making a soft frame for her pale face which
+lay upon the lap of one who loved her with the kind of love an ignorant,
+older woman gives to one she much admires and who is far superior to her
+in every possible way; this woman smoothed the fluffy hair back from
+the high white brow, now, and spoke to her as if she were her baby
+instead of one whom she looked up to and respected:</p>
+
+<p>"There ... there! My Pretty! Open your sweet eyes and look at your own
+loving Mage!" she said, as the long, brown lashes that fringed the
+delicate white lids still brushed the rounded cheeks that were almost as
+white as the smooth brow. "Look up at me and let me see your shining
+eyes, again!"</p>
+
+<p>"Her heart is beating, now, more regularly," said Estrella, for her hand
+had sought the other's bosom to see if she still lived at all. "She
+breathes more easily, too. I think she will recover very soon ... poor
+Lady! She sympathized with me in my great sorrow so deeply that she
+fainted. How sweet and dear she is!" she added, softly, as a shudder
+shook the form before her. "How very sweet and dear she is. You <i>must</i>
+love her very much indeed.... I never happened to see her before today,
+but I know who she is, now, and how very kind she has been to so many of
+our people."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish the color would creep back into her cheeks ..." moaned Mage.
+"Her cheeks are almost always rosy as the dawn ... it seems so strange
+to see them white ... she don't look natural to me this way ... you
+should see her when she thinks her husband's coming to the house ...
+<i>then</i> her cheeks are like a flame of light ... her eyes are just as
+bright as stars at midnight ... there! They've opening, now ... my
+Pretty ... my own pretty Dear ... Mage is here ... I'm right here by you
+Dearie ... there! I'm afraid she's fainted away, again. She seemed to
+look at you, Estrella, stand farther back so, when she opens her eyes
+next time, she'll see just me ... she knows old Mage loves her
+always ... she knows her own old Mage would take good care of her no
+matter what would come.... Dearie ... I am right here ... old Mage is
+close beside you...."</p>
+
+<p>At that, the woman lying there within her faithful arms, stirred softly,
+and, once again, her glorious gray eyes opened, and she looked at poor
+old Mage whose face was all distraught with many wrinkles and with deep
+anxiety for her. Then she raised herself to a sitting posture and put
+her hands before her eyes as if to hide some horrible spectre from her
+sight, and, then, she looked at poor Estrella standing there not knowing
+what to do, for Mage would not allow her, even now, to come a single
+step nearer to her mistress, and then she spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"My poor Girl," she said, "My poor Girl, I too, sought to find the man I
+loved, but his body is not here. I pity you with all my heart and wish
+that I could help you bear your sorrow. Come to me and I will try to
+help you ... come this evening, just at sunset, to my house. I think you
+know which one it is.... Mage, you tell her where to come."</p>
+
+<p>For she had reached the limit of her endurance, for the moment, and old
+Mage, seeing her evident distress, hurriedly told Estrella where to come
+to find her mistress, and gave the orders to the coachman to drive home
+at once.</p>
+
+<p>And, then, Estrella went again into the habitation of the dead and the
+other woman, with her heart like lead within her breast, went back to
+her own place and left the body of the man she'd called her husband for
+a few short months lying there upon that senseless slab with the weeping
+girl beside it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+
+<p>When the evening shadows were falling over the almost palatial home of
+Ruth Wakefield, the young girl whom she had begged to come to her
+climbed the rugged height upon which the former United States Consul had
+erected his residence hoping to occupy it long after his term of office
+should expire as he had found the climate very beneficial to the health
+of his entire family, as it seemed, and desired to have a fitting place
+of abode during the childhood of his only and much-loved child, who,
+now, a sorrowing widow and a humiliated wife, was sitting idly waiting
+to receive poor Estrella, not knowing, certainly, just what she would do
+or say when she had to really face the situation into which she had been
+forced by untoward circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>As Estrella reached the rear door, to which she had gone by an almost
+unerring instinct, feeling strange and unnatural among the rich
+surroundings, old Mage appeared to welcome her, as she had been directed
+by her mistress to do; the old woman was greatly in doubt as to the
+condition of affairs in the home she loved to be a part of and had
+longed to get hold of the peon girl alone.</p>
+
+<p>There was something about Ruth Wakefield that commanded the respect of
+even the lowest among those who knew her ... her natural refinement had
+been accentuated by her seclusion from the outer world and by her almost
+constant thought of higher and better matters than the gross and humdrum
+affairs of the daily life by which she was surrounded. Yet, she always
+entered into practical affairs with vigor and entire understanding, so
+that, while she was counted as a dreamer of dreams beyond the earth, yet
+she was acknowledged to be eminently practical and able to attend to her
+own business affairs with no danger of being over-reached by those with
+whom she dealt as to monetary matters, as her natural acumen in such
+matters had been sharpened by various experiences of a more or less
+unpleasant character, such as the loss of certain sums of money through
+trusting to the honor of some of those with whom she had had sympathy in
+their need, for she had discovered that, when it comes to money, people
+are very apt to forget their obligations entirely, only attending to
+that part of life when in need themselves and not considering the fact
+that, unless one gets what is one's due, at least to some extent, one
+cannot, on the other hand, meet one's own obligations, so that the
+lonely girl had learned some hard lessons by practical knowledge of
+human nature gained in the only school where such knowledge can be
+gained ... experience.</p>
+
+<p>But old Mage was of a far different type of womankind ... true as steel
+to her beloved young lady as she always called her in her thoughts,
+although she often found verbal fault with her to her fair and tender
+face ... fond of gossip and garrulous to an almost alarming extent yet
+she could keep a secret as inviolate as even Ruth Wakefield herself.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, her great desire was to worm out of poor Estrella
+whatever it was that had made her own young lady faint that morning ...
+she was not worried about the poor girl's loss of him she had called her
+lover except in so far as it affected her own people as she was fond of
+distinguishing them, for old Mage, although uneducated and almost
+unaware of her own nationality as her mother had died at her birth and
+her father had immediately deserted her, yet prided herself on being far
+superior to the natives among whom she dwelt, for she had come to Cuba
+with the Wakefield family, having been employed by them as nurse for the
+small Ruth and having stuck tightly to her charge from that time on.</p>
+
+<p>So that, when she faced the poor, ignorant, as she secretly considered
+Estrella, girl, it was with an air of superiority as belonging to a
+higher race than she, for it is a fact that uneducated persons feel any
+elevation above their fellows much more strongly than those who have had
+more insight into the humble attainments of even the wisest of human
+beings, for those who have been permitted to climb the heights of
+thought have had a glimpse of the vastness and unattainable grandeur of
+which even the highest human intellect must only be a spectator ... an
+humble and admiring witness of the matchless beauty and majestic
+splendor that dwell beyond and yet beyond the vision of the keenest
+human imagination.</p>
+
+<p>But old Mage seldom allowed herself even to wonder about what she could
+not understand, being content with the plane of existence upon which she
+found herself and finding amusement and profit as well in attending to
+the various small duties of her daily life as she performed those duties
+through love and pride. Having seated the girl who was almost
+overpowered, already, by the unknown glamour of wealthy surroundings,
+she proceeded to follow out her own ideas and to attempt to satisfy her
+own curiosity before apprising Ruth of the arrival of her invited guest.</p>
+
+<p>She began by commiserating the girl upon her recent loss, little
+dreaming that, in this way, she would find out far more than had been
+her own desire, for old Mage, while she had never liked the young man
+who, for the past few months, had been an almost daily visitor at the
+home she dearly loved, yet had tried to think that her young lady had
+chosen wisely, even if unconventionally, when she had married him, as it
+was very hard for her ever to really question any object upon which
+Ruth had set her heart, it having been one of the criticisms of the
+parents of the little girl that old Mage had always indulged her
+slightest whim and always satisfied at least her own conscience by
+finding some good reason for the indulgence; in the present instance,
+she had often said to herself:</p>
+
+<p>"My poor child is alone so much with her own thoughts and what she gets
+out of all those big books," for what anyone could find in the way of
+company in a book which required so much labor, in her own case, to
+decipher at all was a mystery to her, "and she needs company ... a woman
+needs a man around to make love to her and this fellow is good at that
+what with his guitar and his mandolin and his fine voice, not to speak
+of his wonderful dark eyes and his curly black hair and his strong,
+powerful figure ... it is too bad that he is only a native Cuban instead
+of an American ... that is too bad ... but..." she would end, brightly,
+"he can be naturalized if we ever go back to the States."</p>
+
+<p>So, now, when she turned to Estrella with the conventional question as
+to the identity of her lover on her ready tongue, she little dreamed of
+the consequences:</p>
+
+<p>"My poor girl," she began, "you were to have been married, they tell me,
+to the man who was found dead at the entrance to the prison, last
+night.... I wonder if I happened to know him ... what was his name?"</p>
+
+<p>She had asked the question idly, wishing only to engage the girl in
+conversation to find out whatever she could.</p>
+
+<p>"My lover was a wonderful man ..." declared Estrella; "he was not a
+common man at all ... he was superior to all the men I know or ever have
+known ... he was the handsomest as well as the most intelligent man
+among the whole people of this Island, I think.... I know I never saw
+anyone either so handsome or so smart as was my dear Victorio.... I
+don't suppose you would ever have met him for he was not a servant and
+yet he was a Cuban ... he was a wonderful man and I was to have been his
+wife and he was most foully murdered there in that hateful prison."</p>
+
+<p>And the poor bereft creature began to moan and sob and wring her hands
+in agony of spirit.</p>
+
+<p>This was not at all what Mage desired to do ... to get the girl all
+wrought up before her young lady even saw her, so she tried to comfort
+and calm her by speaking rather sharply to her as she knew hysteria can
+only be overcome by the application of fierce remedies, or, at least,
+that is what she had been taught, so, in order to cauterize the wound
+her words seemed to have made, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"You say your lover was a superior man ... was he, then, a leader among
+the political prisoners who were liberated?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed he was ..." proudly answered the bereaved girl. "Victorio
+Colenzo was a leader where-ever he went ... why ..."</p>
+
+<p>But even her pride in her dead lover did not hide from her the effect
+his name had had on poor old Mage for she had crumpled down in her chair
+as if she had received a stroke of some kind and seemed as if paralyzed,
+for her poor old mouth fell open, revealing its entire innocence of
+teeth; she gasped for breath for a moment and then demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"Say that name again! What kind of looking man was he?"</p>
+
+<p>Hastening to comply with the demand made on her, the girl proceeded,
+proudly:</p>
+
+<p>"His name was Victorio Colenzo and he was the handsomest man in the
+whole of Cuba, I believe ... his eyes were very dark and expressive and
+his hair was the very most beautiful curly hair that ever grew on any
+human head ... he was tall and strong and handsome in every way and,
+yet," she ended dreamily, "and, yet, he never loved a woman in his life
+before he found me."</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage had other words upon her lips than those which she said after
+having hauled herself up sharply, remembering how unprotected her dear
+young lady was and wishing, above all else, even her own almost
+insatiable curiosity, to shield her from any harm:</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a great comfort to you to know that, now that he is dead and
+gone," she said to the girl, though what she added in her own mind may
+as well not be recorded here, for, with all the fierceness of the
+far-famed tiger with her young, old Mage, in her own primitive mind, was
+wishing several distinct kinds of punishment would fall, in its
+immediate future, upon the soul of the man who had brought sorrow to her
+dear, innocent lamb. As far as the girl was concerned she felt that she
+had had more than her just deserts already and wished to relieve her
+young lady of any further torture regarding the mixed matter, for old
+Mage, though an ignorant woman in many ways, had lived a great many
+observant years among human men and women, and, now, that her experience
+might serve to protect Ruth in this hard crisis of her young womanhood,
+she threw herself and all her previous knowledge of the world right into
+the breach. She reflected only for a few moments after having made the
+diplomatic speech referred to above, before she decided on a course of
+immediate action.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with, she decided to clear the decks, as it were, of the
+obstruction of the girl's presence in the home of the wronged wife; she
+went about this with precision and dispatch, for, once she had settled
+on any certain course, old Mage was like a mild whirlwind, scattering
+everything before her:</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she began, eyeing the girl suspiciously, wondering whether she
+had any inkling of the exact situation, "I suppose you have folks to
+live with and are not in need of anything much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am alone in this wide world," declared Estrella, "for I am but a
+foster child among the people who have brought me up ... my parents I
+know nothing of but believe that I am not of Cuban blood.... I
+think ..." she hesitated, "I think ... I am ... an American, the same as
+the sweet young lady who lives here with you."</p>
+
+<p>The last few words almost undid old Mage's stern resolve, but she kept
+her one idea of saving her young lady from further annoyance in view and
+answered this appeal:</p>
+
+<p>"It don't make much difference in this world <i>who</i> you are but it does
+matter <i>what</i> you are ... now, I take it, you are a good girl and will
+marry some good man when you have recovered from this loss ... you are
+too young to feel this as deeply as you might ... I hope so, anyway ..."
+she temporized, seeing the look of despair that settled on Estrella's
+really beautiful and innocent features, "and my young lady wanted me to
+help you if you needed any help for she feels so sorry that your lover
+happened to be killed just as he was about to get free ... she wanted me
+to tell you ..." but at that point in her benevolent intention she was
+interrupted by the appearance of the mistress of the place, and ended,
+rather lamely, "she wanted me to tell you to come to her as soon as you
+got here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mage," said Ruth in her usual sweet, low voice, "you had not told
+me that Estrella had come ... have you been waiting for me very long?"
+she kindly asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Madam," said Estrella feeling the immense difference in their
+positions in spite of the evident indisposition and tender youth of the
+other woman, "I have only rested for a few moments after my climb to the
+top of the hill. It was very kind," she added, "of you to ask me to come
+and the cool air of the evening has refreshed my head for it has been
+aching terribly, all day."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you find some sort of refreshments for her, Mage?" asked Ruth,
+feeling sorry for the other's plight. "Maybe a good cup of tea would
+give you added strength to bear your great sorrow ... we women," she
+said while her sweet, low voice trembled, "we women are but weak and yet
+often the very heaviest of sorrows is laid upon us.... I do not know the
+reason for this ... I do not understand ... but I believe that we are
+all but a part of a very great plan which is beyond our comprehension
+while we are here in this finite world, and I hope ..." she had the look
+of one of God's good angels on her face as she said it, "and I hope to
+know more about this great plan when I have passed beyond this world
+and all its many disappointments. You have had a terrific blow, my poor
+Girl," she went on, kindly. "You alone must bear this grief but God has
+sent other human beings into this human life so that we may help each
+other, if only by our mutual sympathy, when we must meet what it seems
+almost impossible for us to bear alone ... so," she ended, "so, maybe I
+have been sent to try to give you courage to go on in life when your
+future must look dreadfully black to you."</p>
+
+<p>"It surely does look black ..." moaned poor Estrella, "Victorio was all
+I had to lean upon in this wide world for I don't belong to the people
+where I live and Manuello persists in making love to me and I can't bear
+to have him touch me after having known the love of a man who never even
+looked at any other woman but me, and who was," her pride in her dead
+lover again taking the ascendency in her emotions, "the handsomest and
+smartest man who ever came to Cuba."</p>
+
+<p>"The low-lived pup!" said old Mage, who had just come in with the
+tea-tray in her hands and heard the last few words, but she made this
+remark to herself alone and would have ground her teeth in making it had
+it not happened that she had mislaid those triumphs of the dentist's
+art, for old Mage was the proud possessor of two entire sets of teeth,
+although she seldom could lay her hands on them as she invariably
+removed them from her mouth each time she wished to eat anything, having
+grown so accustomed to gumming her food that the teeth were dreadfully
+in her way.</p>
+
+<p>She set the tea-tray with its array of cups and saucers down and added
+several little concoctions of her own making to the little feast before
+she began, thinking to change the subject:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Miss Ruth, I wish you could have seen little Tid-i-wats a few
+minutes ago; she was out in the big yard and I wanted her to come back
+in her own place so as to be safe and so instead of going to pick her up
+as you know very well she won't allow anyone to do except yourself, I
+just got one of her saucers and a silver spoon and pounded on the edge
+of the saucer with the spoon, and here she came fairly bounding along
+the driveway; she galloped, Miss Ruth, just like a little colt out in
+one of our own big pastures, back home."</p>
+
+<p>"The dear little Dadditts!" exclaimed her young lady, using a pet name
+of her own making. "How cute she must have looked ... she is so little,"
+she explained to Estrella, "she is so very small and so very cute ... I
+have had her with me, now, for ... how long is it, Mage?" for she knew
+the old woman enjoyed being asked for information, "since we came from
+America the last time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see ..." answered Mage, deliberating, "it must be anyway twelve
+years and Tid-i-wats was not a young cat, even then, for she had raised
+one family of kittens at least ... she must be thirteen or more years
+old, my Dear," she said to the young girl, hoping to attract her
+attention to herself and so leave Ruth free from her immediate scrutiny,
+"just think of that! You must come with me, when you have had your tea,
+and see the cute little yard we have for her and then you must look over
+the grounds with me. Miss Ruth is not feeling very well, today, although
+she has such a healthy-looking, rosy face, and, so, I'll entertain you
+while you're here; Miss Ruth is a great reader and her eyes are not very
+strong ... sometimes the sun hurts them awfully."</p>
+
+<p>And Ruth let here have her way, that time, as she found that she could
+scarcely endure the calm, blue, staring eyes of the girl and listen to
+her innocent gabble concerning her own husband; so she called old Mage
+into another room and cautioned her to be very kind to poor Estrella and
+gave her quite a sum of money to hand to her, thinking, in this manner
+to defray the funeral expenses of the man whom she had believed to be
+the very soul of honor fired with an almost holy patriotism.</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage received her directions quietly enough and used her own good
+judgment as to carrying them all out; her main idea was to relieve her
+mistress and this she did by assuring her that she would look after the
+girl and would ask her to come to see them again when she had in some
+measure recovered from her sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>What she was saying to her own self we will not record but she relieved
+her own feelings, while attempting to help Estrella who was as innocent
+as her own young lady was, as she could see, for old Mage was seldom
+mistaken in her estimate of women, although men, as she expressed it,
+quite often "pulled the wool over her eyes."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+
+<p>As the young girl descended the hill to the little village she reflected
+upon the splendor of the home she had just quitted and wondered if such
+wealth as was displayed there could take the place of the companionship
+of a loved and loving human being; she remembered the very sad
+expression of the great gray eyes into which she had peered for a few
+fleeting moments and she marveled at the memory, for, as it seemed to
+the inexperience of Estrella, Ruth Wakefield should have been as happy
+as a queen indeed for she had the proud position, almost, of Royalty
+among the peons to whose constant society she, herself, had had to be
+accustomed from her earliest recollection of society at all.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of her own great sorrow on account of the sudden death of
+Victorio Colenzo she felt comforted, somehow, by the memory of the vital
+nearness of the woman who was so much her superior, as it seemed to her,
+in every possible way; she could not know that in Ruth Wakefield's
+gentle bosom there throbbed a deeper and more lasting agony than any
+that she, herself, had ever experienced ... she only saw her own
+position among those who had little sympathy for her, as all the girls
+she knew well, except little Tessa, envied her as having been the
+sweetheart of a man they all admired, and the young men, feeling that
+she was superior, in many ways, to the girls of their own type, were
+jealous of the handsome Colenzo who had won so easily what they had
+failed to even attract.</p>
+
+<p>Chief among these latter was Manuello who called himself her
+half-brother, half in derision and half in rough sport, for well he knew
+that no similar blood flowed through their veins as Estrella had been
+taken care of by his own mother simply from motives of pity for a
+deserted and helpless orphan; this loving and unselfish mother had
+passed away some time before the opening of this tale and Estrella had
+taken full charge of the household affairs of the family among whom she
+had grown up, as being the eldest of the girls, having always been of a
+domestic turn of mind and wishing to repay the kindness of those who had
+cared for her when she was unable to do so.</p>
+
+<p>As she walked along she remembered several little duties for her to
+perform yet that night, although she felt that she wished to devote her
+entire attention to the funeral arrangements that she had made for poor
+Victorio whose mangled remains still lay at the improvised morgue in the
+village.</p>
+
+<p>Reflecting on these arrangements, she remembered the money that old Mage
+had given to her which was yet clutched in the hand that had received
+it; hearing a slight noise in the path ahead of her, she hastily thrust
+the money into the bosom of her gown and advanced, cautiously, for there
+was much unrest all over the Island of Cuba at this time and no one was
+really safe, either at home or abroad, as the Governor-General had
+issued positive orders to arrest without question all those who were, in
+any manner, detrimental to the ruling powers.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella was aware, in a dim and uncertain way, of existing conditions,
+and, having been a participant in the recent uprising, she was afraid
+that she might be detained by the government, in which case, how she
+could attend to the sorrowful duty of the morrow was a problem too big
+for her to solve on the spur of the moment; with the thought of this
+danger in her mind, she stepped carefully to one side of the narrow
+path, hoping that whoever or whatever had made the noise she had heard
+would pass on up the hill without observing her; she was standing as
+still as possible, fairly holding her breath and involuntarily clutching
+at the bundle of money in her dress, when she became conscious of the
+approach of someone or something from behind her and jumped, like a
+startled fawn, back into the path and down the hill at top speed; she
+knew that she was followed but did not stop until she had reached the
+door of the little cottage where she made her home; as she pushed madly
+at the door it yielded to her touch too quickly to have been moved by
+herself alone, and, hurridly entering, she found herself face to face
+with Manuello who pulled her hastily inside and barred the simple door,
+saying testily:</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you startle me so? Had I not known your step, I would have kept
+you out until you had told me who you were ... don't you know that we,
+who have made ourselves conspicuous in the recent uprising, are being
+closely watched by the authorities and are liable to arrest at any
+moment? Why do you expose us in this manner by staying out after
+nightfall and perhaps bringing the soldiers who are stationed in the
+block-houses upon us? Is it not enough that you are marked as being the
+sweetheart of our dead leader? Must you even stray about the
+country-side after dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Manuello ..." panted the poor girl, "I was so frightened ... someone
+was in the path and I jumped to one side and then someone came behind me
+and I ran! I did not mean to do wrong ... I went to see the lady at the
+mansion on the hill ... she asked me to come for she pitied me because
+of Victorio's death.... I am sorry if I did wrong by going, Manuello ...
+I hope you will forgive me ..." she ended, pleadingly, leaning against
+the door with one hand over her fluttering heart and looking up into his
+angry eyes.</p>
+
+<p>His countenance softened in a moment as he gazed upon her delicate
+beauty, and stretching out his arms he said to her:</p>
+
+<p>"Rest, little Sister, here, here upon my breast. All the others are
+asleep and you and I are alone. I would not scold you for the world, but
+we must all be as cautious as we can for we are living in very dangerous
+times."</p>
+
+<p>Estrella evaded his offered embrace and hastened into her own little
+room after bidding him a short goodnight; she wondered, vaguely, what it
+was that had startled her in the path, but, in spite of everything, her
+healthy youth soon asserted itself and she was lost to her little world
+upon the earth with all its many disappointments and unknown turnings.</p>
+
+<p>The day upon which Estrella made her visit to the mansion on the hill,
+as the residence of Ruth Wakefield was popularly known in the village of
+San Domingo, was a memorable one in the history of the Spanish-American
+war for it happened to be the fifteenth day of February in the year of
+our Lord and Master 1898.</p>
+
+<p>Upon that fateful day secret preparations had been made by the agents of
+some of those who were then in power over the people of Cuba ... secret
+mines had been laid and large quantities of explosives had been placed
+in Havana Harbor with a set purpose in view; many of those who had been
+incarcerated in political prisons had been kept in total ignorance of
+the movements of Spanish troops in Cuba but most of the inhabitants of
+the Island had known that, for some time, some definite object with
+reference to our own United States was being considered by those who
+directed the Spanish soldiery.</p>
+
+<p>Among those who had been apprised of what had been going on during the
+confinement of those who had been liberated the night before in San
+Domingo was Manuello; during the absence of Estrella from their home,
+that evening, this redoubtable warrior had been hobnobbing with the
+Spanish soldiers in the block-house nearest to the village and had
+discovered something of the plot to blow up a United States battleship
+in Havana Harbor; as it was known that the <i>Maine</i>, an armored cruiser
+of the second-class, had been lying in the harbor for some weeks, the
+young fellow was especially nervous, and, hearing Estrella's flying feet
+approaching their dwelling, he dreaded some new horror.</p>
+
+<p>The little village of San Domingo was wrapped in the first sound slumber
+of the night. Good Father Felix had been dreaming, for some hours, of
+the heavenly home he hoped, sometime, to reach; old Mage had long ago
+forgotten all about her defense of her dear young lady, that day, and
+Estrella was far away from every human care.</p>
+
+<p>But Ruth Wakefield was one of those who never sleep right through the
+dark hours of any night; from her earliest recollection, she had been
+wide awake, with a clarified vision of the affairs of daily life as well
+as of those that were quite beyond the world of men and women who were
+yet embodied, about the hour of two A.M., and, when she had some
+especially knotty problem to solve, she seldom slept for more than an
+hour or so at a time, but would waken to a consciousness of the facts of
+her human existence with a shock that would almost always cause her to
+jump as if struck a blow, which, indeed, was the exact state of affairs,
+only the blow was a mental one.</p>
+
+<p>On this one night, having lost the most of the sleep she should have had
+upon the previous one, her bodily strength was almost entirely exhausted
+so that she sunk into a deep and dreamless sleep during the first part
+of the evening and woke, with a start, about nine P.M.</p>
+
+<p>Rising from her bed, as was her custom upon awakening in the night, she
+approached one of the large windows of her own room facing Havana
+Harbor; she could see the lights from the various vessels lying at
+anchor and imagined that she could make out those of the <i>Maine</i>, which,
+as it represented her own native land to her, was, naturally, of deep
+interest to her; she fell to imagining how it would seem to return to
+the United States on that great ship lying so peacefully and appearing
+to be so stanch and strong in the harbor below her window ... she
+wondered if it might not be better for her, now that she no longer had
+the keen interest in Cuba that she had only recently had, to go back to
+her own country and so possibly forget the dark eyes and lying lips of
+the man to whom she had given her virginity only to find it flouted and
+treated with disdain; for, try as she would to vindicate Victorio
+Colenzo, she was too just and reasonable to deny to herself that he had
+acted the part of a sneaking villain both to her and to poor, trusting
+Estrella, who had not had to see her dream of him lying in fragments at
+her feet, but who still believed that he had spoken the truth to her
+when he had told her that she was the only woman he had ever loved; she
+was too young to know that this statement is a regular trite and tried
+prevarication, common to almost all male lovers.</p>
+
+<p>But Ruth, at present, was laboring under no delusions with regard to the
+man she had married, although his dead body was still unburied and she
+had not so much as said a prayer over his remains ... she knew beyond
+all shadow of doubt that he had been untrue to both of the women he had
+professed to love in San Domingo, and her mind was much distraught as
+she sat at her window and, gazed down upon Havana Harbor upon that
+memorable evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-eight.</p>
+
+<p>She had been watching a little boat plying back and forth between the
+wharf and the battleship which she had picked out among the other black
+hulks in the harbor as being the <i>Maine</i>, and was speculating, idly,
+what it could be about, as it seemed busily engaged in something of
+importance, when, all at once, a mighty detonation shook the entire
+harbor and the adjacent shore, making even her own stout residence
+tremble, and, where the majestic battleship had, only just a moment
+before, been a thing of beauty and power, there was nothing but a wild
+mass of flying débris and a raging furnace of belching, flaming fire.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield realized, even as the terrific explosion occurred, that
+here was a turning point in the affairs of state and that, in all
+probability, her own country would, after this, become involved in the
+war that had been raging in Cuba, then, for about three years; it was
+with mingled feelings of dismay and dread that she surveyed the activity
+that very soon became apparent both in the harbor and in the city of
+Havana; she could see the lights of the rescuing boats as they circled
+about the scene of the wreck and even hear the groans and supplications
+of some of the severely wounded survivors, for the night was clear and
+the light wind carried the sounds from the harbor up to her window so
+that her very acute hearing told her that this was no casual accident,
+but, in all probability, a carefully planned holocaust in which her own
+much-loved native land would, inevitably be involved.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello was one of the first to rush out upon the streets of the little
+village after the terrific noise of the explosion had rolled away; he
+passed hastily from cottage to cottage asking the inmates if they were
+aware of the cause of it, for, being a little below the level of Havana
+Harbor, the inhabitants of San Domingo could not command a view of it.</p>
+
+<p>As no one seemed able to give him any explanation of the disturbing
+detonation, he even dared to approach one of the block houses held by
+the Spanish soldiery; here, he found everything in confusion and
+excitement ... men were hastily arming themselves so as to be in
+readiness for whatever orders might come from their superiors, and
+Manuello found no one among them who seemed much better informed than
+he, himself, was; he imagined that what he had heard had been the result
+of the consummation of the plans upon which he had stumbled earlier in
+the evening and started to climb to the top of the hill upon which Ruth
+Wakefield's residence was located in order to gain a view of Havana
+Harbor.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello had almost reached the very top of the hill before he realized
+that he had come out into the night without a weapon of any kind, and,
+no sooner had he made this disconcerting discovery than he became aware
+of some sort of movement directly in his rear; wishing to avoid whatever
+it might be, he hastily concealed himself and waited for the approach of
+his unseen companion in the darkness; the steps he had heard came along
+the path hastily, yet steadily, and the owner of them soon appeared; as
+he passed Manuello, the young fellow made out that the new-comer was
+none other than the village Priest who, as it seemed likely, was bent
+upon the same errand as the hidden peon; Father Felix kept on, sturdily,
+climbing the grade to the mansion on the hill; having reached the house
+he at once disappeared inside it and Manuello was again alone upon the
+hillside.</p>
+
+<p>Gaining a point of vantage, Manuello looked down upon Havana Harbor,
+and, at once, decided upon the course that he must pursue to cover
+himself from danger of suspicion as to the possibility of his having
+participated in the terrible calamity that had befallen the United
+States battleship, for Manuello knew the exact location of the different
+ships then anchored in Havana Harbor as he had in his possession a map
+of it upon which he had drawn certain black crosses which indicated the
+positions of different vessels, also certain ingenious little flourishes
+told him the nationality of the various ships, so that he felt as sure
+as if he were right upon the scene that the battleship <i>Maine</i> had been
+blown up in Havana Harbor, that fateful evening, and he knew that there
+would be a searching investigation made as to what had caused the
+explosion, so that Manuello had this little problem to consider as well
+as the one concerning the sudden and mysterious death of Victorio
+Colenzo just as he was about to be liberated from the prison at San
+Domingo; for Manuello knew far more concerning that casualty than he
+had imparted to Estrella when she had so diligently inquired of him
+about it.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix found Ruth Wakefield and her little, frightened household
+fully awake as well as fully aware of the nature of the episode that had
+startled him to such an extent that he had climbed the hill to ascertain
+the safety of the inhabitants of the mansion on the hill, for the good
+Priest pitied the mistress of the mansion far more than he did the poor
+girl in the cottage, knowing that added refinement often makes more
+poignant a sorrow that would inevitably be hard for any human heart to
+bear.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+
+<p>All over the little village of San Domingo, on the morning of February
+sixteenth, 1898, the news spread like wild-fire that the United States
+battleship, <i>Maine</i>, had been blown up in Havana Harbor.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello, having secreted his map in what he considered to be a safe
+place, and having remained quietly inside his own domicile during the
+balance of the night preceding the general acceptance of the the salient
+facts concerned in the great disaster, ventured forth at daylight,
+hoping to discover the condition of the public mind with regard to it.</p>
+
+<p>The first place he visited was one of the block-houses where he had
+hob-nobbed with the soldiers before the news of the explosion had
+reached them; here he found closely shut mouths and stern countenances
+meeting him on every side, as he was known to be engaged in stirring up
+strife and dissatisfaction among the peons of whom, to some extent, now
+that Victorio Colenzo was dead, he was an acknowledged leader; the
+soldiers, knowing nothing of what action would be taken by their own
+government, much less of how far the resentment of the powerful nation
+involved in the disaster would carry them, thought that discretion was,
+by all means, the better part of valor, in this instance, and,
+accordingly, had no private conversation with Manuello at all, being
+careful to have several of their number within ear-shot of every word he
+uttered; he, realizing the situation, after some few moments, went
+quietly away, glad, indeed, to escape so easily from among the armed
+hosts of Spain, for his own native country had been under the heel of
+Spanish oppressors for more than three years, at this time.</p>
+
+<p>From the block-house, the young fellow proceeded to the dwelling of
+little Tessa for he had a sort of mild affection for her, knowing how
+profoundly she admired him and being flattered by her preference, while
+his own heart was set on Estrella, to win whom he had, indeed, committed
+a most terrible crime, for it had been his hand that had almost severed
+the handsome head of Victorio Colenzo from his strong and agile body, he
+having taken advantage of the confusion in the prison at the time of the
+liberation of the political offenders to vent his own jealous spite upon
+the natural leader of them all, little dreaming that he had cut off in
+his prime the husband of the lady of the mansion on the hill, but only
+congratulating himself on having removed from his own path a dangerous
+rival in the affections, not only of Estrella, but also of all of those
+with whom he, Manuello, hoped to advance his own interests; for Victorio
+Colenzo was a man to be feared by all those who opposed him as Manuello
+knew very well; now that his dead body was lying there in the little
+improvised morgue, it seemed to the young Cuban that his great influence
+would soon die away, and, so far as Estrella was concerned, he felt
+pretty sure of her as she was so near to him and would, naturally, lean
+upon him in trouble.</p>
+
+<p>So that, he felt quite complacent as to the recent turns in his affairs,
+when he entered the rude home of little Tessa; he found that small, dark
+young woman standing quietly beside a window watching his approach; she
+turned to him, when another member of the family had admitted him,
+eagerly and expectantly:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think, Manuello?" she inquired. "What will be the result of
+last night's terrible disaster? Shall we, now, have the Americans to
+fight as well as the Spanish? Will the great United States hold us
+responsible for this crime? I wondered, right away, what you would think
+about it all and am so glad you have come over early. Is dear Estrella
+as well as we could expect under her distressing circumstances? Will the
+body of her lover be buried, today? Will this new trouble make any
+difference with the burial of the bodies in the morgue? Tell me
+everything you know, Manuello. Don't pay any attention to my
+questions ... just go ahead and tell me!"</p>
+
+<p>She had come near to him as she kept asking questions, and was now
+beside him and had grasped the collar of his short jacket, for Manuello
+was something of a dude among his associates and was very particular as
+to his appearance, being proud of his straight, strong figure and broad
+shoulders which towered above many of the heads of his companions, so
+that little Tessa had to stretch her small, dark hands well above her
+smooth, black head in order to cling as closely as she desired to him.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow looked down into the eager face lifted toward his own
+and hesitated a little while before he answered her; diplomacy had
+become so much a part of his acquired habit that, even when it was
+unnecessary, as in the present instance, for Tessa trusted him
+implicitly, he still employed it:</p>
+
+<p>"To begin with," he said, as if issuing a decree from a judgment-seat,
+"I do not think that the blowing up of the battleship, last night, will
+make our case in Cuba much harder than it already is ... in fact, it
+might be that the American government would resent the loss of their
+property and the murder of their sailors sufficiently to induce them to
+assist us in our struggle for independence from the tyranny of Spain."
+He looked about him anxiously, as he made this last statement, for he
+knew that agents of the government might be in hiding almost anywhere.
+"As to the burial of Victorio Colenzo," he pronounced the name with some
+braggadocio, "and the rest, this disaster should make no difference as
+to that, for when human beings die they have to be buried somehow, no
+matter what happens." It was with secret satisfaction that he explained
+this last matter, for, so far as he was concerned, the sooner the body
+of his victim was under the ground the better he, himself, would feel,
+"and as to Estrella, as soon as she recovers from the loss of her
+handsome lover, I think she will listen to reason again and be the same
+nice girl she was before she ever met this stranger who came among us
+like a whirlwind and who has left us as suddenly as he appeared among
+us. Now, little Tessa," he ended, "I think that I have answered all of
+your questions ... suppose you answer some of mine ... for example," and
+he bent his bold eyes on her little face, "why are you growing to be so
+beautiful? Whom do you love more than anything else in the world? When
+will you be a married woman? Do you like me as well as you did when we
+were little children? Do you think that Estrella will ever marry me, now
+that she has lost her new lover? Are you my little friend in this matter
+and will you assist my cause with Estrella?" seeing a look of
+consternation spread over her countenance, he ended his category with,
+"Who is <i>your</i> lover, little Tessa? I know you must have one for you
+have grown to be very fair and winsome since we were shut up in that
+hateful prison."</p>
+
+<p>"Manuello," said the girl, "I don't believe that I will ever marry....
+I have no lover and I am not beautiful. Estrella does not love you, now,
+but she may learn to do so. I wish her to be very happy and if being
+your wife would make her so, and I see no reason why a girl could not be
+happy as your wife, Manuello, then I will do what I can to further your
+cause with her. I know she is in deep sorrow, today, and I intend to do
+all that I can to help her. Of course you know what arrangements have
+already been made. Father Felix will take charge of the ceremonies, I
+understand. I will accompany poor Estrella to the burial place. You may
+tell her that I will soon be with her."</p>
+
+<p>The simplicity and truth of the young and innocent girl affected even
+the hardened heart of the murderer and the evident adoration with which
+she regarded him also had its effect upon him, so that Manuello
+trembled, inwardly, in spite of all his hardihood and determination to
+force his passionate love upon Estrella, as he intended only to use poor
+little Tessa's admiration for him to influence the older and fairer
+woman; the very fact that Estrella was, very evidently, not of his own
+race had a powerful attraction for his untutored imagination and, in
+secret, he often dwelt upon her difference from all the other women of
+his acquaintance, while he assumed toward herself an air of superiority,
+hoping thereby to attract her to himself as being above all of the
+others of their acquaintance; now that his successful rival was out of
+his way the young fellow looked forward to an early conquest of the
+heart and hand of Estrella, and, now that the Americans had become
+involved in the Cuban war, he hoped for the defeat of the Spaniards as
+he never had before. Therefore, he could well afford to be a little
+condescending to the young girl who still clung to his hands as if to
+her only hope of happiness and looked up adoringly into his smiling
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Stooping toward her a little, he suddenly raised her in his strong arms
+and lifted her small, eager face to a level with his own; her lips were
+very near to his and were trembling for that very reason, so he stilled
+them by holding them for a passionate moment against his virile mouth.</p>
+
+<p>Tessa yielded to his embrace without thinking of its import for Manuello
+was a strong and healthy man, full of the electrical attraction that
+goes with those of his build, and, like many uneducated human beings,
+the animal side of his nature was more fully developed than any other
+part of it so that almost any healthy young woman appealed to him in
+some degree and Tessa's evident affection for himself added to her power
+in this respect.</p>
+
+<p>The two young beings were placed in the situation in which we have
+described them for only a very short space of earthly time, but it was
+sufficient to build up a barrier around Manuello that separated him from
+all the rest of the young men known to the simple-minded girl with whom
+he was only playing at making love, for all of that sacred emotion of
+which he was capable had been laid at the feet of the girl who had
+scoffed at his advances, for some years.</p>
+
+<p>When he had set her, gently, upon her small feet again, Manuello
+addressed the small maiden in an almost wheedling tone, for he thought
+that he could, now, better control her feelings than before the episode
+of the past few moments:</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>do</i> like me as much as before I was put away in prison, don't you,
+little Tessa? Estrella's aloofness from me on account of her crazy
+notions about Victorio Colenzo has not affected you with regard to me,
+has it? I can depend upon you as upon a faithful little friend, I
+believe I can, anyway ... how about that, little Girl?"</p>
+
+<p>He bent his black eyes upon her as he asked the question, and, with his
+picturesque costume, dark face, up-tilted <i>mustachio</i>, as black as his
+heavy, curling hair, and his strong and agile figure, in many ways, he
+was as handsome as anyone upon whom Tessa's eyes had ever rested, for,
+to her simple mind, Victorio had been too much inclined toward
+intellectual pursuits to really appeal very strongly to her untutored
+mind and she had never been able to understand why Estrella preferred
+him to Manuello; now, she answered the latter in no uncertain language:</p>
+
+<p>"Of <i>course</i> you can depend on my friendship ... of <i>course</i> I would
+always do anything I could to help you ... even ..." her voice shook
+over the words, "even with the woman whom you love and prefer to all the
+other women whom you know ... Estrella," she said this firmly as if to
+convince even herself of the truth of the statement. "Estrella <i>is</i>
+superior to the rest of us girls around here ... she is of another race
+of people, I believe ... a superior race, I guess ... anyway," she ended
+naïvely, "I love her and do not blame <i>you</i>, Manuello, for doing the
+same thing."</p>
+
+<p>It took a good deal of courage and loyalty combined for the girl to make
+the remarks we have just recorded here with her small mouth yet tingling
+from the kisses, for Manuello had not been chary of their number while
+he had the opportunity to bestow them, of the man whom she almost
+worshiped as earthly women adore merely human men, but she had waded
+through the above sentences, bravely, and felt better after having
+passed through what was an ordeal for her to undergo.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello scarcely knew how to meet this plain exposition of the matter
+under consideration and quickly changed the subject of conversation, not
+wishing to go too far, all at once, with Tessa, as that might complicate
+his relations with Estrella, and, yet, feeling the need of some stanch
+friend, in case he should have need of one, for he realized, dimly, that
+he might easily be in danger, at any time, for various good reasons,
+for he had been implicated in many of the plots of the revolutionists as
+well as having secrets of his own to cover up; he was naturally cautious
+as far as his own safety was concerned and did not wish to involve
+himself any farther than seemed best for his own interests with Tessa,
+and, yet, he desired to have her assistance ready at hand in case he
+should have need of anything so feeble.</p>
+
+<p>He had now fixed her previous regard for him upon a vital memory,
+so that she would not soon forget the few moments she had passed
+encircled by his arms, and this was all he cared to do in that line,
+at present.... Later on, in case Estrella still remained obdurate ...
+why ... that would be a far different matter; he had now arranged for
+himself a secret harbor in the simple heart of this uneducated girl, so
+that, if pursued too closely by cruel storms, out on the open sea, he
+could retire to it at will.</p>
+
+<p>As for Tessa, after she had made her declaration of love for Estrella,
+she felt that she had performed her full duty in that matter, and went
+about her preparations for the affairs of that day, with an even lighter
+heart than before Manuello's short visit, for, after all, she had
+discovered that she was not at least repulsive to the man she had
+secretly loved for almost as long as she could remember anything, for
+they had grown up in San Domingo together and he had always been
+identified with her daily life; the beauty of her personal dream
+regarding the tall Cuban had been her motive in assisting in the
+liberation of the prisoners, mentioned in the beginning of this
+narrative, as she had small sympathy with Estrella's adoration of
+Victorio Colenzo, although she was willing to have her intimate
+girl-friend feel exactly as she had felt and pitied her with all her
+loving heart, now that she had lost, in such a terrible manner, the man
+she loved and who, as they both had believed, loved her.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Manuello left the dwelling of the little woman of whose affection
+he was certain he hastened home to find out what attitude the woman he
+loved would take toward the new conditions in Cuba, as well as to
+ascertain what preparations she was making for the burial of the man
+whose earthly life he had, himself, taken, although she was far from
+imagining anything of the kind concerning either her dead lover or her
+so-called half-brother.</p>
+
+<p>He found Estrella much perturbed as was to have been expected under the
+circumstances for he knew that she had been deeply enamored of the
+handsome stranger whose dead body was now being prepared for interment
+by the village undertaker to whom Estrella had given the money presented
+to her by old Mage, so that the man's body was being taken care of
+through the charity of his wife which had been bestowed upon his
+sweetheart neither of whom had been known to him at all a few months
+before.</p>
+
+<p>As the hour for the funeral exercises drew near, a handsome carriage
+drew up in front of the humble door where Estrella made her home; from
+within it emerged no less a person than old Mage herself who had been
+sent by Ruth Wakefield to escort the sorrowing girl to and from the rude
+graveyard where the body of her own husband would be placed, that day;
+she had told good Father Felix what to do as to the simple services but
+had decided to absent herself from them, not being sure as to how much
+endurance she would have and being determined not to add to the grief of
+the innocent girl who had been deceived by the man whose name she had
+assumed but never been known by in her own family, even, as, at his
+especial request, she had kept the marriage hidden from all of her
+acquaintances except the few members of her own little household who
+were devoted to her and her interests and went about among the villagers
+very little, as what business they had was transacted in Havana instead
+of San Domingo.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella was pleased and flattered by this attention from the lady of
+the mansion on the hill and entered the carriage to find Father Felix
+already there, for the carriage had been sent to the refectory before it
+came to her own home; she remembered the message little Tessa had sent
+to her so she asked old Mage to go to her dwelling for her, which was
+done, and completed the sad little group that rode directly behind the
+rude wagon which took the place of a hearse and which carried the body
+of Victorio Colenzo to its last earthly resting-place.</p>
+
+<p>The grief of the young girl was very pitiful and, as they turned away
+from the narrow grave, old Mage felt moved to try to comfort her a
+little by distracting her attention from her sorrow; seeing Manuello
+lurking in the background as the funeral party were about to leave the
+cemetery, she said to Estrella:</p>
+
+<p>"Will your brother ride home with us? I remember his face for he has
+brought fruit to our door and he told me, once, that you were his
+half-sister."</p>
+
+<p>The poor girl stifled her sobs long enough to listen to the old woman's
+remark but made no other answer to it than to shake her head; little
+Tessa turned her face in the direction indicated by old Mage and saw
+Manuello with a look of diabolical triumph mingled with fear and hatred
+on his dark face so that, in spite of her love for him, his expression
+frightened her and made even her turn away from the sight of the great
+change in his countenance from what she had seen resting there only that
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield had spend the hour devoted to the funeral exercises of
+her own husband very quietly and in entire solitude; she was accustomed
+to the latter condition and there was no one among her acquaintances in
+whom she cared to confide except the good Priest who had done what he
+could to console and sustain her spirit through this trial that had been
+forced upon her by untoward circumstances and her own faith in humanity;
+she watched her own carriage descend the hill and pass into the little
+village ... she saw the small funeral procession as it wended its way
+along the palm-lined street ... she watched it enter the gate of the
+little cemetery and even saw poor Estrella as she alighted from the
+vehicle and leaned upon the arm of her small friend as she approached
+the open grave that was to contain the mortal remains of the man who had
+been, if only for a short space of time, her own husband ... and yet she
+did not faint ... she did not cry out ... she had had her fight with her
+own nature and she had won out after a hard struggle; all that was left
+of the love she had entertained for the handsome Cuban who had entered
+into her life so disastrously, was an open wound which time alone could
+ever heal.</p>
+
+<p>When old Mage returned to the mansion on the hill she sought out her
+young lady and would have, in her usual garrulous manner, reported
+everything that she had noticed during her absence had she received
+encouragement to do so; on the contrary, she found Ruth, apparently,
+deeply interested in a large volume which she had placed on a table
+before her chair; she rested her head on her hands, from time to time,
+and only looked up to welcome her old nurse, then resumed the perusal of
+the page she happened to have open at the time of her entrance into the
+library.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield had always found her chief delight among her many good
+books; she browsed among them for mental sustenance and for spiritual
+solace and found rich pasturage; it had been said of her, while she was
+yet a small child, that, in case it ever became necessary to perform a
+surgical operation upon any part of her delicate body, an anæsthetic
+would not be essential, as all that she would need would be to have
+someone read aloud to her from some fine piece of literature.</p>
+
+<p>So, in the terrible affliction that had so recently befallen her, it was
+as natural for her to go to her books for comfort as it would have been
+for another woman to go to some understanding friend, for that was what
+Ruth Wakefield found among her books ... understanding and safe friends
+who would never betray her secrets or her confidence in them ... who
+would never deceive and torture her and who represented to her the
+finest and best impulses in human nature as well as those higher
+sentiments to which she always clung and which, now, in this crisis of
+her life, carried her safely over what might have crazed a mind less
+well poised than hers.</p>
+
+<p>The morning after the funeral exercises of Victorio Colenzo, Father
+Felix ascended the hill upon which Ruth Wakefield's home was located and
+sought her out, for the good Priest was much perturbed because of her
+present condition and went to see her with the intention of advising her
+to leave Cuba, at least for a time, as the situation with regard to her
+own country was almost certain to become acute, after the disaster of a
+few nights previous, and it seemed to him to be imprudent for a young
+woman to remain alone with only retainers about her among the wild
+people among whom he labored; for Father Felix knew far more of the
+nature of these people than many others possibly could and he realized
+that the wealth surrounding the Wakefield residence was in itself a
+menace to the fair owner of it; although he, himself, intended to remain
+among his parishioners under all circumstances, it did not seem to be a
+wise procedure for an unprotected woman to do so.</p>
+
+<p>He had studied the situation over from many view-points and had settled
+on the best course, according to his judgment and knowledge of the
+situation, for her to pursue, and he, now, laid this course before her
+with the benevolent intention of assisting her to follow it in every way
+within his limited power:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Miss Ruth," he began, hesitatingly, for he was not sure of just
+what effect either her husband's violent death or the recent explosion
+in the harbor would have on her sensitive nature, "I wish that you would
+consider your own situation very carefully; you are now alone here
+except for those who are under your employ, and the people of the
+surrounding country are in a high state of excitement. At almost any
+moment, now, your own native land, to which you are devoted, may declare
+itself to be in a state of war with Spain, following the blowing up of
+the battleship; in that case, your situation, here, would be even more
+precarious than it is at present and it is far from being secure, even
+now; what I had thought of proposing to you is that you, at once, gather
+together what you consider to be the most precious of your worldly
+possession, here, and place them in some storage building in Havana,
+leaving the house, here, with as few valuables as possible inside of it,
+then, with probably your old nurse as a companion and charge, return at
+once to your own country, anyway, until the war-cloud that is now
+hanging over Cuba has been lifted; it looks to me," he ended, "as if
+that would not be for some years yet ... of course America is a powerful
+country and if she takes this matter up in earnest, it may be that it
+will come to an end more quickly than I fear it may."</p>
+
+<p>He waited, quietly, then, for Ruth to think over his remarks; she had
+regarded him earnestly while he had been speaking, and, now, sat with
+her hands folded in her lap for a few minutes before she spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Father Felix," she began, at length, "Father Felix, I appreciate the
+reasons that prompted you to come to me and advise me as you have just
+been doing; I understand that you consider me unfit to cope with the
+present situation under my circumstances and I wish to inform you that I
+do not intend to run away from my duty any more than you do. I take it
+for granted, Father, that you expect to remain with your people no
+matter what may come to them? I believe that the more need they may
+have of you, the more anxious you will be to serve them. Now I," she
+continued, earnestly and unwaveringly, "I have not done my full duty, up
+to now, among these people to whom you have devoted all of your
+energies; I feel that I owe my fellow-beings more than I have given to
+them in many ways, for I have been very much of a recluse, as you know,
+loving my books and enjoying my home and the natural beauties I have
+delighted in all around me; it may be, that, in the crisis that seems
+imminent, I may find some good work that will wholly absorb my
+energies ... it may be ..." she said, while a high resolve settled over
+her sensitive features, "it may be, good Father Felix, that I may be
+permitted to do almost as much good in our little world as you,
+yourself, are doing and have already done. Would you bar me from the
+proud privilege of sharing your labor and of receiving some measure of
+the rich reward which is awaiting you?"</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix gazed upon her as if upon a being already translated beyond
+the common things of earth, and, realizing the firmness of her evident
+resolve, he extended his hands toward her in blessing. As she bowed her
+head to receive it there was a rapt look upon her face such as the holy
+angels who welcome the souls of the newly dead must have upon their
+features ... the inner consciousness of Ruth Wakefield shone through her
+earthly lineaments and transfigured them so that they were even more
+fair than they had been before.</p>
+
+<p>"My Daughter," said the good Priest, "forgive me for proposing what I
+did; I did not fully understand you; from this time on, I hope that we
+may find much good work that we can do in common, for I would be proud
+and glad to be engaged with you upon our Father's business. Let us
+consult with each other in our plans for the betterment of the poor
+people among whom our lot in life has been cast. I was going to speak to
+you about the girl, Estrella," he went on, watching her face while he
+talked; "she is in need of different surroundings than she has at
+present, for she is not of the race of those with whom she has been
+staying; the young man who calls her his half-sister knows very well
+that she has none of his blood in her veins, and he is almost constantly
+tormenting her with offers of his heart and hand, when the poor girl is
+really a mourner for the man whom she believed, as you did, to be worthy
+of a good woman's love. The girl is strong and willing and capable
+beyond the common run of the people among whom she has spent her life
+thus far. I believe she would fully appreciate kindness and would repay
+it in every way in her power. What I have just thought of is, perhaps,
+impossible for you to do, at present, but it may be that, in the future,
+you may consider it. If you could bring yourself to have her in your
+home she would be safe from harm and might be a very great help to you
+if you carry on the work that is now in your mind to do. For," he rose
+to his feet and walked rapidly from one end of the room to the other,
+"if America declares war on Spain with a view to the independence of
+Cuba, there will be much heroic work for you and me to do, my dear
+Daughter ... there will be much work for us two to perform."</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield also rose ... it seemed to her that the situation
+demanded that she meet it on her feet....</p>
+
+<p>"Father Felix," she said calmly and softly, "Father Felix, have Estrella
+brought to me, today; let us begin our good work at once. There is
+nothing that my beloved country can demand of me that I would not be
+glad to give to its sacred cause. I believe that I can do more for my
+native land, here, in Cuba, at the present time, than if I should return
+to it, now. It may be that an American, with some degree of wealth and
+intelligence, can be of service, here, at this critical juncture in her
+country's history."</p>
+
+<p>"Our native land could not have a better representative, my Daughter. As
+you know, I, also, am an American and I am proud, indeed, to claim you
+as a fellow-countryman. From now on we will more fully understand each
+other and I shall be glad to consult with you about many important
+matters. I will proceed at once to carry out your instructions with
+regard to the young girl of whom we have been speaking, for I feel that
+her case is one of peculiar importance, since I fully believe that she,
+also, is an American, although I have been unable, up to this time, to
+trace her parentage beyond the fact that a man, presumably her father,
+left her in the care of the woman who brought her up as one of her own
+children, in the little village below here. The poor girl has had a
+sorry life so far and really deserves better treatment than she has
+received, or so it seems to me from my finite stand-point. I do not
+presume to question the wisdom or justice of God, but, often, I am
+puzzled when I see the innocent suffer and the guilty escape punishment
+here in this world; I always trust in our heavenly Father implicitly,
+and, yet, at times, I am sorely put to it to furnish reasons for certain
+people having been placed in certain environments. I believe that all
+this will be explained to us in good time, but many things are hard to
+understand while we remain finite beings with only the intelligence that
+has been bestowed upon humanity to reason with. Conscience," he went on
+almost as if talking to himself, "conscience is our infallible guide and
+was given to us so that we would never be without direction in whatever
+circumstances we may be placed. Now, in this instance ... I honestly
+thought that I was doing right to come here this morning and advise you
+as I did, and, yet, God, in His great Wisdom, guided you, at once, into
+the only path that you were ever meant to walk in ... the path that
+will lead you on to the peace that passeth human understanding."</p>
+
+<p>After a little rather desultory conversation, with which he hoped to
+lighten the outlook of the lonely woman, the good Priest wended his
+solitary way down the hill and back to the scene of most of his labors
+among the ignorant people whom he hoped to help toward a better
+enlightenment, and, as he walked slowly down the path leading to the
+village, he turned and looked back at the mansion on the hill, crossed
+himself, and murmured:</p>
+
+<p>"Of such is the kingdom of heaven."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Estrella reached the mansion on the hill she found its mistress
+quietly awaiting her outside the dwelling; she welcomed the young girl
+with out-stretched hands, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Father Felix has done well, indeed, to send you to me so quickly,
+Estrella. I want you to feel perfectly at home, here. Old Mage will take
+you to your own room and tell you what little duties you may assume if
+you wish to do so. When you have arranged these little domestic matters,
+come to me in the library and we will talk over some plans I have in
+which I think you will be interested when you have somewhat recovered
+from your recent loss. I know, from my own experience, that there is but
+one way to carry sorrow through one's daily life and that is to be busy.
+If one has enough physical energy and nervous strength, one can
+accomplish a great deal of good in the world in spite of personal
+sorrow. You are young and have not had an easy life so far ... it may be
+that I can assist you so that, from now on, you and I may be able to
+help each other in doing good work among those who are weaker than we
+are."</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage was only too willing to take charge of the girl, for, while she
+did not really like the idea of having her in the family, yet, she was
+aware that Ruth needed companionship and she enjoyed having a goodly
+number of people around her as her life consisted, mainly, of what each
+day brought into it, for old Mage, while she was a good woman and a
+faithful friend, was not a thinker and made few plans for the future.</p>
+
+<p>She led Estrella to the room that Ruth had arranged to have her occupy,
+and, having explained certain little matters to her concerning the daily
+round of life in the house, she began to question her as to what she had
+learned regarding the explosion in Havana Harbor and what she thought as
+to the probability of the United States declaring war on Spain on
+account of it.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had little information to give to the old woman for she had
+been too much absorbed by her own recent grief to even think of any of
+the consequences that might follow the accident ... it seemed to her
+that if the whole United States navy were blown up, it would make small
+difference to her now that she had lost Victorio for he had represented
+to her everything that meant happiness for her in the future; she had
+yet to learn many things that would, eventually, bring to her the kind
+of happiness that is lasting and to be depended upon when all that is
+transitory and ephemeral has passed beyond knowledge and memory.</p>
+
+<p>At length, old Mage wearied of quizzing Estrella and left her to her own
+thoughts which were confused and uncertain; she did not understand why
+the lady of the mansion had condescended to ask her to come to her for
+Father Felix had left her in doubt as to any reason, only telling her
+that Miss Ruth desired her to come to her, at least for a time, to act
+as a sort of companion as she was alone a great deal; he did not explain
+to her that there might be work for her to do in the near future,
+leaving that part to Ruth, very wisely.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix led his little flock into fresh pastures when he felt that
+they were ready for such a change but he reflected deeply before doing
+this and hoped, in the case of the girl under consideration, that
+companionship with one as unselfish and intrinsically good and noble as
+Ruth Wakefield would do more for her character than any counsel he could
+give to her; the good Priest was well aware that the handsome, young,
+dashing Cuban had fascinated both the women and he felt sure that, had
+he lived long enough in the same world with them, he would have broken
+both their hearts, for it was his nature, evidently, to gather flowers
+wherever he found them and throw them away to wither and die; Father
+Felix was a normal human being as well as a spiritual leader and he
+recognized facts with regard to human nature as he found them, not being
+deceived by appearances as a less intellectual person would have been,
+or as a man possessed of weaker masculine traits than those that had
+been bestowed upon him.</p>
+
+<p>There was one among his parishioners of whose case he was doubtful ...
+he was very anxious concerning Manuello for he knew that the young man
+had some sort of guilty secret that he had confessed to no one and this
+was one reason influencing him in his endeavor to extricate the innocent
+Estrella from her immediate surroundings; he knew that, in the troubled
+condition of the country, Manuello would be almost certain, with his
+wild and untutored nature, to get into some sort of tangle with
+authorities and supposed that the trouble he was well aware of as being
+on the young fellow's conscience had something to do with existing
+Spanish laws; he, himself, in breaking down the doors of the prison in
+order to liberate this man among the rest of the prisoners, had been
+guilty of violating a strict mandate and knew that he was liable to
+arrest at any time, but, now that America might come into the struggle
+on her own account, instead of simply through sympathy with the wrongs
+of the people of Cuba, he realized that his own case had taken on a new
+color, for, as he had told Ruth Wakefield, Father Felix was a native
+American and loved his own country devotedly, although he had been
+acting as a missionary in Cuba for some years of his active life in the
+priesthood; he was dwelling on the state of mind of Manuello, sitting
+quietly in his own place in the refectory, the evening after the events
+related in the preceding chapter, when he heard a hasty knock at his
+door and immediately opened it to admit the subject of his thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>The young man entered as if upon a desperate errand and sat down in the
+first chair he found without waiting for the invitation of the Priest, a
+proceeding that, alone, showed the condition of his mind:</p>
+
+<p>"Good Father," he began without introduction, "where is Estrella? She
+has not been home for some hours and none of the family seem to know
+much about her; all they told me was that I was to come to you for
+information ... and here I am."</p>
+
+<p>The Priest looked into his eager face and pitied while he condemned him,
+for he could see that he greatly mourned the absence of the girl whom he
+had decided in his own heart to have for his own.</p>
+
+<p>"Manuello," said Father Felix, at length, having regarded him with a
+sympathetic smile, "you must accept the situation as calmly as you can.
+I have to tell you that Estrella has found another home than yours and
+will, from this on, be under good care and will, I hope, find happiness
+later on in her career ... she is a good girl and deserves to be happy,"
+he concluded, benevolently.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean," demanded Manuello, "that I am not to see her any more?
+That I am to be shut out from her life? I want to know," he rose to his
+feet, "I demand to know what you have done with her? Have you placed her
+in some convent?"</p>
+
+<p>His voice had risen as he added question to question and he faced the
+Priest with a fierce expression on his dark and lowering features. His
+attitude had no effect on Father Felix who was without bodily fear and
+knew that, in the present instance, at least, he stood upon safe ground,
+having, as he well knew, removed the girl from danger from the very
+being who, now, glared at him:</p>
+
+<p>"My Son," he said, "my Son, compose yourself. I will brook no
+demonstration of vile anger from you. Estrella has been put beyond your
+power. I do not know," he went on, coolly, "just what it is that is upon
+your conscience at present, but I do know there is something that will
+not bear a close investigation by the authorities, and I advise you to
+have a care how you conduct yourself in the future. Cuba will have need
+of your strong arm and I hope that you will use it in her service."</p>
+
+<p>Cowed by the sternness of the tone of voice in which he had been
+addressed as well as by his own guilty knowledge, Manuello, silently,
+and without thanks or regrets of any kind, left the refectory, slamming
+the door after him ... an indignity that few would dare to place upon
+their record; giving vent, inwardly, to the curses he did not dare to
+utter, he retraced his steps to his own home, intending to get what
+information he could from the other members of his family as to how
+Estrella went away; reaching his domicile, he, at once, began to ply his
+father, who had returned from his daily toil, with various inquiries,
+but found him not only uncommunicative but, apparently, also uninformed
+as to what had taken place during his absence; all that the other
+members of the family knew was that Father Felix had come hurriedly to
+the house and had a short conversation with Estrella when she had packed
+a few personal effects, of which, indeed, the poor girl had but few, and
+left the place, telling them she would see them again from time to time
+and leaving kind farewells for both himself and his father.</p>
+
+<p>Then he remembered how intimate Estrella had always been with Tessa and
+decided his best course would be to go to her little friend, being well
+aware that any information she might have she would gladly give to him;
+he was hurrying along, intent upon this new hope of relief from his
+anxiety regarding the woman he imagined himself to be deeply in love
+with, when, all at once, he became aware that someone was following his
+footsteps, guardedly and yet with determination; immediately upon this
+knowledge, there stalked into the foreground of his consciousness the
+fear of discovery of his recent crime; the intimation of the Priest that
+he had suspected it had stirred within him the instinct of
+self-protection and he hastened his progress along the familiar and
+narrow street, hoping to out-distance his pursuer, whoever he might
+happen to be.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to him that he was succeeding in this last effort and he was
+congratulating himself upon his own celerity, when a hand was laid
+rather heavily upon his shoulder and a loud and insistent voice declared
+him to be the prisoner of the owner of it.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly, Manuello became a beast of prey, cornered in its lair, and
+furious with all the animal instincts of self-preservation. He squirmed
+away from the heavy hand and whirled around to face his would-be captor
+and looked directly into the muzzle of a very capable gun held in steady
+hands that seemed well accustomed to its use.</p>
+
+<p>"Up wid ye'er fists, ye dirty spalpeen ye!" commanded the man behind the
+gun, using his own rich native brogue in the excitement of the moment.
+"Hould 'em right there ..." he went on, as Manuello, instinctively,
+though sullenly, obeyed him, "til I snap these putty bracelets on ye'er
+wrists!" fumbling in his pocket with one hand while he held the gun in
+the other, steadying it against his shoulder, for he had come prepared,
+knowing his prospective prisoner to be a desperate character. "There,
+now!" having completed his search and placed a handcuff on one of
+Manuello's wrists. "Up wid that one and over to its mate!"</p>
+
+<p>But his prisoner was indeed a desperate man and did not intend to yield
+to arrest as easily as it had appeared, at first; raising the manacled
+wrist, he brought the steel bracelets down on the red head of the
+Irishman, felling him to the ground; then it was but the work of a
+moment to secure the loaded gun, and, after that, the tables were
+completely turned for Manuello immediately became the master of the
+situation; looking hastily about him to be sure that he was unobserved,
+he was about to complete the utter defeat of the man who had given him
+such a terrific fright by beating his brains out with the clubbed gun,
+when he heard his own name spoken in a soft, low, scared voice; turning,
+he beheld little Tessa standing behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Manuello," she cried, breathing pantingly, "what has happened here?
+Are you hurt? There is blood on your wrist ... and ..." here she stopped
+in consternation, "what else have you here?" for the Irishman had done,
+at least, a part of his work well, having locked the handcuff which the
+young man had almost forgotten he was wearing, "Take the hateful thing
+off, dear Manuello ... do take it off ... I don't like to see it on your
+wrist."</p>
+
+<p>"Easier said than done, my dear little Girl!" declared the victim,
+smilingly. "But we can fix that somehow; in the meantime, we will let
+this fellow lay where he has fallen. Someone of his tribe will, likely,
+be along, soon, and they can take care of each other. Come along, Tessa,
+we will see what we can do with this piece of jewelry ... it is rather
+unwieldy ... I don't like the look of it."</p>
+
+<p>The home of the young girl was not far distant and thither they
+repaired; after repeated efforts to file through or break the manacles,
+Tessa bethought herself of one possible method of releasing Manuello and
+acted upon her idea at once; running out upon the street she approached
+the place where the soldier had fallen, for he wore the uniform of the
+Spanish army, intending to feel in all of his pockets for a key that
+would unlock the handcuffs.</p>
+
+<p>As she drew near to the spot she heard low voices and crept along in the
+shadow of the shrubbery that lined the narrow street until she was
+within ear-shot; then she realized that two more soldiers had joined
+their fallen comrade whom they had resuscitated, so that he was relating
+to them something of the circumstances that had led to his present
+plight:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye see, b'ys," he was saying, "I wanted to arrist the spalpeen
+myself becase I think he is not only a revolutionist, but, also, a
+mhurderer ... a fella we arristed yesterday tould me that he thinks
+<i>this</i> wan killed the leader of thim all ... seems he was jealous of
+him ... they both wanted the same ghirl...."</p>
+
+<p>Tessa, realizing that her errand was useless, turned to go back
+silently, but the words she had heard had burned themselves into her
+brain, and when she was again beside Manuello he seemed far different
+to her than he had before; she found him almost crazy from fear of
+discovery as he had failed in all of his efforts to free himself from
+the device that had been placed upon his wrist.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you get the key?" he demanded, almost fiercely. "Where is it? This
+cursed thing is almost killing me!"</p>
+
+<p>Frightened at his expression and regretting her inability to help him,
+the girl began to cry, lifting her apron to her eyes to wipe away her
+tears; as she did so, the young man said to her, angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"Well ... <i>stand</i> there and cry while I am suffering ... you'll do a lot
+of good that way ... hustle out and see if you can't find some tool to
+get this thing off of me ... go to the village blacksmith and tell him
+some lie or other ... ask him how you can get an iron off your little
+sister's leg ... do something ... someone will come in and find me this
+way!"</p>
+
+<p>"Even if they did, Manuello ... you are not under arrest ... the man
+don't know where you are, now; but I'll go and try to find some way to
+help you ... of course I will ..." said the generous-hearted girl, "I am
+<i>so</i> sorry for you, and, now, that Estrella is gone...."</p>
+
+<p>She hurried out, then, leaving the young fellow in no pleasant mood, for
+he had much to reflect upon and a pair of heavy handcuffs hanging to one
+wrist is not conducive to a man's happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Tessa soon returned and had to report that her efforts in his behalf
+were, again, unsuccessful, for the blacksmith had only said:</p>
+
+<p>"Bring the child to me and I will do what I can for her."</p>
+
+<p>Manuello was, now, almost in despair and he was wise enough to know that
+cursing, while it might relieve his feelings to some extent, would not
+really help the situation, so he pulled his sleeve down as far as he
+could over the manacled wrist and proceeded to find out what he could
+concerning Estrella.</p>
+
+<p>Tessa would have felt much freer than she did had she not remembered the
+words of the soldiers concerning the crime of which they suspected the
+young man, and only told him that Estrella had come running to her, that
+morning, and had told her that she was going away for a while but that
+she would see her again, soon.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello had to content himself with this, hoping to find out more from
+Tessa within a day or so, and went away, divided between a desire to
+revenge himself upon the man who had tried to arrest him and
+self-congratulation upon his escape, but most of all he pondered how to
+get the hateful handcuffs from his wrist, for, besides being painful and
+unwieldly, he knew that they would attract attention to him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+
+<p>Manuello was almost desperate regarding the manacles still clamped
+firmly on his wrist; it left his right hand free and he could use the
+fingers of the left hand, so he bound the wrist, placing the second
+handcuff above the one that was locked and laying it as close to the
+wrist as possible; he left his hand free as he could and simply told his
+family that he had cut the arm when engaged in practicing with the
+machete in the use of which weapon the Cuban insurgents were especially
+accomplished; this explanation of his supposed wound was sufficient and
+no one had any idea of the actual facts except Tessa and she was both
+too loyal to the young man and too frightened because of the reported
+crime he had committed to do anything but keep his secret inviolate; he
+depended upon her acknowledged affection for him and had no doubt that
+she would defend him if occasion required such a proceeding; his chief
+anxiety, at present, was to find out the where-abouts of Estrella, for
+he was of a fiery and passionate nature and the disappearance of the
+girl but added to his desire for her.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning after the accident he had sustained he started out with
+the determination to discover where Estrella had gone, for, as she had
+said that she would soon see his own family as well as little Tessa, he
+reasoned that she could not have gone very far away; so he began his
+search by climbing to the top of the hill behind the village, intending
+to try to locate her hiding-place by the simple method of checking off
+in his own mind impossible localities for concealment and then deciding
+which of the probable ones to investigate; having reached the point of
+vantage he wished, he began by cutting out the refectory ... then his
+own home ... then Tessa's dwelling-place ... then numerous small houses
+where he knew it would be practically impossible for another human being
+to be entertained in.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he had reached this point in his revery, his attention was
+attracted to the mansion on the hill, and he began to observe, closely,
+the movements of every one who came to or went from the house; he did
+not really suspect that Estrella was there, but his mind wandered idly
+over the residences within his view and lighted upon the mansion on the
+hill as something different from the other dwellings he could see.</p>
+
+<p>As he watched the gateway of Ruth Wakefield's residence, he noticed,
+emerging from it, old Mage whom he remembered as being there, in what he
+considered to be the capacity of an upper servant; he looked at the old
+woman because she happened to be in his line of vision and not because
+he had any curiosity concerning her movements; but the nature of the
+errand upon which she seemed to be bound not only surprised, but amused,
+him, for she carried in her hand a large basket of choice cut flowers,
+and, from time to time, as she walked along, she stooped to gather dried
+leaves that had fallen in the pathway with which she seemed trying to
+conceal the contents of her basket; she seemed satisfied, at last, and
+ceased to gather leaves, while she quickened her pace to a sort of slow
+amble which gait she maintained until she had passed beyond Manuello's
+view; he wondered, idly, why she covered the flowers, and was about to
+move to a point which commanded a more perfect view of the pathway, when
+his attention was again attracted to the gateway of the Wakefield
+residence.</p>
+
+<p>This time, it was quite a different person who appeared between the high
+stone pillars ... a tall woman, evidently young and active, plainly but
+serviceably dressed, stood, for a moment, shading her eyes with her hand
+from the glaring sunlight, peering down the pathway along which old Mage
+had just been walking; she remained in this position but a very short
+time, however, for she was, soon, joined by another woman who seemed as
+much interested as she had been in watching the pathway; as the two
+young creatures stood there, side by side, Manuello could not but remark
+upon the similarity of their forms and general appearance ... both were
+evidently strong and agile ... both seemed possessed of bounding health
+and youthful vigor; it seemed to him that one of the women looked more
+sturdy than the other one did, but, as she was wearing a wide and
+drooping hat, such as many of the natives of the Island were accustomed
+to wear, he could not see her face; as she approached the woman who had
+first appeared in the gateway, there was something in her manner that
+seemed familiar to the young fellow, and, as she put one hand, gently,
+on the other's shoulder, he, again, seemed to recognize something
+familiar in the movement; then she spoke, and, although he was too far
+away to hear her words, he knew the tones of her voice, and realized
+that his search for Estrella was ended.</p>
+
+<p>As this knowledge was fully impressed upon him he cast about in his mind
+as to what method of procedure to take to bring about his desired end
+which was to see and talk with the girl, himself, as soon as possible;
+first, he thought to approach the house as a fruit-peddler, but put that
+thought aside as unlikely to attain his object ... then, he decided to
+spy around the place until he located Estrella's own room, intending to
+bring his guitar and sing under her window some native love-songs,
+hoping to impress upon her his undying affection and imagining that, now
+that Victorio was out of the way, his cause would be more likely to
+succeed than before.</p>
+
+<p>He had started out to carry this intention into practice, leaving his
+original position among the heavy timber that skirted the hill, and
+going more into the open than before in order to more closely approach
+the house, when he became aware of another presence in the wooded
+section that he had just left; he could not make out just what this
+presence was ... his ideas concerning it were hazy and uncertain, but he
+felt sure that he was not alone and, now that he had left the timber, it
+seemed to him that the unknown presence was following close behind him;
+he turned sharply around but discovered nothing behind him and kept on
+in the direction he had been proceeding in, although his nerves were
+keyed up and ready to jump at the slightest sound; suddenly, directly in
+front of him, he heard a voice saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not approach any nearer to her. If you insist upon doing so you must
+take the consequences which are freighted with bitter pain for you."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to Manuello that this voice was within himself and came from
+his own thoughts and, yet, it seemed, also, to be in the pathway ahead
+of him, separated from him and yet a part of him; he hesitated, as above
+everything else, the natives of Cuba are superstitious and Manuello was
+no exception to this rule; his own criminal record, naturally, made him
+timid; besides, Estrella's evidently favored position as a member of the
+household of Ruth Wakefield elevated the girl in his estimation, for
+everyone in that neighborhood had great respect, amounting almost to
+veneration, for the inmates of the mansion on the hill.</p>
+
+<p>The young man stopped in his progress toward the house and turned his
+attention, for an anxious moment, to his manacled wrist, which gave him
+a great deal of uneasiness and some suffering as well; as he held this
+wrist with his free right hand, he had his back toward the path that led
+down into the village, and was unaware of the nearness of Father Felix
+until the good Priest touched him on the elbow; wheeling round,
+instantly, he faced the only man he was not afraid to meet among his
+neighbors; for, although the Priest had told him he knew that he
+possessed a guilty secret, yet he, also was aware of Father Felix' usual
+kindness and protection exercised over his people, so that it was with a
+feeling of relief that he discovered who the new-comer was.</p>
+
+<p>"My Son," said the Priest, "you are abroad early ... what news have you
+heard in the village, this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>Manuello looked at him searchingly as if to discover why he asked him
+this question, wondering if he had heard of his own encounter of the
+evening before, but failing to gain any knowledge of the secret thoughts
+of the Priest, he said at random:</p>
+
+<p>"Everything is about as usual, I guess ... nothing startling seems to
+have happened during the night."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard," began Father Felix, "I heard that a soldier had been struck
+down by some marauder shortly after the time of your leaving my society,
+last night, and I thought you might have happened to be in the vicinity
+of the crime. By-the-way," he went on, solicitously, "what has happened
+to your left wrist?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh ... that!" said Manuello, carelessly. "That is simply a love token
+from the machete of a friend of mine while we were sparring for
+practice; as you said, last night, Cuba may have need of us fighting-men
+soon, and we wish to be ready to take our proper place when the time for
+action comes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, be careful of your weapons, my Son ... save your steel for your
+enemies and those of your native land."</p>
+
+<p>Speaking in this manner, the good Priest pursued his journey up the hill
+and disappeared within the gateway where Manuello had, only very
+recently, seen Estrella standing with the mistress of the mansion; he
+decided, under the existing circumstances, to retrace his steps toward
+the village, contenting himself with the thought that he now knew where
+Estrella was; he thought that he might as well impart this information
+to little Tessa, and, also, he wanted to find out whether she had heard
+anything more about his encounter with the soldier on the street, also
+if she had thought of any way whereby he might be freed from the
+manacles which became more and more distressing and uncomfortable.</p>
+
+<p>With this thought in his mind, he was approaching Tessa's home when he
+was intercepted by the very individual he meant to inquire about.</p>
+
+<p>"What the divil!" exclaimed the Irishman. "Sky-larking by daylight
+<i>this</i> toime, me foine high-way-mon?"</p>
+
+<p>Manuello had drawn back, prepared to again bring the hated handcuffs
+down upon the poll of the man before him, if he offered any indignities,
+when he was surprised to notice a wheedling tone in the voice of his
+opponent of the evening before.</p>
+
+<p>"Indade, mon," began the soldier, "I am in need of those putty bracelets
+I gave ye, last night; a prisint like them is not bestowed ivry day, I
+tell yees. The only thanks ye give me was a crack on me head wid em
+which took away but little of me sinse as I had but little in the
+beginning.... I might have known betther than to have tackled a foine,
+up-standin' fella like yees, single-handed. Yer a foine figure of a mon,
+me Frind, and I'd like mighty well to serve be the side of ye ... how
+would it <i>do</i>, now, fer ye to enlist in the arrmy and give me back me
+bracelets if I spake a good worrd fer ye wid me Captain?"</p>
+
+<p>Manuello looked at him in surprise, but, seeing a chance to get rid of
+the hateful manacles, decided to agree to the proposition of the other,
+at least for the time being.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," he acquiesced, "go ahead and take these cursed thing off
+me, first, and then tell me where you want me to go."</p>
+
+<p>The wary Irishman watched the face of the Cuban, doubtfully, but, as he
+really wished to be able to account for the handcuffs, he took the key
+from his pocket and stepped a little closer to the young fellow in order
+to use it, being careful to keep a firm hold on his gun the while; just
+as he was about to unlock the manacles, he heard a slight noise behind
+him and looked out of the tail of his eye to be horrified by the near
+proximity of one of his superior officers; instantly, he changed his
+attitude toward Manuello, dropped the key, and pointed his Mauser rifle
+straight at the heart of his prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye will ... will yees?" he cried out. "Oi'll see about that, ye
+Spalpeen! Shtand shtill unless ye want a bullet in yer gullet! Now,
+Sir," he said politely to the officer, "ef ye'll be ahfter clicking the
+other bracelet on his right wrist whilst I kape him covered, Oi'll be
+much obleeged to ye. He's a nasty customer, Sir," he explained, kindly,
+"and Oi've been havin' a rough toime wid 'em."</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish officer stepped gingerly up to the prisoner, seized hold of
+the manacled wrist and reached for the other uplifted hand; but
+Manuello had had enough of their society and proceeded to rid himself
+of it by striking at the officer with his left wrist while he made a
+grab at the rifle of the Irishman with his right hand; the young Cuban
+was wiry and his muscles were like taut steel; the officer went down
+like an ox before the slaughterer but the Irishman discharged his gun
+regardless of the aim which had been destroyed by the action of the
+living target; the result was disastrous to all parties for Manuello
+felt a sharp, stinging pain in one of his legs, but, in spite of this,
+he clubbed the rifle and brought it down over the skull of the Spanish
+soldier, limping away, again a conqueror, but sorely wounded, for the
+bullet had passed clear through the injured limb, tearing through the
+flesh and bone as is the manner of the long and slender Mauser missile.</p>
+
+<p>In this emergency, the young fellow, knowing that he would be hunted
+after the last encounter, not only because of the crime of which he had
+tacitly been accused by the soldier but because he had struck down a
+Spanish officer, and realizing that, with the manacles still locked upon
+his wrist, he was a marked man, bethought him of a deserted hut far back
+among the palms that grew all over the Island in tropical profusion; if
+he could but reach this hut, he thought, and first apprise Tessa of his
+new mishap, he might hide there while he recovered from his wound which
+was beginning to give him great pain as it recovered from its first
+numbness.</p>
+
+<p>Walking as erectly as he could under the circumstances and keeping his
+left wrist well covered by the wide cuff of his jacket-sleeve, he was
+proceeding along the familiar street, when he met the girl he was in
+search of, strolling placidly along, little dreaming of the imminent
+peril in which he had just been placed, for the discharge of the Mauser
+rifle had been almost as silent as smokeless; telling her in a few
+hurried sentences of his great need and describing to her the location
+of the ruined hut he had in mind, Manuello retired from the scene.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+
+<p>Tessa was very much distressed as to the condition of Manuello and,
+feeling that he depended upon her alone, cast about in her mind as to
+how she could assist him; to begin with, she was anxious about the heavy
+handcuffs hanging to his poor wrist, as she put it in her gentle
+thoughts of the man whom she suspected of being a murderer; if, however,
+the charge against him were true, she felt that the crime was committed
+in the heat of a jealous passion, and being what she was, herself, she
+excused it for that reason, for a Cuban girl is apt to love as madly
+and as unreasonably as any man ... to her, Manuello was almost a
+demi-god ... it had been a hard trial for the little woman to give him
+up to Estrella, even, and, now that he was in dire need and the girl of
+his first choice had deliberately deserted him, it seemed to her as if
+she had the right to let her own wild love guide her in all that she did
+with regard to him.</p>
+
+<p>She was slowly retracing her steps to her own home with the intention of
+getting some supplies and managing to evade the vigilance of the rest of
+her family sufficiently to carry them to the man she loved ... her eyes
+were directed to the path along which she walked, idly, yet, all at
+once, those dark eyes lighted up with sudden joy and she hastily swooped
+down, like a fluffy little bird upon a morsel of food, and took into her
+hand a small and intricate-patterned key; she hoped that this was the
+key that would unlock the hated manacles from Manuello's wrist and,
+regarding this as a good omen, she concealed the little deliverer in her
+bosom, tying it in the corner of the kerchief that was crossed upon her
+breast.</p>
+
+<p>When Tessa had secured what necessities she found available on the spur
+of the moment, she at once concealed them as far as possible and
+prepared to ascend the side of the hill toward the ruined hut where
+Manuello had directed her to come; her heart was fluttering wildly for
+this was her first secret mission, as she had always had someone near
+her during her short life on earth: she wound her way among the cactus
+plants that covered the ground in almost all directions, with an
+unerring instinct that was of more value to her than any education could
+have been for the moment, for one unaccustomed to the wild cacti in Cuba
+might, easily, become bewildered, as it is necessary to walk almost in
+circles among the thick clumps of prickly foliage.</p>
+
+<p>Tessa was young, but the women of Cuba, like those of most tropical
+countries, mature early in life, and she already had the strong maternal
+instinct that is a part of normal womanhood; this instinct now directed
+her to watch over Manuello as if he were, indeed, her child, instead of
+the man to whom she had given the first wild love of her fiery nature;
+for women are made that way ... no matter what their own body may demand
+of them, it is as natural for them to put all personal feeling aside and
+allow a higher, more unselfish love to rule them entirely, as it is for
+a man to, first gratify his own desires, and, then, if so be he can
+without inconvenience to himself in any way, minister to the wants of
+the woman in the case, all well and good, but if, on the contrary, to
+care for the woman would, in any way, cause him to exercise self-control
+and self-sacrifice, why, of course, he seeks another woman as soon as he
+can well rid himself of the one who has flouted him; I am now speaking
+of the general run of men ... there are exceptions to this rule, of
+course, just as there are exceptions to the rule just stated regarding
+women ... not all women are as little Tessa was, but most of them are
+and it is indeed fortunate for the world of men and women that this is
+as it is ... wonderful beyond the ways of human beings is the love of a
+pure woman ... wonderful and worthy of the highest respect and devotion
+of any man is the almost angelic love that women often bestow on most
+unworthy objects.</p>
+
+<p>It was so in this case, for, while the girl was winding among the cacti
+that hindered her advance up the hill, the man was lying in a miserable
+heap in the corner of the deserted hut, cursing not only his own hard
+luck, but even the girl on whom he depended for sustenance and care;
+with maledictions on his tongue and the heavy manacles on his wrist, and
+with the increasing pain and torment of his undressed wound, the poor
+fellow was far from appearing much as had the gay peasant who had
+congratulated himself on having escaped from prison, and, at the same
+time, having rid himself of his rival in the affections of Estrella,
+who, now, seemed lost to him.</p>
+
+<p>When the girl reached the ruined hut she found the object of her loving
+care under the circumstances described above, and it took all of her
+courage to face the situation alone and unaided by surgical skill for
+they both realized that discovery would be almost certain to be fatal to
+the man who now lay groaning and cursing by turns, even while his
+ministering angel in human form knelt at his side and unlocked the
+handcuffs from his wrist, for, luckily, she had happened upon the very
+means of deliverance from the manacles for which they had both longed;
+then Tessa gathered dead palm branches with which she fashioned a rude
+bed for the sufferer, after which she raised his head upon a small
+pillow which she had thoughtfully brought with her, for she was a sturdy
+little peasant and could act as a beast of burden without harm to
+herself; having fixed him up as comfortably as she could, under the hard
+circumstances, she insisted upon his eating and drinking some of the
+refreshments she had carried up the hill for him; she had used what
+skill she had in bathing and binding the wounded leg, and, as the bullet
+had gone clear through, there was little else to do so far as that was
+concerned; then they began to consult as to what method of procedure
+would be best for them to take; in this, of course, Manuello thought
+only of himself, as was natural to a man of his type, while little
+Tessa, as was also natural to one of her trusting and loving
+disposition, also thought only of his comfort and safety.</p>
+
+<p>"I must come to you each day until the wound heals, my dear Friend,"
+said the earnest little woman. "I must bring you what you will need and
+I must be very careful not to be detected in doing this. I wish ..." she
+ended, earnestly, "I wish that dear Estrella could come and see you for
+it would do you more good than anything that I can do for you."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a darling little girl, Tessa," said her turbulent patient. "You
+ought to satisfy any reasonable man; Estrella don't care anything at all
+about me, and I am beginning to think that I can get along without her
+as long as I can have you."</p>
+
+<p>The adoring look in his dark eyes as he said these words was like manna
+in the wilderness to little Tessa, for she could not help being pleased
+to think that, after all, maybe Manuello would fix his affections upon
+her small person, since Estrella had so often flouted him and shown him
+plainly by her great preference for Victorio that she did not love him;
+the name she had just used in her thoughts brought up the hateful
+suspicion aroused in her by the remarks of the Irishman who had seemed,
+at first glance, to be a Spaniard, but who, as soon as he opened his
+mouth to speak, proved his nationality beyond the shadow of a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>But the loving girl put her thought aside almost at once ... she did not
+wish to believe the suspicion to be true and she did not intend to
+believe it&mdash;until she had to, if such a sad time could ever come to her;
+just at present all the strength of her being was concentrated upon the
+desire to aid Manuello in whatever manner she could.</p>
+
+<p>To further this desire, she arranged a signal whereby he might know that
+she was coming up the hill and concealed, as well as she could the
+approach to the hiding-place as well as the hut itself, by throwing, in
+apparent disorder, as if blown by a strong wind, such branches and twigs
+as she could find by a hurried search.</p>
+
+<p>She did not stay any longer than she thought was necessary for the
+comfort of her patient for she was determined to continue her care of
+him if possible and realized that a prolonged absence from her own home
+might bring suspicion upon them both; as she was leaving, she looked
+pitifully weak and small to cope with such a complicated situation
+alone; even Manuello realized, for a moment, the devotion of the girl,
+and called her over to his side to say a word or two at parting.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear little Tessa," he began, "this is going to be a hard task that you
+have undertaken. I wonder if I am worth all this trouble. Perhaps you
+would just better turn me over to the soldiers and let them work their
+will on me; it may be that I will never be able to reward you for all
+your care; of course, it may, on the other hand, be possible for me to
+offer you help and comfort when you, yourself, may be in need of it. Now
+that you have freed me from those shackles, I begin to feel my old
+strength and courage coming back, and if I ever am again as I was before
+this last mishap, I will surely reward you somehow for all this
+sacrifice that you are making for me."</p>
+
+<p>This speech, coming from a man in the condition of Manuello, appealed to
+the little woman so forcibly that she knelt beside his rude couch and
+laid both her small, dark hands on his brow as she looked deeply into
+his eyes; this position, being very favorable to the impulse that came
+over the man as he lay there, made it easy for him to draw her head,
+with its great mass of black hair, down upon his shoulder; as her cheek
+was laid against his own, Manuello held her small face closely with both
+his hands while he kissed first her trembling lips, then each of her
+eye-lids, for she had closed her eyes in a sort of blind ecstasy, then
+her low forehead, then the top of her small head and, finally, her
+quivering chin.</p>
+
+<p>The impulse that prompted him to give these welcome caresses lasted only
+a moment for the pain in his leg was beginning to be very insistent and
+a groan of agony took the place of the loving words that had been upon
+his eager tongue during the moment when he forgot his wound, but the
+effect of those few wild moments of unbridled passion went with the
+little woman down the hill and covered her small body with a delicious
+glow that took away much of the terror and apprehension with which she
+viewed the situation in which she found herself.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield found Estrella to be much more of a companion than she
+had thought she would, and found that, in the innocence and naturally
+responsive disposition of the girl, she could almost forget the tie that
+had brought them together; had the girl suspected the truth as to
+Victorio's relations with the mistress of the mansion on the hill, the
+situation might have been strained or even acute, but, as it was, Ruth
+only pitied, while she almost envied, the sorrow of the sweetheart of
+her own husband.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning when Manuello had discovered the where-abouts of
+Estrella, the two women had been watching for Father Felix, intending to
+consult with him concerning something that they both wished to do and
+yet were not sure of the wisdom of; when he came, they both waited,
+anxiously, for his first words, for they depended upon them for
+enlightenment regarding a question in which they were both much
+interested.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ruth and Estrella," he began, addressing both women, "I have great
+news for you but we must be cautious in discussing what I have to impart
+to you; if, through our carelessness, the information I am about to give
+you, should miscarry, it might mean almost as great a disaster as the
+recent explosion in Havana Harbor. We must be sure that we are not
+overheard. I think we would better repair to the library, Miss Ruth, if
+that would meet with your approval. I think we would be more secure from
+eaves-droppers inside the house than here. I just met Manuello, my
+Dear," he said speaking to Estrella, "as I came up the path. I do not
+like to have him lurking around your dwelling-place. I am sure that he
+is in some sort of hiding from the authorities and I dread to have him
+near you, for he has an evil look in his eyes, lately. Be very careful,
+my Daughter, as you go about the place or into the village ... it might
+even be well for you to remain away from your former home for some time
+to come. I can carry any news of you that will be necessary for them to
+know or do any little errands that you may think should be done.
+By-the-way," he ended, turning his attention, once more, to Ruth, "I met
+your old nurse hurrying along down toward the village as if in great
+haste; as she does not often walk down the hill I noticed the
+circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"Old Mage!" exclaimed Ruth. "Why, I did not know that she had gone out.
+Do you know anything of this, Estrella? Did she tell you that she had
+work to do in the village? Was there something that had to be secured
+for the larder, at once, that would not brook delay? Dear me, I hope she
+will not over-tire herself. She is not very strong any more and I try to
+have her, always, take very good care of herself. As you may know, good
+Father," she went on, "old Mage is almost the only living human friend
+on whom I can rely and her fealty to me is beyond question. If I should
+find old Mage untrue to me," she declared, "I would not expect the sun
+to rise the following morning. I must look into this, and, if you will
+excuse me for a few moments, I will do so at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my Daughter," said the Priest when Estrella and he were left
+alone, "I wish to say to you, privately, that you must, from this time
+on, avoid meeting Manuello in any way, both for yourself and also for
+the well-being of your good friend, Miss Ruth; the fellow is
+evil-minded, lately, and I believe would not stop at robbery or even,
+though I greatly regret to think so, <i>murder</i>," he uttered the dreadful
+word softly but emphatically, "if he believed that he would benefit by
+either crime and I must urge you not to allow him to come here to see
+you under any possible circumstances. As I said before, I can do what
+must be done as between your former family and yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Estrella gladly acquiesced in this good judgment of Father Felix and
+agreed to do all in her power to avoid meeting Manuello which she had no
+desire, personally, to do, as she dreaded his protestations of love as
+much as she would have dreaded his anger for any other reason in the
+common affairs of daily life.</p>
+
+<p>In a short time, Ruth returned, explaining that old Mage had, indeed,
+gone down to the village, though for what purpose she had been unable,
+so far, to discover: they, then, repaired to the library and carefully
+closed all doors and windows before Father Felix began to tell them what
+they were so anxious to hear.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Friends," he began, "the information that I have to impart to
+you is of a very delicate as well as secret nature and must be so
+regarded by both of you. Estrella, to you, especially, I wish to say
+that you must not, under any circumstances, breathe a single word of
+what I will say to you for it is of vital importance to the native land,
+as I believe, of all three of us. For I have reason to think that you,
+as well as Miss Ruth and myself, are an American. I know that all of
+your sympathies are with our native land, at least, and, in trusting you
+with this information, I am, in a measure, making you one of us in deed
+and in truth, whether you are so by reason of your birth or not. Before
+I go any further, I want your assurance of what I believe to be true."</p>
+
+<p>He waited a moment for the girl to speak, then, seeing her evident
+embarrassment, he added, kindly:</p>
+
+<p>"You need have no fear of either of us, Estrella. If you have friends in
+this wide world, you are with two of them at this moment."</p>
+
+<p>At these earnest words, the expression of the girl's face changed
+somewhat and she replied to the implied interrogatory of the Priest:</p>
+
+<p>"I, also, believe that I am an American, although I do not know anything
+of my own parentage beyond what my foster parents have told me. I do not
+even know," she blushed while she made the statement, "whether my father
+and mother had been married before my birth.... I have no means of
+finding out anything more of myself than that I am an honest girl and
+that I am deeply grateful to both you and Miss Ruth for your great
+kindness to me in my great sorrow. As far as my fealty to America is
+concerned," she ended, proudly, "I am as true to that great country as
+anyone who knows himself to be a citizen of it. I would, gladly, lay my
+feeble life upon the altar of what I believe to be my native land ...
+the United States of America."</p>
+
+<p>She pronounced the words with reverence and bowed her head as if in
+prayer, so that Father Felix no longer hesitated, but proceeded, at
+once:</p>
+
+<p>"At this moment, an American squadron is in Asiatic waters, ready to
+move, at the moment its Commander receives the cablegram from the
+President of our own country, against the Spaniard, almost on his own
+territory. By this move it is hoped to so cripple him that we, here, in
+Cuba, may, with the help of our soldiers and sailors, conquer and drive
+from the Island those who have so long usurped the places of great power
+among us."</p>
+
+<p>When the good Priest had pronounced these fateful words, he found his
+two auditors sitting erect, as if at attention, with hands folded in
+their laps, and eyes fixed upon his face in breathless eagerness. Ruth
+was the first to break the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I pray the good God," she said, softly and reverently, "I pray God to
+strengthen the hands of those who are to do this great, good work! I
+trust that those who will be engaged in battle may be prepared to meet
+their Maker with clean hearts, if with bloody hands. War," she cried,
+suddenly, losing her attitude of prayer in the violence of her emotions,
+"war is a terrible calamity but it seems that, only through war can a
+nation be purged of such foul crimes as have been committed right here
+in Cuba."</p>
+
+<p>Estrella watched her with flashing eyes and sympathetic expression and
+the good Priest crossed himself and clenched his fists at the same
+time, for, had occasion required such action at his hands, it was
+evident that Father Felix could have changed from the spiritual guide to
+the fiery enthusiast willing to take his place among the fighting men
+who would defend what he believed to be a sacred cause.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Father Felix," demanded the practical side of Ruth Wakefield,
+"what action can we take in this matter to help the good cause? Is there
+not some preparation that we can make to welcome our soldiers to Cuba,
+for, of course," she lifted her head, proudly, "our boys will win
+whatever conflict they may become engaged in ... it is only a question
+as to how many of them may be injured or even killed in the terrible
+encounter. Every man in America," said this American woman, "is a
+soldier if he is needed in that capacity, for every American, man, woman
+or child, is a <i>patriot</i> ... devoted to the sacred traditions and
+splendid example of those who followed <i>George Washington</i> to victory
+over those who had oppressed and insulted them."</p>
+
+<p>"My Daughters," said Father Felix, rising, "I must leave you for the
+present. I will find out what we may do to assist our countrymen and
+will come again to let you know the result of my search for further
+information. All we can do, now, is to hold the information I have just
+given to you inviolate and prepare ourselves, spiritually, to meet
+whatever emergency may arise. My Daughters," he ended, stretching out
+his hands in blessing over their bowed heads, "we shall have work to do
+and we will do it with our might. May God, in His great Mercy, guide us
+into the path in which He intended us to walk."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+
+<p>On the day of Manuello's search for the girl he had so madly and
+hopelessly loved, old Mage made a surreptitious visit to the little
+cemetery in San Domingo where she had seen the body of Victorio Colenzo
+laid away in its final resting-place; she went among the new-made
+graves, of which there were a goodly number for so small a graveyard,
+until she found the one she sought: she stopped, then, took the dried
+leaves from the top of her large basket, removed a beautiful bunch of
+roses, tied, carefully, with a broad blue ribbon, and laid them, softly,
+upon the top of the mound of fresh earth; after having done this, she
+took a small object wrapped in tissue paper, from the very bottom of the
+basket, dug a small hole under the roses and buried it, covering it
+carefully, packing the ground over it, at first, and, then putting loose
+earth over the top of the miniature grave, so as to conceal its
+existence as much as possible, she again laid the roses carelessly over
+the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Having performed this little ceremony, old Mage looked down at her
+handiwork and said, apparently addressing herself, as no other human
+being was in sight at the time:</p>
+
+<p>"There! <i>Now</i> I hope that she will forget all about him ... she will
+think that she has mislaid the ring ... I had a hard time to get hold of
+it. I hope that it will never come to life again any more than him ...
+let them both lay there together. You lying pup, you!" she cried,
+shaking her trembling old fist at the grave. "You <i>lay</i> there and don't
+you ever try to come near my dear young Lady again! The <i>idea</i> of an
+ignorant thing like you ever daring to come near her, anyway. I wouldn't
+be so darned mad at you," she ended, "for you were a mighty good-looking
+fellow and any woman might have been proud of your appearance, once she
+could overlook your dark skin, but you even fooled <i>me</i>, doggone you!
+You <i>lay</i> there, now, and never do you dare to try to fool any more
+women ... three of us is enough in <i>this</i> neighborhood, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long sigh of relief after this speech and hurried out of the
+cemetery with her empty basket; she had slipped away when she thought no
+one was observing her and intended to tell Ruth after her return what
+she had done with the exception of any reference to the ring which, as
+the reader may have guessed, was the wedding ring that Ruth had, up to
+this time, kept always on her left hand or in her jewel-case on her
+little dressing-table before which she always sat when she combed and
+brushed her long and beautifully luxuriant brown hair; she had taken
+the ring off the night before, little dreaming that she was touching it
+for the last time, and sadly laid it among her jewels, thinking of the
+bright face and laughing dark eyes that had looked so handsome to her
+when he had put that little ring upon her finger, whispering of his
+undying love and of the fact that she and she alone was, and had been
+since his first meeting with her, the entire mistress of his hither-to
+untouched heart; she had even shed a few tears over the little ring,
+then, and old Mage, silently witnessing this fact, determined that she
+should never again have that opportunity; so, after Ruth was sweetly
+sleeping, the old woman slipped into her room and removed the object of
+her scorn; she lay awake almost all of that night, planning how to
+secrete or do away with the visible bond that had united her dear young
+Lady to an unworthy mate; at length, toward daylight, it seemed to old
+Mage as if someone had whispered to her what to do with the ring so that
+poetic justice would be done to the first youthful passion of Ruth
+Wakefield's innocent life; acting upon this suggestion, for so it seemed
+to her, feeling sure that she had solved the problem so nearly affecting
+the life of the one she loved best in all her world, she carried out the
+plan she instantly formed, and, while she was a very weary old woman,
+from lack of sleep and unusual exercise, when she again reached her
+much-loved home, she had within her spirit a sense of satisfaction that
+was beyond anything she had felt since Ruth had married the man whose
+grave she had, that morning, visited; she felt, in some sense, to blame
+for the marriage, as she had not strenuously opposed it, and found
+herself much in the position she used to occupy when Ruth had been a
+little tot and she had allowed her to do some small thing of which she
+knew her parents would not approve.</p>
+
+<p>Now, she felt relieved because, as it seemed to her, she had sort of
+evened up matters, and, after informing Ruth that she had gone to the
+grave and put the roses there, she never intended to speak of Victorio
+Colenzo again, and, as far as possible, she intended to rid Ruth of his
+memory; with this thought in mind, she picked up many little memontos of
+him which she found lying about the place ... a guitar here and a ribbon
+there ... a photograph, perhaps, showing the dashing young Cuban in
+military dress, which much became him, or mounted on a fine horse which
+he, for the moment, had secured the use of ... even in one picture he
+appeared standing, proudly, behind Ruth as if protecting her; all of
+these and anything else that old Mage could find that would inevitably
+remind Ruth of the man she had married, she destroyed ruthlessly and
+with inward glee; her object in all this was, really, to protect her
+dear young Lady, and, yet, at the same time, she had as nearly a
+fiendish delight as it was possible for her ever to entertain, in, as
+she naïvely put it to herself, "getting even" with the handsome fellow
+who had "pulled the wool over" her own eyes as well as the brighter and
+stronger ones of her young Lady.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield was never enlightened as to this little by-play, but she
+reaped the benefits of it in many ways, for it is true that visible
+reminders are necessary to a great many people, and, even the strongest
+minds are affected by the sudden sight of something reminding them of
+some object formerly dear to them; it will give almost anyone a start to
+come, unexpectedly, upon a picture or almost any tangible token of
+someone once dear, no matter what may have happened to take away that
+quality; lovers, by preserving evidence, like withered flowers,
+pictures, songs and poems, often lay up for themselves future agony of
+spirit ... the objects that are so dear to them may turn about and rend
+their inmost souls; full many times, it were better had the love-tokens
+been destroyed in some such way as old Mage did away with the visible
+memories attached to the objects which her eager hands closed upon; this
+secret employment, necessarily long drawn out, as she did not wish to be
+discovered in her labor of love, took up a good deal of the extra time
+she found herself in possession of on account of the presence of
+Estrella in the home, for the girl took up many household duties, gladly
+and naturally, knowing that in work she could, to some extent, forget
+her own sorrow, and wishing to lighten the labors of old Mage who was
+always kind to her.</p>
+
+<p>After the information imparted to Ruth by Father Felix, regarding
+national affairs, she was very thoughtful and very busy, for there were
+very many ways in which she could make preparations to begin the duties
+which she expected to take up as soon as occasion would require them of
+her; she studied into trained nursing and found a sort of school in
+Havana to which she took Estrella and where they both learned many
+essential things pertaining to the calling which they were both trying
+to fit themselves for; in many ways they were both better prepared for
+the work of caring for the sick and wounded than many women would ever
+become, no matter how much they would be trained, for they were both
+earnest and helpful, tender-hearted and serious; in all wars, there are
+women who seek the familiar association with men which the calling of a
+nurse entails, with no better object than just the proximity to
+masculine humanity involved, but there are, also, such women as Ruth
+Wakefield who had no thought in the matter except to help where help of
+her should anywhere be needed ... to succor those who were not to blame
+for the accidents that had befallen them ... who were, indeed, entitled
+to the tenderest consideration on account of the very accidents which
+had laid them on the clean, white cots that are stretched along the
+wards and in the private rooms of the great, shadowy hospitals where
+tender women bend above the beds of pain and minister to those who lie
+there, suffering and weak, both in body and spirit.</p>
+
+<p>On one of these numerous visits to Havana, Ruth met a man who was an old
+friend of her father's who was much interested in her lonely life and
+who came out to her home to consult with her regarding the prospects of
+her being surrounded by the din and pomp of actual warfare; at first, as
+he viewed the situation she was placed in, he felt as Father Felix had
+as to her staying in Cuba, in her immediate future, but listened to her
+patriotic resolve with high enthusiasm, as he was intensely patriotic
+himself and loved to think that she was every inch an American although
+her life had, almost all of it, been spent away from her native land.</p>
+
+<p>Just as this man was leaving her home, one day, for he had been making
+frequent visits there, he turned to look at her as she stood between the
+pillar-like gate-posts at the entrance to the drive that led to her
+residence; the picture she made, standing there in the glow of the
+setting sun, lingered in his memory long after he had ceased to see her
+as he saw her, then; Ruth was very fond of flowers and often wore a rose
+tucked in among the coils of her beautiful, shining hair; that evening,
+her selection among her flowers for this use had been a bunch of English
+violets; the deep blue of the dainty blossoms accentuated the clear
+gray color of her star-like eyes ... her healthy skin reflected the
+sunset after-glow which was beginning to appear in the western sky; her
+small mouth, with its cute corners, puckered up as if, she used to say
+when a child, it had been too large to begin with and had been shirred
+at the corners to make it the desired size, registered each change of
+her inner feelings; her dress was elegant, yet simple, and her poise was
+splendid; there are few earthly women who have sufficient poise of
+manner and of nervous strength; most of them become excited and
+distraught under slight stress of circumstances, but Ruth Wakefield was
+an exception to this very general rule; there were very few things that
+could shake her from her serenity of purpose and intention; one of these
+things was being a witness to any injustice ... an indignity put upon a
+weaker creature by a stronger one, whether the creature be gifted with
+the power to express its feelings in human speech or not; those who knew
+her best, were well aware of her strong regard for the rights of
+so-called "dumb animals" ... her loving sympathy went out to every old
+or poorly cared for horse she saw; she had been heard to say that she
+would dearly love to have a good pasture, with waving grasses and
+running water and sheltering trees where she could gather together all
+the illy-used horses in the world and then just watch them enjoy their
+surroundings; the smaller creatures, also, were her friends ... little
+Tid-i-wats, to whom we have already been introduced, was a feline of
+very uncertain temper and most impulsive and nerve-racking little
+habits, yet to Ruth she could always go and be sure of a loving
+reception no matter to what lengths she had gone, for Tid-i-wats was far
+from being a perfect little cat; she very often reverted to her original
+type and did things that no cat with a civilized ancestry would have
+even thought could <i>be</i> done; but she knew that Ruth would only say:</p>
+
+<p>"She is not feeling very well, today; she is beginning to show her years
+a little; I noticed a white hair only today, on her little neck; she is
+my own old baby-cat, anyway, and I will always take as good care of her
+as I possibly can."</p>
+
+<p>She would watch Ruth, calmly, while she straightened out whatever she,
+her own self, had made it necessary to straighten, and, then, when the
+young woman would, finally, sit down, no matter where Tid-i-wats
+happened to be located at the time, she would very soon land on Ruth's
+lap with no fear of a scolding even; she took advantage of the gentle
+disposition of her care-taker, same as so many humans did.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth's father's friend looked long and earnestly at the tall, straight,
+slender figure standing there at the entrance to her almost palatial
+home and the picture remained in his memory during the balance of his
+earthly life.</p>
+
+<p>While Ruth Wakefield and Estrella were preparing themselves to assist
+their fellow-countrymen in case they should be needed, events were
+shaping themselves so that it seemed likely that Cuba would be the stage
+for the setting of as heroic a play as the world had ever witnessed:
+Commodore Dewey had bottled up the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and
+Naval-Constructor Richmond P. Hobson had executed his daring and
+unheard-of feat although the gallant <i>Merrimac</i> was sunk in Santiago
+harbor.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the formal declaration of war on April 25, 1898, President
+McKinley sent forth a call for volunteers to enter the United States
+army and navy. Instantly, almost, the ranks were more than filled with
+active, alert, capable men, anxious, each one of them, to do his full
+share of the work that lay before his beloved land.</p>
+
+<p>It was while active preparations for a war carried on in the interests
+of humanity were progressing rapidly that Theodore Roosevelt became
+prominent as representing the highest type of American manhood; he threw
+himself, bodily, into the breach in the interests of his country; there
+was no personal sacrifice which he was unwilling to make ... no task too
+hard for him to attempt. He became, at once, an acknowledged and adored
+leader of the young Americans who crowded around him, loving him like a
+brother, and, at the same time, revering his quick judgment and his
+dauntless courage.</p>
+
+<p>There is no figure in American history more heroic or more admired than
+that of Theodore Roosevelt, mounted on a noble horse, in the uniform of
+a United States Volunteer and wearing a wide campaign hat.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield was kept well informed as to what was being done by her
+own people, mainly through the kindness of Father Felix who seldom
+missed an evening's visit with her and her almost constant companion,
+Estrella; the two girls, for they were no more than that in spite of
+what they had passed through, had become the best of understanding
+friends; the younger girl seldom spoke of her dead lover and Ruth found
+that the memory of her husband had been forced into the background of
+her thoughts by the march of passing events.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, Father Felix climbed the narrow pathway to the mansion on
+the hill and found Ruth alone as Estrella, who was her almost constant
+companion, now, had gone to the village on one of her infrequent visits
+to her little friend, Tessa.</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest was glad to find Ruth alone as he had news of great
+importance for her ... news that would lead to great developments in the
+near future; after being assured of their entire privacy, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"We will have work to do, my dear Daughter, before many more months have
+passed by. The American people have endured the sight of the injustice
+and oppression exercised by the Spanish authorities toward the helpless
+Cubans for a long time, now, and are becoming more and more determined
+to break the Spanish rule. You and I must be prepared to assist and
+succor our own dear boys when they begin to smite the enemy of right and
+justice, hip and thigh. My course in this work has been made plain
+before me.... I have applied for the position of Chaplain in the United
+States service and I trust that they will allow me to accompany my
+little flock right into the midst of every battle in which they will be
+engaged. It seems to me that your path in this matter, my Daughter, is,
+also, plain ... you can turn this charming home into a hospital to which
+the sorely wounded or those who have fallen ill from any cause may be
+brought and where they may receive the tender care which they will
+deserve from every loyal heart and hand. I am certain that you will find
+work for Estrella as well as for every member of your family, here, in
+this connection, also you will be ably assisted by many who will flock
+to your standard when they understand what you are doing. I, myself,
+will always assist you in every way in my power and I may be able to
+spare you some uncertainty and, possibly, also, some unpleasantness. My
+Daughter," he ended, "there will be work for us to do that will require
+all our strength and courage.... May God, in His great Wisdom, guide and
+help us."</p>
+
+<p>Ruth clasped her hands and bowed her head as Father Felix prayed for
+God's blessing on whatever enterprise they should be called upon to
+undertake in the great cause in which they were both enlisted.</p>
+
+<p>After the good Priest had disappeared down the narrow path that led to
+the little village of San Domingo, she sat, for a long time, in deep
+revery, reflecting on the peace and prosperity that then covered the
+tropical Island upon which she had lived for so many years and trying to
+imagine what changes were likely to come in the wake of the probable
+conflict of two great nations, for Ruth realized that America was
+meeting a foe worthy of her steel in Spain whose far-famed Armada had
+been made the subject of song and story; she had no doubt of the final
+outcome ... whatever America attempted, that she would accomplish ...
+but how many splendid American men would have to lie upon the bloody
+battle-fields that would spring up all around her was yet an unsolved
+problem; and that, she thought, proudly and devotedly, would be her
+work ... to find those splendid American heroes, and to do for them as
+much as if each one of them had been her own blood brother ... to succor
+the wounded and bury the dead.</p>
+
+<p>This line of thought led her, inevitably, to the grave already lying
+under the moonlight so near to her home, and, upon a sudden and almost
+irresistable impulse, she snatched a wrap from the rack in the hall and
+started down toward the little cemetery, thinking to bid an eternal
+farewell to the grave of the man who had been, if only for a few short
+months, her husband.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>Ruth descended the hill with firm, sure steps for she was strong in body
+as well as in spirit; she had reached the gate of the little cemetery
+before the impulse that had prompted her action had had time to lose any
+of its power, but, as she opened the gate and realized the lateness of
+the hour, her natural caution led her to pause for a second and take in
+her surroundings; she at once became conscious of the sound of a low,
+sobbing voice saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear God, I came here all alone hoping that You would forgive him for
+the crime that he committed if I came to you in secret beside the grave
+of him whose life he took ... the sin is lying heavily upon his soul and
+I wish to lift it from him by sacrificing my own peace of mind so that
+it may be bestowed upon him, for he suffers grievously from his wound,
+dear God, he suffers very grievously.... I pray that You will put the
+sorrow for his crime upon me instead of him so that I may help him, for
+he is greatly in need of more help than I can give him, being but a
+simple-minded, feeble, little peasant and unfit to carry this heavy
+load."</p>
+
+<p>The supplication ended in a rush of sobs that shook the inner
+consciousness of her who listened to them, for Ruth was tender-hearted
+above all her other instincts; she advanced into the little cemetery,
+then, with far different feelings than the ones that brought her there.</p>
+
+<p>The sounds that she had heard came from the same direction she had meant
+to take to reach the grave of Victorio Colenzo, so she proceeded along
+the little path that she had followed, in secret, more than once before,
+for, with Estrella in her home, she could not visit the last
+resting-place of the body of the man whom she had loved as very young
+and innocent women will, often, love a creature all unworthy of such
+affection, except surreptitiously; so that it was easy for her to wind
+among the simple little head-stones until she came to the grave she
+sought.</p>
+
+<p>The form her eyes could just discern beside the tomb was small and
+slight and cowering down as if, indeed, in earnest supplication; Ruth
+advanced until she was standing very near the silent woman and, not
+wishing to startle and confuse her by a sudden word, she very gently
+touched her bowed head; instantly, the girl sprang up in wild alarm, for
+it had taken all her courage to come there at all; Ruth reassured her as
+quickly as she could by saying, softly:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not fear, whoever you may be; I am but another woman like yourself
+and I wish to help you no matter what it is that is so troubling you; we
+women should assist each other in this world, for women, as it seems to
+me, were put into the world to suffer, mainly, so we ought to try to
+help each other. Tell me what there is that I can do to help you, now."</p>
+
+<p>Tessa, for the reader has, no doubt, guessed that it was she, began to
+sob wildly and clung to the other woman who had come to her so
+strangely; she could not speak, at first, for crying, and, then, she
+could not speak for fear of injuring the man she loved, and, so, she did
+not speak at all, but ran away without one word of explanation, thinking
+in that way she might avoid discovery.</p>
+
+<p>But the incident had shaken Ruth so that the memory of the man whose
+body lay within that narrow grave grew dim and far away; she knew that
+he had been unworthy of her love and must have scouted it in secret many
+times, for, if he had not done so, how could he have made such love to
+poor Estrella as he had while she, his lawful wife, yet lived upon the
+earth? Ruth Wakefield had often said that truth was truth no matter
+where it fell ... she'd even said that she would blame herself when
+blame was hers to bear, and, so, she could not shield the memory of the
+newly dead too far, and, so, she turned away from that low grave and
+never went there again, and, as she slowly climbed the hill that led her
+to her own loved home, Estrella overtook her in the path and, hand in
+hand with her who had been wronged as she, herself, had been, she left
+the memory of the handsome, gay deceiver lying there within the narrow
+grave that hid his fast decaying body from the world of living men and
+women; from that time, she did not suffer, in thinking of him, as she
+had before; there are turning points in every road no matter where it
+leads to, and this was a turn for Ruth in that sad road where she had
+strayed, but only for a short and most unhappy, if, at moments, wildly
+joyous, time.</p>
+
+<p>When Tessa left the grave of Victorio Colenzo, she fled in haste and
+fright; she did not go at once to her own home for she feared that she
+might be followed; she had become a fugitive as truly as Manuello was,
+for, now, she was to him as if she were, indeed, his wife, attending to
+all wants of his that she could satisfy, and, secretly and silently,
+becoming but the shadow of the gay and pretty girl that she had been
+before; her friends, who saw her often, noted this sad change, but did
+not know its cause.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix watched the girl at times and pitied her, for he had
+learned that she had been devoted to the handsome peasant whom he also
+was assured was guilty of some crime and, since his disappearance, he
+had figured out some things that made him almost certain what the crime
+had been, for the good Priest was much alone and thought more deeply
+about many things than those who have not followed psychic lines of
+reasoning.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, Father Felix went, again, to visit Ruth, and found Estrella
+with her, and he asked the girl about her little friend who had been
+dear to her from early little girlhood; Estrella told him that she had
+not seen her for some time, as, when she'd gone to visit her, she had
+been gone, and Tessa had not come to see her as she'd asked her to, for
+she had left word for her where to come to find her, knowing she could
+trust her, for she'd always been a true and faithful friend to her.</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest pondered for a moment, then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish that you would go, at once, to see your little friend; I think
+that she is at her home at present, and I wish that you would try to
+discover what it is that is troubling her, for she is most unhappy over
+something and I wish that you would help her if you can for she is in
+need of understanding help at this time more than at any time during my
+acquaintance with her. Go, my Daughter, find your little friend and try
+to assist her if you can."</p>
+
+<p>Estrella, having secured the permission of Ruth, followed the advice of
+the good Priest and departed on her errand of love and kindness.</p>
+
+<p>When Father Felix had been assured of their privacy, he turned to his
+companion and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I have information of importance to give you, my Daughter. We are
+drawing nearer and nearer to the goal we seek. Our compatriots are
+growing weary of blockading Havana and other harbors near to us and will
+very soon advance into the interior of Cuba. When that time comes there
+will be great suffering all around us and I think that it will be best
+for you and me to form a sort of secret society with passwords, which,
+while simple in themselves, will convey to us a secret meaning. You and
+I must act as one in this matter.... I am sure of your fealty and you
+can rely upon mine but how many others there are near to us upon whose
+loyalty we can depend I do not know. Estrella is discreet and thoughtful
+for an uneducated and untrained girl, but she would have no idea of what
+course to pursue under complicated or difficult circumstances, so that
+it may be necessary to keep many events secret from her. There are many
+spies already in Cuba and there are those among us who would be willing
+to exchange the lives and property of their best friends for personal
+emolument. I know one young fellow who has, as I believe, already sold
+his birthright of truth and honor for a mess of pottage and there are
+others of his ilk. I rely on you alone in all this village of San
+Domingo ... you, alone, are strong and capable ... you, alone, are
+thoroughly American and devoted to your native land. I rely on you, my
+Daughter, and you may rely on me. Let us now arrange a secret pact
+between us so that, should we be separated, we may be sure of any word
+that each may send the other. If I send to you a message adding to the
+body of it the word <i>pax</i> alone, then I will mean to signify that all is
+well with me and that I do not know of any secret danger threatening
+you, but if to the word <i>pax</i> I add <i>vobiscum</i>, then you are to be made
+aware that danger threatens you, while I may, yet, be safe from it, but
+if I say <i>Pax vobiscus</i> then I'll mean that we are both in danger of a
+similar nature; if I send these latter words, you are to use all means
+of safety at your command to seclude yourself from outside notice just
+as much as possible and to try to find me if you can do so without
+exposure to yourself; but if I say just <i>pax</i> then I mean what the word
+implies, and you may go to and from your home with freedom. I will come
+to see you just as often as I can and I will arrange to have the
+officers of our own army and navy visit you and then you will use your
+own good judgment combined with what knowledge they will give to you as
+to how you will proceed, knowing that my spirit will be with you even if
+my body cannot be ... even if I should be separated from this perishable
+body, my Daughter, I think that God would let me come to you to help
+you.... He would know our need and it is my belief He would supply it.
+Let us pray to Him for guidance, now, before I leave you for the night.
+Father in heaven, protect and guide our footsteps while we stay upon
+this mundane sphere of spiritual action. Help us do what we were meant
+to do and teach us how to walk in unknown paths which we are, now, about
+to enter on. May what is just and right be conquerors in conflicts that
+will, very soon, be carried on about us. May the souls of those about to
+leave this world be prepared for the great change from this world to
+another one, and may we, who are Thy humble servants, do the things that
+will be pleasing in Thy sight. Bless us, now, and guide us unto Thee.
+Amen."</p>
+
+<p>When Estrella reached the home of little Tessa, she found her friend
+about to go somewhere but where she would not say ... she seemed so much
+distraught about it that Estrella did not ask the second time where she
+was going; she could see that she had made some preparations for the
+journey, for she had a small bag filled with eatables and a jug of
+home-made vintage in her hands; Estrella plainly saw how distressed she
+was and how wan and weary, too, and, so, she only stayed a very short
+time; but, when she went away, she only went just far enough to be where
+Tessa could not see her ... then she watched her little friend, but only
+with the kindest thoughts of her, and saw her take an unused, winding
+path a little ways, then hasten on without a path at all, so far as she
+could see; she wound among the cacti, fearlessly, as if upon a very
+important errand, and as if she feared that she would be too late to do
+the errand she was bent upon; Estrella watched her for a time, and,
+then, still with the kindest thoughts of Tessa, followed after her, but
+far enough behind her so she could not see her ... she would stoop
+behind a friendly bit of brush whenever little Tessa turned around and
+gazed about her like a startled little bird about to seek its hidden
+nest; so, unobserved, Estrella followed after her, and came, at length,
+to that small clearing where the ruined hut had stood for many years;
+Estrella knew about it, having found it at the same time Manuello had,
+indeed, for they two used to roam the hills together when they were but
+little children ... sometimes Tessa went with them, but, oftener, they
+were alone; and, so, Estrella peered within the ruined hut and saw its
+occupant as he lay there in bitter pain and wan and weary, too, like
+little Tessa was; she saw the other girl creep past the tumble-down old
+door that she had set up at the entrance to the hut to shield its inmate
+from the winds, and, also, to try to keep the fact that he was there at
+all unknown; she saw the little tender-hearted woman kneel beside the
+rude couch on which her restless patient lay and kiss the lips that only
+moaned her name in anguish and despair; she saw her smooth the black and
+silky hair back from the brow of Manuello, and, then, she heard the
+following conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, little Tessa," said her patient, eagerly, "are you sure you
+were not seen when you came here, today? I greatly fear that you will
+yet divulge, in some way, my hiding-place. I could not move a step to
+save myself, no matter who came here to find me. It is terrible to be
+like this. I'd rather die than stay here like this for another day.... I
+wish you'd find a gun, somewhere, and bring it to me the next time you
+come and let me end the lives of both of us. You are like a little
+skeleton, yourself.... I wonder what's the matter with you ... are you
+ill or is it only just the weariness and fright that makes you look so?
+If you should fail me, I would surely die ... a wounded rat that cannot
+even run to save itself. Tessa, tell me," he cried out, peevishly, "are
+you sick? You look so pale today it seems to me you are about to faint
+away ... and what would I do, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe that I am sick," she said, cheerfully. "I'm sure I
+don't know why I'm pale.... It is very warm today, for one thing ... I
+hurried up the hill ... Estrella came...."</p>
+
+<p>At that name, her patient roused again:</p>
+
+<p>"Estrella! Are you sure she did not follow you? She could gloat about
+me, now, if she were minded to ... what did you bring for me to eat,
+today?" he ended, changing the subject, abruptly. "I'm almost starved to
+death; I wish you'd come a little earlier, tomorrow."</p>
+
+<p>"I will try, dear Manuello, I will try," said little Tessa, gravely. "I
+always try to come as soon as I can come when I'm alone and can evade
+the children."</p>
+
+<p>Manuello tossed a while in silence, then he asked again:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure Estrella did not follow you? Look outside and see if there
+is not someone near the hut. I'm afraid ... I'm dreadfully afraid,
+somehow, today. I've lain right here, now, all these weeks, and have
+not been so frightened as I am, somehow, today. Look outside and see!"</p>
+
+<p>And, then, Estrella crept away for she could do no good by staying, and
+she did not wish to harm either one of her old friends on whose distress
+she looked.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella went back to the mansion on the hill, a sadder, it is true, and
+yet also a wiser woman for she'd seen poor little Tessa's secret burden
+and Manuello's sorry plight.</p>
+
+<p>She went to Father Felix, the next day, to advise with him about what
+she had seen; he cautioned her not to mention it to anyone she knew,
+which advice she followed, strictly; it enlightened him to some extent
+and he pitied little Tessa more than ever, for he knew the sort of man
+her patient was ... he knew that he was selfish to the very core of him
+and had no gratitude for anyone who'd helped him; so he pitied little
+Tessa and began, in many little unknown ways, to help her bear the
+burden she'd assumed.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with, when she came to the confessional, as almost everyone who
+lived in San Domingo did, he only asked her questions such as she could
+answer easily ... he did not touch on murder or on lies or on anything
+that might lead on to surprising her sad secret; he knew her for a
+simple-minded, loving, tender little girl and he pitied her and did not
+try to wring from her her secret, knowing that, in all human
+probability, she would go, some day, to the ruined hut and find no
+Manuello there to either curse or bless her: in fact, he looked upon
+this as the most likely of anything that could occur and, when he saw
+poor little Tessa fading with anxiety and dread, he went, one day, to
+see the patient in the deserted hut, and, after that, there was no
+patient there, for Manuello limped away, as he could stand, at last, and
+hid from even little Tessa for he thought she had betrayed him, after
+all, and, so, he cursed her with the balance of his rotten luck.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+
+<p>June 10, 1898, was a memorable day for Cuba, for, on that date, the
+glorious flag of our own much-beloved country was unfurled over Cuban
+soil, upheld and supported by United States troops, for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix had kept himself well informed as to military matters, and
+had often consulted with Ruth Wakefield concerning what would actually
+be needed by our armies when they were finally in the field; in
+pursuance of the purpose to which they had both devoted their lives and
+fortunes, these two had established a temporary hospital not far from
+the city of Santiago, as the good Priest had been informed that one of
+the next moves of our forces would be in that vicinity; so that, when
+our starry banner first floated in the breeze at Camp McCalla, Ruth
+stood beside the new-fledged army Chaplain, and watched, through
+tear-dimmed eyes, the emblem of our liberty and freedom as it was
+proudly raised.</p>
+
+<p>That night passed quietly, but, for five successive days and nights
+thereafter, a bitter battle raged in which our blue-clad boys met and
+finally defeated the Spanish hordes that tried to drive them back or
+leave their lifeless bodies lying there beneath the blistering sun.</p>
+
+<p>When Ruth had sailed from Havana she had brought her little household
+with her and established them in temporary quarters near the hospital,
+and, soon, she saw the little white cots filled with sick or wounded
+Americans and Cuban scouts.</p>
+
+<p>Volunteer nurses were immediately in demand as, in many ways, our forces
+were unprepared to meet the enemy; there are no soldiers in the world as
+brave ... as fine ... as capable ... as are our own United States
+Volunteers ... both men and women, and, so, Ruth Wakefield and Estrella,
+anxious to put into practice what they had learned to do, donned the
+clean white uniforms they had become accustomed to in the training they
+had taken in Havana for this very purpose, and, very soon, to the eye of
+a novice, there were two more trained nurses ministering to the many
+wants of the boys who lay there on those narrow cots, weak and suffering
+but triumphant in spite of their pain, for the cause of right had won in
+the first real conflict upon Cuban soil between the Spaniards and the
+Americans assisted by Cuban insurgents, who, mainly, acted as spies and
+scouts, a work to which they were adapted by nature and long practice in
+a country infested by those whose only object in ruling it had been to
+gain what they could, in resources and amusement, from the natives,
+with no thought either for their comfort or advancement along the lines
+of civilized living.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Cuban scouts who had been wounded on that first day of actual
+combat was one who happened to fall under the care of Estrella for he
+had been carried in right after her entry into the work of the hospital;
+this man had been slightly wounded as he was about to give valuable
+information to one of our own officers, and, perhaps for that reason and
+because he had shown himself to be particularly useful, he had received
+even more than the usual attention on the battle-field, for his wound
+had been dressed more carefully than is customary when first aid is
+given in the midst of the fray, so that the attending surgeon had
+declared his condition such that all he needed was tender care, which
+was why his case had been assigned to a volunteer nurse.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella gravely assumed the duty allotted to her, with some misgivings
+as to her own ability, it is true, but with a strong resolve to do the
+best she could; as she bent over her patient, she noticed, first, his
+almost deathly pallor, then a jagged scar that stretched across his
+cheek and had been lately healed ... the edges of it were yet red and
+angry looking; the girl bent over him pityingly, and, then, she started
+back for she had recognized, even in the dim light that pervaded the
+temporary hospital, the features of Manuello; remembering what she had
+seen in the ruined hut, she shrank from contact with her old admirer,
+but, with that memory came the knowledge that he had been wounded while
+in the performance of a service of benefit to her beloved country, and
+she did not falter in carrying out the instructions of the surgeon in
+charge with regard to her patient, thinking that, perhaps, before he had
+recognized her, she might be transferred to some other part of the
+hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth took her place among the ministering nurses with confidence and
+courage, for she was one who immediately altogether forgot almost her
+own identity when asked to help another human being, and, while her
+sympathy with suffering was remarkable, so that she actually suffered
+pain herself when witnessing it in others, yet she had always been able
+to do whatever was required of her in an emergency regardless of any
+bodily ailment that might be troubling her at the time; now, as she saw
+all around her strong men laid low by violence, her spirit rose to the
+occasion and she was, for the time, at least, the very personification
+of patriotic zeal and her love for her country rose to heights almost
+undreamed of even by herself; she moved among the little cots freely,
+lending a hand here and whispering a word of encouragement there; the
+nurses recognized in her a master spirit, at once, and the surgeons
+looked into her steady eyes, and, instantly, allowed her privileges
+seldom granted to anyone outside of their own profession; her very
+presence seemed to give the sufferers courage to bear their pain, for
+the light that shone from her clear, gray eyes was above the things of a
+merely earthly existence and lifted them out of their bodies, to some
+extent, making them impervious to what would have otherwise been
+excruciating anguish; surgeons, at that time, did not recognize the
+mental attitude of their patients, to any great extent, and they
+marveled at the influence of the mistress of the mansion on the hill,
+attributing it, in part, to the evident superiority of the young woman
+to those with whom she had been associated in Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>In passing among the little cots, Ruth, at length, came to the one
+beside which Estrella was standing, anxiously looking into her patient's
+flushed face, for, with returning strength, Manuello's fever had risen;
+Ruth put one hand on the girl's shoulder and drew her away from the cot
+for a moment while she whispered to her:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not weary yourself too much, my Dear, for we must keep our strength
+so as to be able to help others ... you seem distressed ... do you know
+your patient, personally?"</p>
+
+<p>Estrella was only too glad to tell her kind and understanding friend
+just the situation in which she found herself, so that, when the young
+Cuban opened his large, dark eyes and looked about him in astonishment,
+it was upon Ruth's face he gazed instead of on Estrella's whom the
+former had sent into another part of the work of caring for the
+wounded.</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I?" moaned Manuello. "What has happened to me, now?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have been sorely wounded in the service of your country, my brave
+fellow ... you are now in a hospital where you will receive every
+possible care and attention," answered Ruth in a low, yet clear tone of
+voice. "You are in the hands of those who appreciate what you have done
+and greatly desire to assist in your recovery."</p>
+
+<p>Having assured himself that he was among friends, he began to make
+inquiries as to the nature of his wound, wondering how long it would be
+necessary for him to remain as he was then, but Ruth only told him that
+he must not talk and must use every precaution he could to prevent
+increase of the fever that was now high enough to demand the use of the
+handy little thermometer that Ruth, in common with the other amateur
+nurses with whom she had studied, had learned how to operate; she
+promptly thrust this little fever-gauge into his mouth and told him to
+keep it there quietly until she took it away; gazing at her as if she
+were a creature from another world, Manuello lay there quiescent and
+tractable, all his wild nature being centred upon his desire to again be
+the free, strong being he had but recently been.</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage peered into the room where the cots of the wounded soldiers and
+sailors had been placed and caught a glimpse of her dear young lady as
+she stood by the bedside of Manuello; he had just opened his eyes, and,
+as he lay there with his black curls touching the white pillow, he
+reminded the old woman very much of another handsome, dark young fellow
+whom she believed to be lying in his narrow grave in the little
+cemetery ... the narrow grave in which she had buried the wedding-ring
+that had brought so much sorrow to the one whom she loved best in all
+the world: as the old woman looked at the dark face on the pillow she
+noticed the angry scar that disfigured it and thought that it might have
+changed the face she remembered as without a blemish so that she would
+have difficulty in recognizing it; her mind began to travel along the
+line of thought suggested by this possibility and she determined to rid
+Ruth of the necessity of attending to her former husband, at least, if
+her most dire suspicions should prove to be well founded; she at once
+remembered that she, herself, had not seen the corpse of the man
+interred as Victorio Colenzo and she knew very well how earthly death
+will change the appearance of a human being's body ... then she thought
+of what had been told to her as to how the man had died ... altogether
+it seemed to her very possible that the man she had seen in the little
+cemetery on the day of the funeral she had attended with Estrella might
+have been some one closely resembling Manuello, so that, perhaps,
+Estrella's foster brother had been buried in the supposed grave of
+Victorio Colenzo, who, wishing to be free from both entangling alliances
+he had made in San Domingo, had allowed the name under which he had
+entered into them to be placed upon the simple head-stone that marked
+the grave of another man.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as old Mage had arrived at the conclusion above described, she
+acted on it at once by slipping stealthily up to Ruth and whispering to
+her:</p>
+
+<p>"Come away, my Pretty; you are needed; there is someone outside who
+wishes to speak to you at once. I will take your place."</p>
+
+<p>Ruth, thinking the summons important, yielded her place for a moment,
+intending to return within a very few moments, but no sooner had old
+Mage assumed charge of the patient than she began to devise ways and
+means by which she hoped to prolong the stay of her dear young lady, for
+it seemed to her to be too much for her to bear ... to care for her
+recreant husband under all the trying circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing that the new nurse did would have been severely
+criticized by the head surgeon had his attention not been fully occupied
+in another part of the large room; to begin with, instead of smoothing
+back the dark hair from the man's forehead as it would seem to one
+observing her from the rear she was doing, she very deliberately pulled
+the handful of curls she was clutching, hoping to make him open his eyes
+so that she could continue her scrutiny of him in order to be as certain
+as possible of his suspected identity; this ruse succeeded, for
+Manuello's large, dark brown eyes flew open and were fixed in horror on
+the face bending over him; it was quite a different countenance than the
+one he had last seen beside him, for old Mage never had been a beauty
+and the loss of her teeth had not added to her appearance while the
+ferocity of her glance was accentuated by the multitude of criss-cross
+wrinkles which surrounded the light blue eyes out of which she was
+glaring at him; the words she hissed in his ear added to the confusion
+under which the helpless man was laboring:</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that you were dead and buried out of sight ... you hateful,
+low-lived pup! How dare you be brought into her place, now? If I did
+just right, I do believe I'd choke the life out of you while you can't
+fight back! The girl's here, too ... you must be a devil in human form!
+You ought to be burning in hell!"</p>
+
+<p>The object that had led old Mage to make this attack upon the wounded
+man was about to be accomplished, for, with a wild scream, he vaulted
+over the foot of the little cot and bounded through the open doorway as
+if he were pursued by demons; his temporary nurse did not try to prevent
+his exit which was what she had longed to bring about, although the
+manner of his going startled even her, as she had no idea of the effect
+that her hasty words would have upon the guilty spirit of the man whose
+crimes, it seemed to him, had found him out; the new wound he had that
+day received, was not of a nature to impede his progress for a short
+distance, and he almost instantly disappeared from among the nurses and
+surgeons; his wild expression so impressed all whom he met before he
+reached the outskirts of the hospital grounds that he was again a
+fugitive, hunted, this time, by both friends and enemies.</p>
+
+<p>As Ruth was about to return to her patient, for she could find no
+immediate need of her presence elsewhere, she met an excited nurse who
+told her of having seen an excessively active young man flying out into
+the open, clad only in hospital garb.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth was hurrying to report the circumstances to the head surgeon and to
+arrange to have searching parties sent out to bring back her pseudo
+patient, when, passing the cot where old Mage was still stationed, she
+noted that it was empty; stopping to inquire the reason for this change,
+her old nurse hurriedly related the facts concerning the exodus of the
+young man, while she secretly rejoiced at the success of her strategem,
+for so she chose to denominate the method she had taken of protecting
+her dear young lady from the nearness of the man she had married through
+mistaken confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella, having been sent to consult with her friend concerning some
+matter connected with the welfare of the temporary hospital, came along,
+just then, and was told what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," she exclaimed, "where has poor Manuello gone? He is not fit to be
+outside alone. I am afraid I was a coward to leave him when he needed
+care. Poor little Tessa would have stayed right with him no matter what
+he said or did. I have not seen her," she mused, "for a long time,
+now ... not since a number of days before we came away from home.... I
+wonder where she is."</p>
+
+<p>Could Estrella have seen her little friend at that moment, she would
+have lost all pity for Manuello and added to that she already had for
+poor Tessa, for she was then suffering from the last encounter she had
+had with the man who had just fled out into the night; although the
+little peasant would have been proud to have been made the wife of the
+man whom she madly loved, yet she resisted the idea of being merely his
+mistress for Father Felix had forcibly impressed upon the minds of the
+girls of his flock the virtue of chastity; the consequence of this
+resistance had been a blow received by herself which had rendered her
+helpless for the time being, as it had made it impossible for her to
+walk for any distance, and a slash across one of Manuello's dusky cheeks
+which she had made with a knife she had happened to have in her hand at
+the time of his attack.</p>
+
+<p>The heart-sick girl was lying on the rude bed she had made for the man
+who had left her without aid, in the deserted hut into which Estrella
+had once peered, while her friend, so far away from her, was bemoaning
+the fate of her ungrateful former lover.</p>
+
+<p>She had carried some food and water into the hovel upon the day of her
+last struggle with Manuello and she could creep about the inside of the
+small building, so that, being hardy and healthy, she had, at that time,
+subsisted upon the supplies she had on hand, for several days; she was
+just beginning to crawl carefully out into the surrounding brush where
+she was glad to find plenty of ripe cactus-fruit and other wild edibles;
+she was very lonely and frightened but she took her condition as a
+punishment for the sins she had committed since she had tried to assist
+Manuello in spite of the fact that she had known him to be a criminal;
+she told her beads, over and over, using the small rosary which she had
+always worn about her neck, and, as she kissed the crucifix attached to
+the beads, she often prayed for the man who was the direct cause of her
+pitiable condition, for she believed it to be her plain duty to forgive,
+even though she could not forget, him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Manuello escaped from the temporary hospital near Camp McCalla, he
+directed his eager steps toward the place of his nativity, because, as
+it seemed to him, he would be safer there than he had recently been; it
+seemed to him that if he could reach the deserted hut where he had been
+in concealment before, he could rest and recover while he made plans for
+his future, for he had decided that it would be dangerous for him to
+follow the American army any longer, at least for a time.</p>
+
+<p>In devious ways and through the use of means known only to such as he,
+he managed to reach a point midway between Santiago and Havana in a much
+shorter time than would have seemed possible to one unversed in the ways
+of the wilderness; here he encountered, suddenly and unexpectedly, the
+good Priest whom he had known from childhood, who, also, seemed hurrying
+in the direction of Havana.</p>
+
+<p>The young man kept away from the habitation of men as much as possible
+after that, and, footsore and weary, but happy in the thought that he
+had reached his goal, he arrived, at length, just at sunset, in the
+outskirts of the village of San Domingo; from there he followed the
+winding path up which little Tessa had so often toiled in his service,
+he thought of her but did not regret the blow he had given her; in fact,
+his anger still burned at white heat whenever he remembered how she had
+disfigured his features, forgetting altogether what she had done for
+him, because she had not done everything that he had asked her to do.</p>
+
+<p>At length, he reached the vicinity of the deserted hut and stole up to
+reconnoitre before entering the ruined habitation; he crept up to one of
+the small windows and peered within; the sight that met his vision
+startled him to such an extent that he forgot, for the moment, his
+habitual caution and remained at the window although he had discovered
+that the hut was occupied; the room he looked into was dimly lit by the
+rays of the setting sun which penetrated the dense growth of tropical
+verdure and found their way into the small western aperture that
+answered the purpose of a look-out toward the village; Tessa was lying,
+looking very wan and care-worn, upon the rude bed she had arranged for
+the man who was then staring at her ... in her thin hand was a crucifix
+which Father Felix had just given to her ... the good Priest was
+kneeling upon the rough floor beside the couch and the tears were
+rolling down his cheeks, for the sight before him would have moved far
+less tender hearts than his; the girl began to speak in a low voice and
+Manuello strained his power of hearing to catch the faint words which
+fell from her pale and trembling lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Good Father," she began, speaking as if at confession, "I beseech you
+to have mercy upon your sinful daughter; I have done grievous wrong
+during my short life and I beg you to intercede with the God of truth
+and justice before whose judgment seat I will soon appear. I ask you to
+pray for me, Father Felix, for I am in need of your prayers. I have been
+a wicked girl in some ways, though not in all, for I have resisted a
+very strong desire which was a part of my sinful nature and which I
+believe I have, now, through suffering, gained the victory over."</p>
+
+<p>The girl ceased speaking from sheer weakness, then, and the Priest took
+the crucifix from her shaking hand and attached it to the cord at his
+waist, then he lifted his clasped hands in earnest and humble
+supplication:</p>
+
+<p>"Father Who art in heaven," he prayed, "listen to us who are in Thy
+gracious Hands, both here and hereafter. Help me to guide this suffering
+soul aright and help her to walk where she was meant to walk, whether
+she regains her health and returns to the life she has had, formerly, or
+whether she passes out of this narrow existence and goes into eternity
+before another morning dawns. Look down, dear Father, in mercy on us who
+are Thy humble servants. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>"Father Felix," began the sick girl, "I must confess to you something
+that has lain heavily upon my conscience for many weeks. I am rejoiced
+that you have found me for I will die easier to know that you have the
+secrets that I have been keeping in my heart, being unable to come to
+the refectory and tell you what I must, now, impart to you. A heinous
+crime was committed in San Domingo some months ago, as I believe by one
+whom you and I both know; I have withheld my suspicions from the
+authorities and, in so doing, I feel that I have done wrong, Father. I
+wish to tell you all I know, now, and let you do what you think best ...
+it will relieve my heart of a very heavy load to tell this to you.
+Manuello...."</p>
+
+<p>Before her lips could utter the next word, the door of the hut which had
+been leaning over the opening designed for it as it had long been
+guiltless of hinges, was violently thrust aside and the subject of the
+remarks Tessa was about to make, rudely entered and advanced to the side
+of the couch upon which the girl was lying; the livid scar upon his dark
+face combined with the pallor that had followed the fever he had been
+having, the freshly bandaged wound, the limp that had followed the rough
+dressing of the bullet-punctured leg of the man, combined with the
+fierce determination that characterized each one of his movements,
+altogether made a most unpleasant appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix quietly rose and stepped between the sufferer on the couch
+and the young Cuban who regarded the Priest with no respect in the
+expression of his countenance, but rather with contempt and lack of
+personal fear; he attempted to shove him aside so that he might again
+look down on the trembling occupant of the rude bed, but found that
+Father Felix was standing firmly on a sturdy pair of legs which had had
+good exercise in tramping about the hills and valleys in pursuit of his
+chosen profession of saving the souls of those who needed his
+ministrations; Manuello glared at him and snarled out:</p>
+
+<p>"Out of my way with your sing-song prayers and your dangling cross! I am
+a desperate man and do not mean to allow even a Priest to balk either my
+escape or my vengeance! Stand aside and let me stop that mouth forever!"</p>
+
+<p>He again tried to shove the Priest aside, when Father Felix hastily
+threw off his robe so that it might not impede his movements and closed
+with the young fellow, grappling with him with arms left bare from the
+shoulder upon which the biceps muscles stood out in great knots that
+came and went and rippled underneath the skin; Manuello was surprised at
+this onslaught for the good Priest's fighting prowess had never, so far,
+been tested in just this way; but familiarity with certain turns and
+twists told in the young villain's favor in spite of the freshness and
+vigor of Father Felix' attack; the poor girl on the floor was unable to
+interfere and watched the two combatants with horrified eyes as they
+struggled all over the rude room, sometimes one and sometimes the other
+seeming about to conquer; neither one of the contestants had a weapon as
+Manuello had come away from the hospital clad only as the other patients
+were; in his wild flight he had snatched an outer garment from among the
+many lying in a heap outside the door through which he had fled, but,
+with this exception, he wore only what had been put upon him by the
+surgeons.</p>
+
+<p>Like two Titans, the two human beings struggled for supremacy, the one
+being actuated only by a desire to serve the right, and the other
+seeming to have been given almost satanic power as he felt that his own
+life and future freedom depended upon adding two more to his victims,
+for the Priest had already heard enough to make him find out more and
+Tessa had been about to confess all she knew to him, so, above
+everything on earth, the furious Cuban wished to slay the Priest and the
+poor girl whose only fault had been her yielding to his selfishness.</p>
+
+<p>Twice, Manuello's fingers almost closed about the good Priest's throat,
+and twice did Father Felix lift the other man bodily from the floor and
+dash him down in a huddled heap in one corner of the room, but neither
+had quite conquered when an unexpected interference ended the conflict
+very suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello had crowded Father Felix over toward the tumble-down door of
+the hut and was about to push him through the opening, or, at least,
+attempt to do so, when, all at once the young fellow felt his fingers
+lose their strength and his arms fell away from the body of the
+Priest ... he was conscious of a strange, tingling sensation all through
+his shaken nerves; had he been familiar with the action of powerful
+electric currents, he would have described it as a heavy shock of
+electricity but, although he could not have altogether explained his
+sensations, their effect was instantaneous and resulted in the release
+of Father Felix while his assailant dropped prone upon the floor of the
+hut and groveled at his feet in abject terror, for he thought the end of
+his life had come and, in that thought, the murderer became the penitent
+and, with the fear of death before his mind, he began to mumble broken
+bits of half-forgotten prayers and to beg for forgiveness for his sins
+which he knew to be many and grievous.</p>
+
+<p>As the changed attitude of his foe became evident to the good Priest he
+hurried over to the side of the sick girl with assurances of his desire
+to assist her in every possible way and, with the changed conditions
+surrounding him, he again put on the robe of his holy office, and, with
+it, seemed again to be the sedate and quiet leader of the flock he
+strove to lead into green pastures and beside pleasant waters.</p>
+
+<p>Having ministered to Tessa, for the moment, he turned his attention to
+his late antagonist:</p>
+
+<p>"My Son," he said, "you are wounded and spent with the loss of blood;
+your mind, perhaps, has been turned by your misfortunes so that you did
+not realize either your words or your actions. I hope that, from this
+time on, you will fix your mind on better things than thoughts of
+vengeance or of murder. To begin with, I have a favor to ask of you.
+Will you help me remove Tessa, here, from this place to her home? She is
+in need of tender care."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do what you tell me to," meekly answered the recent antagonist
+of the Priest. "I see that I was wrong in imagining you to be my enemy.
+I think that this last wound has made me crazy for the time, as you have
+just said. From this time on I will try to be as I have been before ...
+glad to be guided by your higher wisdom. I humbly ask your pardon for
+what I have done here, tonight."</p>
+
+<p>Manuello bowed his head for his spirit had been broken by the strange
+happening which we have described, and, at once, his hope began to rise
+again, that, after all, Father Felix would do him no real harm, for he
+seemed, again, the kind and loving prelate whom the man had known from
+his youth up.</p>
+
+<p>When some simple preparations had been made, the two men lifted Tessa
+from the rude couch to the stretcher they had improvised, and, in turn,
+lifted it, with its light burden, to their shoulders, when, from time to
+time, they found an open space in the dense underbrush that hid the
+ruined hut from ordinary observation; thus they descended the hill that
+led to the village of San Domingo; having reached the door of the home
+of the girl, in the gathering darkness, they laid the stretcher down and
+Manuello disappeared as Father Felix knocked for admittance.</p>
+
+<p>To say the young fellow was glad to be released from what seemed to him
+to be the custody of the Priest would be to put his feelings lightly,
+for, having cleared the ruined hut, he quickly returned to it and, lying
+on the simple bed Tessa had so lately occupied, he went to sleep,
+apparently, as sweetly as a new-born infant would.</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage wondered, a little, at Estrella's remark concerning Manuello,
+after he had disappeared; but she finally set her mind at rest by
+deciding that, whichever of the dashing Cubans she had ousted from
+Ruth's help, she had done good work, for, as she said to herself, from
+her view-point it was "good riddance to bad rubbage."</p>
+
+<p>The head surgeon made a note of the occurrence and went on about his
+work, for one man more or less, in time of war, cannot be reckoned as in
+civil life.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield had no doubt at all as to the identity of her former
+patient; when a pure girl has given herself to be the wife of any man
+she does not, soon, forget his personality, and Ruth knew very well the
+man she'd cared for had not been the one she'd called her husband ...
+that his body lay within its narrow grave she felt assured but what lay
+buried over him old Mage, alone, yet knew; she'd chuckled, many times,
+as to that burial, and it was hard for her to keep her secret as she
+longed for the approval that she felt she merited in this small matter,
+but the thought that Ruth might differ with her as to what she'd done
+had always, so far, sealed her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a time in the affairs of men that, taken at its flood, leads
+on to fortune," has been said by one who, justly, has been called a
+master in the art of putting words together; William Shakespeare did not
+know the actors in this story, but he knew the minds of men as few have
+known them since his time.</p>
+
+<p>Manuello did not know that such a writer as this master of the English
+language had ever existed, yet he acted on the thought in the above
+quotation, when, the morning after the events related in this chapter,
+he again departed from the ruined hut and disappeared, effectually,
+within the fastnesses that only such as he could know about; every inch,
+or so it seemed, of territory surrounding Havana was familiar to the
+Cuban scouts and Manuello had grown up among the cacti and the palms and
+desolation that followed in the wake of Spanish oppression and
+injustice.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+
+<p>July 1, 1898, at sunset, the fair folds of our own stars and stripes
+were gently floating over San Juan hill.</p>
+
+<p>On that day some of the most heroic deeds in American history had been
+performed by those who represent the highest types of American virility.</p>
+
+<p>Roosevelt's Rough Riders had, that day, advanced behind their intrepid
+leader, into the very jaws of death and very many of them never came
+again into the pleasant walks of life they'd known before that fateful
+day ... very many of them lay scattered over the different heights that
+led on to the very top of San Juan hill, inert and helpless human
+tenements that had once held the proud and willing spirits of the men
+who followed Roosevelt with love and daring.</p>
+
+<p>Some of them were picked up and carried to temporary hospitals that had
+sprung up near the scene of active warfare; in one of these shelters for
+the wounded Ruth Wakefield stood, that evening, bending low above a
+little cot on which was stretched a manly form ... the form of one who'd
+ridden with the rest of those who followed him they called, in
+brotherly affection, "Teddy," and who was beside him when his horse was
+shot from under him.</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse," he whispered, through the bandages that bound his head, "Nurse,
+it would have done you good to hear him say 'Forward! Charge the hill!'
+It would have heartened you could you have seen him, when he was
+unhorsed, grab a rifle and fire it as he went on up, on foot."</p>
+
+<p>"You must not talk," said Ruth. "You must rest quietly, now. We won the
+hill," she added, proudly. "We won the hill and I'm as proud as anyone
+could ever be of Roosevelt and of you all who followed after him. I
+sometimes wish," she ended, "I sometimes wish that I had been a man to
+go into the battles instead of only caring for the wounded ... yet I'm
+thankful to be of some assistance to the ones who need the help that I
+can give to them."</p>
+
+<p>"You should have seen," began the man again, "you should have seen our
+Teddy charge that hill! They do not make a man like that except about
+once in a century or so ... they do not make such men as that in every
+age.... I tell you he's a holy terror when it comes to fighting, Nurse!
+He mowed them down ... he made them crawl and creep.... I always knew he
+could do more on horseback than any man that ever lived but I never
+knew, until today, what he could do on foot."</p>
+
+<p>"Our Teddy is a wonder.... I agree with you in everything you say of
+him, but, now," once more she was the nurse in charge, "you must be
+very still ... that is," she ended, with a happy little turn of thought,
+"if you ever want to go where Teddy is, again."</p>
+
+<p>That was enough to silence him and he lay very still and fixed his eyes
+upon her face, and, finally, he slept, and rested from his labors for a
+time; but what he'd said stayed in Ruth's inner consciousness and the
+heart that throbbed within her beat more proudly after that, because she
+was, as was the man his comrades praised, an American; to her that
+title was enough to fill with pride a human heart ... to be a true
+American ... a citizen of the United States of America ... it seemed to
+her meant more than any royal appellation ever could; no crown adorned
+with priceless jewels could replace that name to her; at one time in her
+life, this question had been asked of her:</p>
+
+<p>"What would you do if you must choose between all that you love on earth
+and fealty to some other than your native land, and this one country
+that you call your own?"</p>
+
+<p>"What would I do?" she answered. "I would not renounce my fealty to my
+native land.... I would keep God and my conscience and my country ... no
+one could take them from me ... all the rest I'd leave behind and cleave
+to them."</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield meant this statement and she proved it later on beyond
+all shadow of a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>When her first patient slept, Ruth went to stand beside another cot for
+she was always privileged to go wherever she might choose; her help in
+many ways, including financial aid, had made this hospital possible and
+she went at will among the other nurses who looked up to her as women
+will to one who is a natural leader of the ones with whom she
+associates.</p>
+
+<p>She came, at length, to a cot that was apart from all the rest because
+its occupant had needed to be isolated for good reasons; he was violent,
+at times, the nurses said ... when his fever rose he soon became
+delirious and they had hard work keeping him under any sort of control;
+he was a native scout, they told her ... he had done good work that day
+upon the side of right, and, so, Ruth went to care for him, for it was
+just as natural for her to take heavy work as it was natural for the
+rest to let her do it.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after she had taken charge of him, he stirred uneasily and mumbled
+in his restless sleep ... he spoke a name she'd hoped to never hear
+again ... the name of him whom she had loved enough to marry....</p>
+
+<p>"Victorio Colenzo," moaned the man, "Victorio Colenzo is dead and I ...
+I am his murderer ... it was my hand that took his life.... I am a
+murderer, good Father Felix.... I am the murderer of the man I hated,
+for he took the girl I loved from me.... I killed him with my own
+machete and he is dead.... I am the murderer of Victorio Colenzo ...
+shrive my soul, good Father Felix, for I am about to go before my
+Maker."</p>
+
+<p>The moaning ceased then, and Ruth bent over him to see if he still
+lived, for she could see his very lips were livid and his eyes seemed
+set and glazed as if with death's own dews; she put her hand upon his
+head and looked into his face with earnest pity in her tender eyes, for
+she was very pitiful and even lenient when faults of anyone except
+herself were to be considered.</p>
+
+<p>"The poor fellow is delirious," she thought. "He does not know what he
+is saying. Odd that he should use that name. Poor fellow ... he will not
+last long, I fear. I wonder if Father Felix could come to him."</p>
+
+<p>With that thought, she turned to go to try to find the Priest, for he
+almost always could be found where there was suffering and need of him,
+but Manuello (for the reader has discovered who her patient was)
+snatched at her hand as she was just about to go away and said to her:</p>
+
+<p>"Please intercede for me, good Angel ... tell them I have never had a
+chance in all my life ... tell them ... intercede...." and, then, his
+weak voice died away in moans, again, "Tessa, please," he said, "don't
+look at me that way!"</p>
+
+<p>Again Ruth leaned above his bed, for in his eyes there was a look that
+seldom comes except when death is near. She felt a gentle hand upon her
+arm and knew that Estrella stood beside her ... she had come to seek
+advice from her superior.</p>
+
+<p>So they stood ... the widow and the sweetheart, and the murderer of the
+man they both had loved, as virgins love, lay there before them.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, he roused himself, as with a last and desperate effort, from
+the lethargy of death itself ... he looked upon them standing there
+beside his bed ... the woman he had loved as wild and rough and lawless
+men will always love a woman and the one who seemed to him as if she
+were an angel straight from paradise ... he imagined he had passed from
+life as he had known that word, and was beyond all earthly help; and,
+so, he did not call for human help but cried aloud on God to save his
+deathless soul. It was horrible to hear his human lips cry out to God as
+they were crying then, and Ruth regretted that Estrella stood so near to
+him whom she had called her foster-brother, for she'd whispered
+Manuello's name at once, so she sent her to find Father Felix if she
+could and to bring him there to help this suffering soul.</p>
+
+<p>After the girl had gone away, Ruth stood alone beside the cot and looked
+with great commiseration on the almost senseless clay before her ... on
+the staring eyes and sullen, dark-skinned pallor of the heavily scarred
+face ... on the lips that once wore careless smiles but, now, were
+drawn and pale ... on the broad shoulders and powerful muscled arms. As
+she gazed at him it seemed to her a very pitiful condition under which
+he labored; she wondered why it had to be as it was with this strong,
+untutored man; she wondered why he had to lay his strong, young body on
+the altar of his passions and see it consumed as it had been by hate and
+treachery; and, then, she remembered the service upon which he had just
+been bent ... and her heart yearned over him for that alone; she leaned
+above his face and searched it for a sign of returning strength but
+found none there; his eyes stared into hers, it seemed, and then they
+sought the moving shadows on the canvas overhead.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth raised her head from gazing into Manuello's eyes and seemed to see,
+above the cot on which he lay, another and a different form yet like to
+that she saw inert before her; it was as if a glorified replica of the
+man were floating over him; in many ways it was exactly like the
+Manuello lying there upon that little cot, and, yet, the form was more
+ethereal ... more delicate ... more beautiful than he could ever be and
+live upon the earthly plane where he had found so many things to lead
+him down and seldom found a single thing to lead him higher, or, at
+least, found anything that he could fully understand, for, although
+Father Felix tried to show him how to go to climb to better thoughts, he
+had not seen the steps at all but blundered on along the path he found
+himself upon.</p>
+
+<p>As Ruth began to realize the change that she had seen take place, a rosy
+flush crept over her fair face, she clasped her hands and bowed her head
+in silent prayer:</p>
+
+<p>"Father in heaven," she thought, "look down in mercy on this soul about
+to come before You for Your judgment. Have pity on his faults for they
+were very many ... have mercy on him, for his sins were very heavy in
+his human life. He did not know the way to go, dear Father ... he could
+not see the steps at all. Have pity on him for he will have need of pity
+such as only You can give to him. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>And when she lifted up her face again, good Father Felix stood beside
+her, crucifix in hand. His head was also bowed in silent prayer for he
+had witnessed many earthly deaths and knew, at once, that Manuello, as
+he had been known in human life, had passed beyond all human judgment
+and gone on to his reward or punishment in another world where
+everything that he had done upon the earth would be accounted for by him
+and him alone; the good Priest knew, however, that God is good as well
+as just and he remembered Manuello's ignorance and superstition, too,
+and hoped that, after he'd been purged of earthly sins by deep
+repentance, he would come into the light that is God's Smile and shines
+for all who seek it honestly, no matter what their sins on earth have
+been, but only after long and terrible remorse for harm that they have
+done while in the body that God gave them to use and not abuse.</p>
+
+<p>The road that leads into the light that is God's Smile is often hedged
+about by thorns and bitter herbs instead of delicate and fragrant
+flowers; sometimes poisonous reptiles lurk along the way and strive to
+strike their fangs within the heart of him who toils there; sometimes,
+human passions guide a strong man into devious and sinful acts as
+Manuello had been guided, more than once; he'd yielded to them just
+because he had not learned the way to handle them and they had mastered
+him and made of him their slave instead of being what he ordered them to
+be; he'd thrown the remnant of his human life into the balance in the
+cause he really loved ... the cause of freedom for his native land.</p>
+
+<p>And Ruth and Father Felix thought of him as of a patriot only as they
+stood beside the cot on which his lifeless body lay; they covered up his
+face as gently as if they had not known of any sin committed by the
+hands now lying still and cold and helpless ... they closed his staring
+eyes as softly as they would have closed the eyes of any human being who
+will read these words had he or she been left for them to care for when
+the soul had left its earthly tenement; disembodied Spirits often linger
+near to such as these who stood beside that cot, for they know that
+they are like to them in very many ways, though yet abiding in a human
+frame ... they know that such as Ruth and Father Felix feel the same,
+sweet, almost holy joy that comes to those who meet and make welcome the
+ones who leave the earth-plane, newly dead; though death, I trust, is
+only just the change that frees a soul from earthly burdens and releases
+it from earthly darkness, so that it may climb, when it is purged of
+earthly sins, into the light that is the Smile of God and shines for all
+who seek it earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think that there can be an everlasting hell except for those
+who wish to dwell in darkness. I do not think there can be perpetual
+punishment except for those who do not wish to climb beyond it. Ruth and
+Father Felix felt that this was so, although the good Priest tried to
+think far otherwise, and, yet, deep down within his inner consciousness,
+he felt that God, although He is so just, yet pities those who err and
+welcomes all who wish to put their sins behind them in the path they
+find themselves upon, no matter whether they may find that path upon the
+earthly plane or on a higher one. They turned away from that white cot
+with almost God-like pity in their inmost hearts for him who lay there,
+or for him who had just left his body lying there upon that little cot.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth sought Estrella so that she might not, again, behold the face of
+him, who, for the love of her, had done a fearful crime; she wished to
+save the girl for she had been as innocent of wrong as she, herself, had
+been; both had been led away by human passion, it is true, but led
+within the bounds of human law, and, so, according to that human law,
+neither one was culpable ... the man, alone, had sinned, and whether it
+had been because he had been stronger, every way, than were the women in
+the case, we cannot judge. 'Tis God alone must judge us all, and may He
+guide us all, at last, into the light that is His holy Smile.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Ruth had left the cot where Manuello died, she, first, found
+Estrella and told her what had happened after she had gone, and, then,
+as she had liberty to go where she desired, she started out, just as the
+dusk was falling, to drive along an unknown road, which as she thought
+must lead away from the battle-field; she felt secure for armed men of
+her own race and nation were patrolling all the roads surrounding the
+hospital; the freshness of the coming night appealed to her and, under
+its enticing influence, she went much farther than she meant to do; her
+horses often shied at little heaps that seemed to take on most fantastic
+shapes with the increasing darkness.</p>
+
+<p>She knew full well of what these little heaps had been made up, and,
+yet, surrounded as she was by horror, she did not feel afraid, for she
+was lifted up by patriotic fervor and a great desire to help where help
+of her was needed as were so many of the Red Cross nurses whom she met;
+splendid women volunteered their services as nurses during the progress
+of the Spanish-American war, and wore, with pride and reverence, the
+brilliant cross that indicated what the calling they had chosen was;
+Ruth Wakefield served her country with her might and wore her uniform as
+proudly and conscientiously as any General could; she drove along that
+lonely, unknown road as quietly and fearlessly as if her horses trotted
+over the finest boulevard in some populous city of her own United States
+and firmly held within her strong and steady hands the lines that guided
+the high-lifed team she had secured for her own use since coming to take
+charge of the hospital which she had endowed with her own funds.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly and without warning, her team was startled by a man who rose to
+his full height and stood erect and tall beside the road as if he'd
+risen from the heaps of dead that lay beside the way; the horses soon
+became unmanageable and overturned the vehicle, so that Ruth suddenly
+found herself thrown against a slight embankment lining the road, while
+her frightened team turned back toward the hospital; her first thought
+was of them, but, remembering that, only a few miles back, she had
+passed one of the patrols, she hoped the team would be secured and taken
+into safety; then, shudderingly, she realized that she was all alone in
+a strange and hostile neighborhood, and, acting on a sudden impulse, she
+hastily climbed over the embankment as she thought she heard a noise
+approaching on the road; she turned and started back but kept herself
+concealed as much as possible behind the friendly embankment.</p>
+
+<p>As she proceeded she began to feel a sort of faintness, almost amounting
+to nausea, creeping over her and dreaded the long walk to the hospital,
+but decided to go on until she saw an armed man dressed in the uniform
+of the United States army; she wondered, at first, why she felt faint
+and almost sick, and, then, she realized that the offensive odors that
+assailed her sensitive olfactory nerves were those that rise when
+material bodies have been deprived of the higher life that gave them
+animation ... that the horrors of a bloody battle-field surrounded her,
+and, as she advanced slowly and with dreadful anticipation ... as she
+even stumbled over more than one unconscious form, that, only a few
+short hours before, had been as full of bounding life as she was then,
+she thought of what the suffering must be of those who lay among the
+dead, perhaps for weary, pain-filled hours, alive yet helpless; the
+thought was a terrific one for any tender-hearted woman to entertain,
+and Ruth had always been particularly thoughtful of the comfort of
+anyone who happened to be near to her, and, so, she soon became enthused
+with the idea that she might search among the heaps of dead and find,
+maybe, someone who lived and might, if he were rescued, yet be happy in
+the world she lived in, and, so, she softly called to see if anyone
+could hear her voice and guide her to the object of her search:</p>
+
+<p>"Are any here who are in need of earthly help?" she asked. "If any here
+can hear my voice, pray answer me and tell me where to come to find
+you."</p>
+
+<p>She waited for an answer but none came, at first; and then it seemed to
+her as if she heard a far-off whisper far away ... she listened
+breathlessly ... it came again and, then, she followed it until she
+found the one from whom the whisper came.</p>
+
+<p>He lay among a heap of bodies tossed about as if they had found death
+together; one whose body lay across his own, Ruth lifted, though she
+shuddered while she did it, for the stark, stiff form was that of one
+who'd, only lately, been as full of life as she was then; she laid it
+softly down and sought the one whose whisper she had heard; her hand
+crept up, along a rough and blood-soaked uniform, until it found a face
+and found it warm with sentient life; she was electrified by joy at
+finding one who lived among the dead, and hastened, then, to separate
+him from the other bodies lying all around him; it was as if they'd
+followed after him ... as if he'd been a leader of the rest ... for he
+was well in front of all of them and yet they were so near that, when
+they fell, they fell together, all around the one whose life she sought
+to save.</p>
+
+<p>She was intent on saving life and did not shrink although her gentle
+hand found many bloody wounds in searching for the one from which his
+life-blood flowed full fast; she found the place, at last ... a deep
+flesh-wound that touched an artery in his right arm ... she had a silken
+scarf about her throat, and, wrapping this about the arm above the
+wound, she made a tourniquet by using a small surgical instrument which
+she always carried for that purpose in the pocket of her nurse's apron
+which she still wore; this stopped the flow of blood at once, and, as
+the brachial artery was untouched, the man gained strength enough to
+whisper:</p>
+
+<p>"Tender Heart ... I'm going to name you right away. Tender Heart, how
+did you happen here ... at night ... alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I came to find you," answered Ruth. "I thought my horses ran
+away and dumped me on the ground, but, now, I think I came here just to
+find you and to bind that poor arm. Now I'll go to bring assistance to
+you just as soon as I can do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Tender Heart," he whispered, for his voice was growing fainter, "if I
+should not be here when you come again, good-bye.... God bless and keep
+you safe from harm."</p>
+
+<p>She knew the meaning of the words and almost flew along, although she
+often stumbled as she went among the bodies lying there upon the
+blood-soaked ground; she reached the hospital at last ... the time
+seemed long to her ... and, there, in front of it, stood her two
+frightened horses, looking all around as if in search of her; she
+soothed them with her reassuring voice, and then she found a vehicle
+adapted to the use she wished to put it to, and two assistants from the
+hospital staff; thus equipped, she took the lines again and drove along
+the road again but with a different object than the one she'd had
+before; turning off the road, she found the object of her search and the
+assistants lifted him upon the stretcher they had brought and, very
+soon, the man lay, white and spent with loss of blood, but conscious, in
+a little cot, and Ruth, forgetting her own needs, stood there beside it.</p>
+
+<p>"Tender Heart," said her new patient, after he had been refreshed and
+bandaged thoroughly, "Tender Heart, I'm very grateful to you. Let me
+introduce myself to you ... your name, you see, I know. I am one of the
+five men who answered Roosevelt when he asked for volunteers to follow
+him to gain the very top of all the ridges that cropped up about San
+Juan hill." He smiled, "I think you know me, now, as I know you. We're
+both Americans.... I know that, too ... we both love Teddy.... I could
+see your eyes flash at the mention of his name. He is a man among men. I
+wish you could have heard him when he said 'I did not think you would
+refuse to follow where I would lead.' I stood beside his horse as he
+said those sad words ... the others followed, then. They followed Teddy
+up that hill ... they took it, too. We won the day. The Spaniards fled
+before us. You know me, now," he ended, whimsically, "just as well as I
+know you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ruth, "I know you, now, and you know me ... we're both
+Americans and both of us love Teddy and are proud of him and what he did
+this day. And, now, you'd better go to sleep and rest up for we still
+have work to do ... the Spaniard is not conquered, yet. They'll need us
+both and so we must do all we can to keep our strength. I'm going, now.
+Good-bye until tomorrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodnight, Tender Heart," he said. "Goodnight."</p>
+
+<p>Ruth went, then, to the little cottage where she found old Mage and
+Tid-i-wats awaiting her; Estrella stayed on duty in the hospital where
+she had learned to do her work with neatness and dispatch.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth always told old Mage the happenings of the day as they were seated
+at their evening meal; her old nurse loved to listen to her animated
+account of every little thing that she remembered that she'd seen or
+heard about; she had an unusual memory of small details and a most
+graphic power of description; these she employed to interest and amuse
+her old nurse who had been alone with little Tid-i-wats, almost all day;
+in recounting recent events she passed as lightly as possible over the
+occurrences of the battle-field where she had found and rescued one who
+had been left as dead among the lifeless bodies of the slain; she did
+not wish to shock old Mage too much and, somehow, she did not wish to
+speak of him she'd rescued ... somehow, she feared that her auditor, who
+was always eager for romantic episodes would, maybe, choose to enter
+into rhapsodies concerning the possibilities of her own future if she
+talked too much about the handsome stranger, for remembering how he'd
+looked resting, as she'd seen him last, upon the little cot, his
+dark-blue eyes regarding her with whimsical tenacity, she freely
+acknowledged to herself that he was handsome and distinguished in
+appearance; so she changed the subject when old Mage began to question
+her too closely about him, and, in the changing of the subject, the rosy
+flush that was so much a part of her expression, crept over her fair
+face and lighted up her deep gray eyes until her countenance was
+glorified, as if her inner consciousness shone through her delicate and
+expressive features; old Mage observed this blush and speculated on its
+cause and wondered whether Ruth had found another man more worthy of
+affection than the one she hoped she had almost forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>When Ruth returned, the next day, to the hospital, she went among the
+little cots until she came to that one where he lay ... the man she'd
+helped to rescue from a slow and very painful death; she found him lying
+wide awake and very thoughtful:</p>
+
+<p>"Tender Heart," he said, "Tender Heart, you've come to me, again; I've
+longed for you and now you're here beside me."</p>
+
+<p>She rested one of her soft hands upon the cot and his hand searched for
+hers and found it; then their fingers intertwined and clung together for
+a moment only, but the memory of that hand-clasp lingered with them
+forever after; it was as if their very souls had intermingled in that
+clasping of their hands ... it was as if their spirits swung, together,
+out ... far out ... beyond the things of earth ... and, then, still
+farther out and on and up into eternal peace and lasting joy and
+gladness ... it was as if they had been translated into disembodied
+spirits while they still remained on earth ... as if a higher and a
+holier love than any earthly love can ever be had sought them out and
+found them there within that shadowy hospital ... it was as if they had
+gone on into the astral world and left their human bodies where they
+seemed to be themselves ... as if they had been separated from the
+material surroundings that seemed to be about them.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth blushed until the rosy flush crept up to her brown hair that seemed
+to frame her face, and looked at the soft fingers that his hand had held
+and then she smoothed his pillow with them as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very glad to find that you are better than you were last night. I
+surely hope that you'll recover very rapidly. I'm told that men like
+you will soon again be needed. It is reported that another battle will
+be fought not very far from here."</p>
+
+<p>"I surely hope," he said and said it very earnestly, "I surely hope that
+I'll be able to take my part in whatever engagement is entered into by
+our troops, and if, perchance, I should be left again upon a
+battle-field, I trust that you will come and find me, Tender Heart, I
+trust that you will find me and, if it pleases you, I hope you'll keep
+me, Tender Heart."</p>
+
+<p>She blushed again at that and simply said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now you must go to sleep and rest and gain what strength you can, for
+men like you," she ended, archly, "for men like you are almost always
+needed very badly."</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield was no flirt and never had been one; she was quickwitted
+and she had a wide command of language, and she smiled as she went on
+upon her rounds among the little cots when she remembered that neither
+of them really knew the other's name; she liked the name he'd given to
+her ... she liked the way he said it ... she liked the fine expression
+of his speaking countenance ... she liked his eyes ... she liked his
+manly way of meeting whatever came to him with courage and with cheerful
+readiness to serve the country they both loved ... her heart went out to
+him in very many ways, and, then, she looked again at those soft fingers
+that his hand had held ... she seemed to feel again the subtle,
+unexplainable, electric thrill that crept through all her being at his
+touch ... that seemed to answer to the look within his eyes ... the
+accent on his tongue, and, then, she blushed again and went about her
+work within that shadowy hospital where many strong men lay in bitter
+pain with renewed courage and with a new and hither-to unknown
+tenderness.</p>
+
+<p>She stood, at length, beside a cot whereon lay one whose face was hidden
+while surgeons dressed a gaping wound he had received upon his head;
+Ruth stopped and gave her scissors that she always carried in the pocket
+of her apron to the one who needed them for use in cutting away the dark
+hair that grew along the edges of the wound; it clung in tiny ringlets
+and was black as night and very soft and thick.... Ruth could not help
+remembering, that her hands had often strayed among such soft and dark
+and clinging ringlets, but she shuddered as she thought of them and of
+Estrella who had deemed herself to be the only woman Victorio Colenzo
+had ever loved, and, then, she wondered if all men were like to that one
+she had married thinking him to be as he professed to be ... judging him
+to be as truthful as she was ... she wondered if the man she had just
+left would be like that under similar circumstances ... he was ready in
+his hints at tenderness ... was he, too, perhaps, a gay deceiver?</p>
+
+<p>While her thoughts were rambling on in this way, her eyes were idly
+looking at the man who lay upon his face and writhed under the stitches
+that the surgeons took to close the gaping wound upon his head; he
+turned his face an instant toward her and she recognized him as a
+Spanish officer she'd seen in San Domingo under most distressing
+circumstances; she had gone, as she had often done before, to minister
+to the needs of those who were among the poorer classes in the village,
+one day, and found before a hovel a most richly caparisoned horse held
+by an orderly; inside, there knelt upon the floor a young and pretty
+peasant girl; she was imploring this same officer who lay upon that
+little cot not to make her go with him to be his helpless slave; Ruth
+rescued her and told the man to go his way in no uncertain language;
+now, he lay there dressed as if he were an American soldier; she
+recognized him perfectly for his face had often haunted her, it was so
+sinister and devilish.</p>
+
+<p>She sought out Father Felix, then, and told him what she had discovered,
+and he took what steps were necessary in the matter, for he who'd named
+Ruth Tender Heart had named her very well indeed; it seemed to her she
+could not bear to turn this Spanish spy over to the proper authorities,
+and, yet, she knew it was her duty to do that very thing, so the good
+Priest helped her to do her duty as he'd promised her he would, and,
+after that, there was a wall at sunrise and a platoon of armed men, and,
+then, that Spanish spy soon disappeared.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>We intimated when we first began this tale that Father Felix was a man
+to be admired, not only for his strong religious zeal, but for his great
+virility and patriotic fervor.</p>
+
+<p>Never had he shown these qualities more fully than during the naval
+battle of Santiago which engagement took place shortly after the events
+narrated in the last chapter; there was work to do on land as well as on
+the water at that crucial time; more than 18,000 helpless persons ...
+men, women and children ... marched out of the beleagued city seeking
+safety in the open country surrounding it; among these were many wealthy
+women of the higher class whose delicate silken garments were bedraggled
+and torn by the hardships of the journey which it was necessary to make
+on foot over muddy roads and through barbed wires which had been
+stretched irregularly all around Santiago and its vicinity by the
+Spanish soldiery for the purpose of turning back the invading Americans
+who were advancing upon them.</p>
+
+<p>Among these women there was one who reached the hospital over which Ruth
+Wakefield presided; she was bespattered and weary and sick at heart,
+but there was a light in her dark eyes and a steadiness in her firm hand
+that appealed to Ruth at once and made her single this one woman from
+among all who came to her that day for help; as soon as she had changed
+her apparel and washed the grime of travel from her person, she asked to
+be allowed to assist the others who were at work among the little cots
+that were now filled with suffering humanity; she took her place so
+quietly that it seemed to those among whom she moved that she had almost
+always been right there and would always continue to be there; Estrella
+liked her from the first of their acquaintance and the older woman found
+the girl so pleasing that whenever she could do so, she gave her hand a
+little squeeze or patted her upon her shoulder to make her know that
+they two were congenial and going on, together, toward the same loved
+goal; this silent association became at once a bond between these two
+who, in their nurse's uniforms, looked enough alike to be twin
+sisters ... they had the same dark eyes and sensitive and drooping
+lips ... they had the same fair skins, although Estrella had been tanned
+by more outside exposure than the other had ... they moved in the same
+way and both were tall and straight and lithe and quick; Ruth noticed
+them together and at once began to wonder why they looked so much
+alike ... then she thought of what Estrella'd told her as to what she
+knew of her own family, and, immediately, Ruth began to speculate and
+piece together little circumstances and then she soon began to hope that
+poor Estrella, maybe, might, in this way, find her own people; so she
+asked some kindly questions of the woman who had come to them that day,
+and she found that she had had a little sister, long ago ... a little
+sister who had disappeared and whom they'd mourned as dead for many
+years; Ruth told her all she knew about the girl ... all except her
+intimate association with the man whom, she, herself, had married; she
+did not feel that she could speak of him to this dark stranger ...
+anyway, it would not matter, now, and if Estrella wished to speak about
+it later on, then she could do so; they called the girl, then, and found
+she had a little dainty cross of gold that she had always worn about her
+neck.... Manuello's mother had preserved it for her while she was an
+infant thinking it might prove the child's identity, so that the ones
+who'd cared for her might be profited thereby, and, since she knew about
+it, she, herself, had held it sacred as the only link that bound her to
+her unknown family ... and so it proved, indeed, the link that proved
+her as the sister of the lady who had come to them that day from the
+beleaguered city of Santiago.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella's blood, it seemed, was Spanish ... she had descended from the
+ones who knew the roses of Castile ... she'd always seemed far
+different from the peasants among whom she'd lived until she met Ruth
+Wakefield who recognized in her a higher strain ... a higher nature ...
+than she found in any of the peasants whom she met in San Domingo; old
+Mage, even, looked upon Estrella differently than on the other servants
+whom she always treated with great condescension, for she felt herself
+above the most of them as she was always nearer to her dear young lady
+than any of them were; Ruth trusted her with Tid-i-wats, for one thing,
+which separated her from all the rest, for Tid-i-wats, was most abrupt
+in very many ways, and, sometimes, even went so far as to just sink her
+long, sharp claws right through whatever garments anybody wore, so that
+they found and often even penetrated the skin beneath the garments; she
+would do this deed in such a loving way that many who were sadly
+scratched by her would try to smile and take this punishment as if it
+were but joy and gladness ... old Mage squirmed sometimes, 'tis true,
+beneath this discipline that Tid-i-wats gave very freely, but she never
+put her down or turned against her,&mdash;only saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Tid-i-wats! Good land! Your blessed little claws are very sharp
+indeed," and, then, she'd often turn to Ruth and add, "I tell you
+Tid-i-wats is just as young and spry as she ever was ... no one would
+ever think how old she is if he could feel her claws."</p>
+
+<p>When Estrella found that she was not alone, but had a family, and a
+loving, wealthy sister, old Mage was very glad indeed ... she'd found
+the girl a little in her way for many reasons; Ruth deferred to her a
+little, pitying her so much, and old Mage knew that if Ruth pitied
+anybody very much she might, in time, begin to love the person whom she
+put her tender pity on, and, then, to the old nurse, Estrella always
+brought up the memory of the man who had deceived her ... made her think
+him to be far better than he'd ever been ... and, so, altogether,
+Estrella's good fortune pleased old Mage in very many pleasant ways.</p>
+
+<p>To say that Ruth was glad to have Estrella find her people was to put
+the case too lightly altogether; she was far too unselfish not to
+rejoice in her good fortune even though her going might mean great human
+loneliness for her: she had in her own inner consciousness a kind of
+spiritual and lasting strength on which she always leaned when outside
+companionship failed her in any way ... she never was alone although she
+often seemed to be so ... in fact, Ruth Wakefield often found herself to
+be alone among a crowd of human beings ... it seemed to her their many
+diverse thoughts disturbed the peace of mind she always longed to
+have ... her pity was so great ... her sympathy so broad ... and sorrows
+and sore trials are so common to the entire race of men and women ...
+that she seldom found much joy among the people whom she met; she gave
+most liberally to all she came in contact with ... she gave
+encouragement and comfort and sympathy and help ... but seldom did she
+find a human being who could give her anything at all for any length of
+time, at least:</p>
+
+<p>"They come and they go," she often sadly said. "It seems to me that
+there is nothing steadfast in this world except the God on whom I always
+lean when all else fails me.... I wish I <i>could</i> find something strong
+enough to tie my faith to ... I <i>wish</i> I could ... it would be wonderful
+to know that I could always find good, solid ground beneath my human
+feet ... it would be wonderful to feel that nothing mattered between
+another human being and myself ... to feel that nothing, good or bad,
+could ever really change our feelings toward each other ... but I'd have
+to know for sure that it was so ..." she'd add, "I'd have to know for
+sure, I'd have to try it out somehow ... so many things have slipped
+away from me ... so very many things ... I'd have to know for sure,
+somehow, before I'd dare to trust too much."</p>
+
+<p>While these personal matters were taking the attention of some of those
+within the shadowy hospital, Father Felix was undergoing an altogether
+different experience.</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest had, more than once, covered the entire eight miles of
+entrenchments around Santiago on foot and with a heavy pack containing
+supplies on his broad back; during the time that elapsed between the
+naval battle of Santiago and the surrender of the city on Sunday, July
+17, 1898, he had marched with his little flock of soldiers over many
+stony trails and through many miry passes, and, while the engagement
+itself was in progress, he had performed many heroic deeds and, more
+than once, he had fervently thanked God for his sturdy strength of arm
+and limb because he was thereby enabled to give material as well as
+spiritual aid to those who came within the reach of his hands; had
+anyone been watching a certain shady spot near Santiago on July 3, 1898,
+he might have witnessed a peculiar scene.</p>
+
+<p>A rather short thick-set man, dressed as an army Chaplain and wearing a
+crucifix attached to a strong chain around his neck, was bending over
+one who lay there in the shade; he seemed to be examining the man to see
+if life remained in his body, and, yet, he always held the crucifix
+before the face of him who lay there as if he wished him to behold it,
+in case his earthly eyes should evermore see anything; he tried in every
+way he could to gain some recognition of his holy office from the man
+over whose earthly tenement he was then bending, but, as he did not
+succeed in this, he gently laid the crucifix upon the apparently
+pulseless breast, and went his way to find, perhaps, another one to whom
+he might administer the final consolation of the church whose dogmas he
+believed in.</p>
+
+<p>The man he'd left behind him stirred uneasily, and, as he writhed and
+twisted there, the crucifix slid off his breast and fell upon the
+ground; it lay where it had fallen until Father Felix came again and
+brought with him another sufferer; he looked upon the breast of his
+first charge and did not see his crucifix ... it lay beneath the body of
+the one he'd left it with; he gently said:</p>
+
+<p>"I left my crucifix with you, my Friend ... I thought it might be a
+consolation to you if you came to life again at all. I do not see the
+crucifix ... could anyone have taken it during my absence, I wonder?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know anything about your crucifix, good Sir," the man
+replied in a weak voice. "I have other things to fix my mind on than
+anything like that. For one thing, I am wounded and I need a surgeon
+more than I do Priests or crosses."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll supply that need as far as I am able," Father Felix said. "I know
+I am an amateur and yet I have set broken limbs and tied up arteries and
+sewed up wounds full many times because there was no one better near
+enough to do it. Where are you hurt, my Friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not hurt at all, you blundering old fool, you ..." the man began.
+"I'm dead and buried ... killed completely ... that is all ... and I
+don't want any old woman's work. Go get a surgeon for me ... quick! I'm
+losing lots of blood ... I need a surgeon, I tell you ... go get me
+one!"</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix did not say a word in answer to this tirade for he had
+heard full many such remarks since he had been at work among the
+soldiers, and, so, he bound the wounds of the second sufferer he'd
+brought before he stopped the flow of blood from his first charge, for,
+well he knew the loss of some good red blood might make it easier for
+him to help the man ... he was too full of life and anger ... too full
+of unrepented viciousness ... for the good Priest to help him very much,
+and, so, he let him lay there in the shade and curse and fume and rage
+until he worked his evil temper off a little; then he gently said to
+him:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, if you think that I can help you any, I will do all I can for you,
+Friend, but if you'd rather lie there on the ground and take the name of
+God in vain, why, I must let you do so. There is no one within hail
+except myself, who knows a thing about surgery, unless this man, here,
+does; I do not know about that part but he is wounded, too, so that I
+guess I am your only hope here on the earth at present. May I see your
+hurt and maybe bind it up and make your suffering less than it is, now?"</p>
+
+<p>Sheepishly, the man looked up at him, and moved a little so the crucifix
+became exposed; Father Felix quickly picked it up and put the chain
+around his neck again, and then he added to the things that he had said
+before:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I'm very glad I found my crucifix ... it is of value to me for
+it has been the means of consolation to a great many sufferers from this
+sad war; it seems to help so many to behold the sufferings of One Who
+gave His precious life to save the lost and suffering souls who wander
+on the earth. He loved you, Sir, and, in His Name, I love you, too, and
+wish to help you, though you flout my work in your behalf. I am an
+amateur, but I can bind the only wound I see about you, Sir. Shall I do
+it, Sir, or not? I'd like to do the work the very best I could, but, if
+you say me nay, I'll leave it as it is."</p>
+
+<p>The man grinned like a bashful boy, but he bowed his head in assent and
+Father Felix went to work and bound his wound and left him lying there
+beside the other sufferer and went to find another man to help; his
+stocky legs and muscular arms came in quite handily, that time, for,
+when he came back to the shady spot, he bore one on his shoulder who
+looked and seemed as if already dead and gone beyond the things of earth
+but Father Felix laid him gently down and knelt beside him while he
+gently laid his recovered crucifix upon his almost pulseless breast; the
+first man watched the operation silently, and, then, he moved a little
+farther from the deepest of the shade and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Better bring him over here. It's better in the shade. I'll make a
+little more room here beside me and maybe I can help some in the
+dressing of his wounds."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, Sir," the Priest replied. "I surely thank you kindly, but
+this man has gone, I fear, beyond our earthly aid; and, yet, I could not
+bear to leave him lying out there in the sun; the heat is terrible out
+there and flies and insects gather round and many lying out there suffer
+from their stings. I'll leave my crucifix, here, on his breast, and, if
+he moves or speaks, will you please tell him I will be right back?"</p>
+
+<p>And then good Father Felix made another solemn trip to that sad
+battle-field and brought another man into the shade; and he whom he had
+brought there, just before, lay silently ... the silent crucifix upon
+his breast. The priest leaned down to listen for his breathing, then,
+and raised his head with joy depicted on his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"He lives!" he cried aloud. "This poor fellow is alive! Perhaps it may
+be possible for us to bring him into consciousness again. Now, Sir," he
+addressed the man he had first brought into the friendly shade, "maybe
+you can help me. Take one of his hands between your own and rub it just
+as hard as you can rub it, Sir; that's right ... now, take the other one
+and do the same with it. Your strong vitality will maybe help his
+weakness, Sir. We two together may be instruments in God's Hands to
+bring him back to earthly life again."</p>
+
+<p>He put some drops of cordial on his tongue and chafed his limbs and
+turned him over many times until he saw some signs of returning
+consciousness and then he raised him up and rested his head upon his
+helper's breast and held the crucifix before his face so he would see it
+if his eyes would open; and his helper held the hands of him who seemed
+about to die and gazed with eagerness into his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest saw this look upon his helper's face and joyed to see it
+there instead of the malevolent expression that had rested on his rather
+handsome features only a short time before.</p>
+
+<p>At length, the sufferer resting on the other's breast opened his wide
+eyes and gazed upon the crucifix and motioned that it be brought nearer
+to his dying lips; he kissed it, then, devoutly, and his deathless
+spirit passed to Him Who gave it life at first.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix gently laid his body down upon the ground and placed the
+crucifix upon his cold, still breast, and, then, he said to him who
+watched it all in silence:</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Sir, some are happier to have the crucifix to kiss before they
+go to meet their Maker; I did not know that you felt as you said you did
+about it. I beg your pardon, Sir ... I humbly beg your pardon."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+
+<p>On July 17, 1898, United States troops marched into and took possession
+of the city of Santiago, thereby completing the assurance of
+independence to Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>On that auspicious day Ruth Wakefield closed her temporary hospital and
+turned over to its new owner the little cottage which she had built to
+shelter her small family during her stay near Santiago; with tears of
+joy as well as sorrow, she had said good-bye to Estrella and her
+new-found relatives who were about to return to the home of the latter;
+Father Felix had decided to return to his little flock at San Domingo as
+he felt that his work with the army was finished, so that, in his
+company and with old Mage and Tid-i-wats safely ensconced near to her,
+she sailed upon the first steamer going toward Havana after there was no
+longer need of her help among the American soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>It was with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow that she left the scene
+of her recent activities ... she was carrying with her many sad memories
+of heroism and of suffering borne with patriotic patience ... her heart
+was heavy when she reflected upon the horrors she had witnessed, but
+her spirit was loyal to the sacred cause for which so many splendid
+lives had been sacrificed ... she could see, with prophetic vision, a
+happy and prosperous race of people taking the place of the down-trodden
+and pitiful company of cowering peasants with which she had been all too
+familiar ... it seemed to her that she could see the smiling faces of
+many happy children crowding along the narrow streets of the small
+villages of Cuba ... it seemed to her that she could almost hear old men
+relating the long-past horrors that had been common under the iron heel
+of the Spanish oppressor ... relating these remembered facts to those
+who shook their heads, half doubtingly, as they listened to them.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth herself, was looking forward with bright anticipation to her return
+to her own beloved home ... dear to her, not only because of its
+intrinsic attractiveness, but also because of the precious memories it
+held of her parents whom she constantly mourned for and kept alive
+within her loving heart; for so it is, as I believe, that those who are
+beyond the earth yet live among us who are yet in human form; I think
+that those who are made welcome in the hearts of men and women continue,
+often, their stay within the circle of humanity; so long as mortals
+remember and long for them, so long will they care to wander among the
+hills and mountains and along the pleasant valleys and by the oceans
+and the rivers of the earth; if they should be forgotten by all
+humanity, it does not seem to me that they would often wish to look upon
+the moonlight or the sunlight of our world; if nowhere in our world
+their spirits could find a resting-place, it seems to me they would not
+care to stray among mortal men and women.</p>
+
+<p>Freed souls, as I believe, are not compelled to associate with those who
+are uncongenial to them; they do not have to yield their finest taste
+and dearest wishes, as so many mortals do, to what is far beneath
+them ... far beneath their inner consciousness of right and wrong. They
+do not, as I hope, just because they made some sad mistake, go on
+suffering for dreary years, as many women have, because they saw no way
+of sure release except through death itself.</p>
+
+<p>It is a pitiful but well-established fact that many wives and mothers
+have borne long years of martyrdom because, in their first youth, they
+made unfortunate matrimonial alliances.</p>
+
+<p>There are so very many ways to put on binding-chains in human life;
+there are so many changes common to most mortals, steadfastness and
+truth are such rare qualities, that I sometimes wonder how men and women
+manage even as well as they do.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, we criticize our fellow-men and fellow-women pretty harshly,
+but, then, perhaps, we only see one side, and if we could look down from
+some great height, perhaps we, then, would marvel that they do as well
+as they do, now, with human life.</p>
+
+<p>There have been those who honestly expected that, when they would leave
+their earthly tenements, they would go to sleep, when they had gone
+across the unknown river that they knew as death's cold stream, and,
+maybe, sleep a thousand years or so; they must have dreaded that last,
+long sleep, especially if they, as might have happened, had never been
+very sound or very quiet sleepers ... if they had always seemed to be on
+guard and wakened at the slightest unfamiliar sound ... the thought that
+they would just lie silently within the narrow grave they must have
+known it was intended they should be put in must have been a most
+unpleasant one; they must have edged around it all they could and seldom
+mentioned it to anyone around them, and, yet, that horrid thought ...
+that last, long sleep ... must have, often, been present in their waking
+thoughts, and must have, even, sometimes, haunted them in their dreams.</p>
+
+<p>But I believe that we go right on living when we leave the earth-plane;
+I believe that most of us will be wide awake and conscious from the very
+start of that larger life that we will, then, begin to live. I hope that
+we will find that we do not have to sleep at all unless we choose to do
+so.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield kept the memories of her parents in her heart and so she
+always had them with her where she went, and, now, that she was going
+back where they and she had spent so very many happy years together, it
+was natural that she should think of them even more than common; a
+feeling of deep sadness stole across her mind whenever she reflected on
+her parents and their home, somehow; she could not account for this at
+all ... she could not satisfy herself that she had any real reason for
+this feeling of sadness ... but it would creep over her in spite of her
+efforts to banish it from her mind; old Mage felt this and tried to
+cheer her dear young lady up ... little Tid-i-wats felt it and rubbed
+against her lovingly and purred her little happy song of comfort and
+content ... and, yet, Ruth Wakefield dreaded, while she longed for, her
+own home, and, as the vessel they were on drew near to Havana, this
+feeling of unaccountable sadness deepened with the girl ... she drew her
+breath in sharply and a deep and heart-felt sigh broke from her lips as
+they reached the landing-place and left the wild and treacherous waters
+far behind them.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix wondered if this evident sadness and dread were due, in
+part, to the experiences through which they had both passed, and also,
+the thought of the man whom Ruth had married surreptitiously would often
+cross the mind of the good Priest, for he knew well she often must
+remember him and his dashing, dark and manly beauty; old Mage almost
+cursed him in her fierce old heart when she noticed that Ruth was sad
+although she'd always been so glad to come back home.</p>
+
+<p>"It's that fellow's fault!" she grumbled to herself. "It's all his
+fault ... I hope he's good and dead by this time! I'm sure I'd help to
+make him so, most willingly! What did he want to come into her young
+life and almost ruin it for? The low-lived pup!"</p>
+
+<p>They started out, as dusk was falling, the day they reached Havana, to
+go to San Domingo, and, then, home; Father Felix went with them as far
+as his refectory, and there he bade them a cheerful good-bye and said
+he'd come up, soon, and see them in their home again.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth, somehow, feared to say good-bye to the good Priest and kept his
+hand in hers much longer than was her wont with any man ... he was a
+bulwark for anyone who clung to him for strength ... his was a nature
+strong and good and clean and kind.... Ruth felt this more than usually,
+that evening, and dreaded to go on without him; he noticed this strange
+mood in her and said with cheery acquiescence:</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I'd better go on up the hill with you, my Daughter. I can as
+well as not. No one awaits me except my little choir-boys and they have
+managed a long time without me. If you will wait a moment while I look
+about a bit, I'll just go on up with you and see you nicely settled in
+your own old place and then I'll come back here and settle down
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>Suiting his actions to his words, the good Priest looked around and
+climbed the hill with Ruth and her small retinue; the path seemed so
+familiar with the shadows falling all around it, that she laughed and
+said to Father Felix:</p>
+
+<p>"I am a coward, after all ... afraid of friendly wind-mills like Don
+Quixote ... having had to do so much with Spaniards may have made me
+like them in some degree at least.... I wonder if Cervantes was afraid,
+himself, of things that no one ought to be afraid of! I wonder if Sancho
+Panza was afraid, too ... was Rozinante...."</p>
+
+<p>And, then, she stopped, for they had reached what had been, once, the
+outer gate of her palatial residence; there was no gate there ... there
+was no residence ... there was no life there ... it was the tomb of hope
+and home for her; the dwelling had been razed completely ... in its
+stead were only smouldering ruins ... all her precious memories ... her
+visible and tangible reminders of her parents ... had been swept
+away ... she had paid an awful price for helping those who needed help
+from her.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix stood beside her with his hand upon her shoulder ... he
+could not say a word of consolation or of any sort of help ... he was
+dumbfounded by it all; old Mage sunk down upon the ground and wept, and
+Tid-i-wats came close to Ruth and rubbed against her garments; stooping,
+then, she picked her little pet up and held her closely clasped within
+her sheltering arms; then she went to her old nurse and said to her:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not despair, my dear old Friend. God will provide for us, some way.
+This is a dreadful thing, but we must make the very best of it that we
+can possibly. I will try to think of some way whereby we may be
+sheltered for this one night that is before us and then I hope to find
+some way to rebuild a portion of the residence we used to have here on
+this blessed spot. Let's bear this, dear old Friend. Let's think we gave
+our home to save this country for the people who inhabit it and may
+their homes be just as full of peace and comfort and joy and gladness as
+this one that is gone has been for all who came beneath its friendly
+roof."</p>
+
+<p>The Father Felix stood beside her and said:</p>
+
+<p>"My Daughter, come with me; I'll house you all for this one night at
+least; I'll find a way tomorrow, somehow, for you, so that you may go on
+in the path that you were meant to walk in. My Daughter, let us pray for
+guidance in this unexpected sorrow. Let us pray."</p>
+
+<p>They knelt there underneath the friendly stars and the good Priest
+prayed, earnestly:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, kind and loving Father," then he said, "look down upon us as we
+kneel before Thee, here; direct us with Thy holy Wisdom, for we falter
+and are cast down with the burden of this day. Direct the feet of her
+who has been sorely stricken, here, tonight; direct her feet so that she
+may go on upon the path that Thou hast pointed out to her. Help her to
+go on with courage and devotion to the cause for which she has made this
+great and almost overpowering sacrifice. Help her to show in all her
+acts, henceforth, the same sweet resignation to Thy Will that she has
+shown so far. And help me, Father, help Thy humble servant who is but
+feeble and who often fails in doing all he should for Thee and for Thy
+children, help Thy humble and most unworthy servant to stand as if he
+were a pillar, so that she may lean upon him if her courage falters, or
+if she should stumble or grow weak in walking in the path that she was
+meant by Thee to walk upon. Look down in mercy on Thy servants as we
+kneel before Thee here. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>Tid-i-wats endured this, patiently, until he went beyond the common run
+of prayers for him when they had been together, then she squirmed and
+twisted in Ruth's arms, and, finally, escaped her altogether; then old
+Mage corraled her and the two of them had quite a little conversation on
+the side:</p>
+
+<p>"You naughty little thing! You must behave yourself and be a nice little
+lady. Can't you see what's happened to us without making us a lot of
+trouble, too?"</p>
+
+<p>And Tid-i-wats said, plainly:</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do just as I please, you mean old thing you! Don't you <i>dare</i> to
+hold me when I want to get away! I'll show you what my claws will do to
+you, old Mage! You let me go this minute!"</p>
+
+<p>Then she used some language only known to cats and those who know the
+devious ways of little petted cats.</p>
+
+<p>Then Ruth turned to her and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Little Dadditts! Little Tid-i-wats! Be a nice lady, now ... be a very
+nice little lady, now. Dadditts ... little bit of Dadditts...."</p>
+
+<p>Then she held her close and tried to comfort her and gain some comfort
+for herself, but her tears would come to think how happy they had always
+or most always been in that fine home which seemed so much a part of
+life to Ruth that, now that it was gone from her, life seemed a sordid
+and a sorry thing.</p>
+
+<p>But she went with Father Felix, quietly, to the refectory and there they
+all found comfort and refreshment, for the good Priest always had
+prepared himself to entertain some unexpected guests, and, with
+returning security and peace, his parishioners had brought some supplies
+to welcome him on his return; so they fared quite well considering what
+had met them when they reached the place where Ruth had thought to find
+rest from her arduous toil; instead, she had to meet renewed unrest and
+many problems to be solved in her near future.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Ruth Wakefield awoke the next morning after her arrival in the
+village of San Domingo, she became conscious of her surroundings with a
+sudden start; at first, she scarcely realized just where she was, for
+her long trip on the boat following her strenuous and nerve-wracking
+labor of the past few weeks, had left her very weary in mind as well as
+in body, so that her sleep had been profound and restful; she looked
+about her wonderingly and did not recognize anything near to her except
+little Tid-i-wats who was cuddled up in a little soft round ball right
+beside her pillow; then, from the adjoining room, she began to hear old
+Mage, who was, evidently, making her customary strenuous efforts to
+continue her slumbers.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually, Ruth remembered the desolation to which she had returned,
+and, hastily dressing, she left the refectory intending to go at once to
+the spot where her much-loved home had been, and ascertain, under the
+light of day, the extent of her loss, also, she wished to make some
+plans, while she could do so quietly and unobserved, as to the future of
+her little family, who, as it seemed, was now without a roof to shelter
+them.</p>
+
+<p>She slowly and cautiously ascended the hill; the pathway was almost
+obliterated by the growth of the wild things that had been allowed to
+run riot over it and she followed it more by instinct than anything
+else; as she gained the point from which the proud edifice she had so
+loved used to become visible to anyone approaching it, the fact that no
+buildings of any kind were in sight pressed upon her inner
+consciousness, and it was only with great effort that she proceeded at
+all; somehow, she had hoped, she now found, that the hasty survey they
+had made the night before might have been overdrawn in some respects and
+the corroboration of her worst fears was hard for her to bear; but she
+had become accustomed, from long endurance, to meet whatever came with
+calmness and courage; so she straightened her slim, tall figure to its
+full height, and advanced with the air of a soldier marching forth to
+meet the foe.</p>
+
+<p>She had passed the spot where the entrance gates had been; the pillars
+on either side of the entrance were almost entirely demolished and there
+was nothing to be seen of the gates themselves; all along the driveway
+débris was piled in disordered heaps; evidently, no one had been here,
+or so it seemed at a first glance, anyway, for some time; vegetation had
+even partially covered a part of the ruins of the dwelling itself; with
+repeated gasps of horror, she ran from what had been the front entrance
+to her home to first one side and then the other; finally, she sat down,
+disconsolately, like Niobe, amid the ruins of her former happiness; she
+knew that she was where her library had been; here she had found her
+most satisfying, lasting happiness, surrounded as she had been by the
+books she had loved; she could see the half-burned remains of many of
+her favorites lying all around her; thinking to save some portion of one
+of these, she picked it up, fondly, and laid it in her lap, while she
+bent over it searching for some word of comfort or some sustaining
+sentence; it seemed to her that some of the authors she had so dearly
+loved and almost reverenced, would surely come to her aid in this dire
+calamity ... it almost seemed to her as if one or more of them would
+actually speak to her in such a way as to impress her mind with their
+fine thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, she became conscious of the nearness of some human being;
+looking up, surprised and even alarmed, she beheld the man whose life
+she had been instrumental in saving after the battle of San Juan Hill.</p>
+
+<p>"Tender Heart," he said, softly, "Tender Heart, what have we here? Why
+are you so sad? You came to me in grievous trouble and I, it seems, have
+found you under similar circumstances. Tender Heart," he pleaded,
+"Tender Heart, let me help you as you helped me if I can do so."</p>
+
+<p>She turned and looked into his eyes ... she rose to her feet and took
+one hesitating step toward him ... she stretched out both her hands,
+and, somehow, then, she felt his strong arms fold themselves around her
+yielding form ... she felt his heart beat very near to hers ... she felt
+his lips against her hair ... and, then, she turned her face from his
+broad shoulder where it had found a resting-place, and, as her lips met
+his, it seemed to her that, after all, she had come home; a feeling of
+deep security and sweet peace crept over her:</p>
+
+<p>"Tender Heart," he murmured very near to her small, shell-like ear, for
+she had, once more, put her head against his shoulder, "Tender Heart,
+you do not know my name.... I am, to you, but one of those five men who
+volunteered, at once, to follow Teddy up San Juan Hill.... I am, to you,
+but only him you rescued from almost certain death upon that bloody
+battle-field. Are you sure you are not making a mistake, sweet, trusting
+Tender Heart, to grant me this great privilege, knowing as little of me
+as you do?"</p>
+
+<p>He waited for her answer, for some time, but, then, he waited willingly
+indeed, for her soft nearness was enough to make him very happy; when
+her answer came she spoke in such low tones he had to listen very
+closely ... he had to put his arms about her a little closer than they
+had been yet ... he had to lift her from the ground and bring her soft,
+red mouth upon a level with his head, indeed ... and then, he heard her
+say:</p>
+
+<p>"I know you just as well as you know me. We do not know each other's
+names ... we do not need to know them ... now ... I only know I love
+you, Dear ... and, now, I know that you love me."</p>
+
+<p>And, then, he set her feet upon the ground again and looked down into
+her clear, gray eyes, and found within their shining depths the very
+things he wanted most to know; and she looked up and saw a man who was a
+man indeed ... a man on whom she knew that she could lean ... a man whom
+she would love to walk beside ... a man of whom she could be always
+proud.</p>
+
+<p>Standing there, they gazed into each other's eyes and read their future
+in them ... read the happiness that they might know together on the
+earth, and, then, they saw beyond the chance and change that seem to to
+govern earthly things, and saw themselves together in some higher,
+better sphere. They plainly saw, there, in each other's eyes, the
+promise of another, more etherial world, where they might spend long
+ages of eternal joy and gladness in each other's company.</p>
+
+<p>Father Felix found them so, for he had followed Ruth to see if he could
+help her meet the problems that confronted her; the good Priest
+hesitated for only a moment before he said:</p>
+
+<p>"My Daughter, I trust that you have found true happiness. Sir, I do not
+know you very well, but I can give you most profound assurance that you
+have found a jewel among women; if she has any faults I have not found
+them, yet, and I have spent full many happy hours in her society; my
+work is to find faults, if so be I can trace them out; I am a hunter,
+and a most successful one, of human frailties, and, when I give you my
+most profound assurance that I have not found a fault in this one woman,
+the statement is worthy of respect.</p>
+
+<p>"Your coming at this time is most propitious, for I was almost at my
+wit's end as to how to help her bear the direful calamity that has just
+come upon her. She has not remembered half she's lost, and, now that she
+has found you, Sir, I trust that she will nevermore remember much of it,
+but that she will go on, with you beside her, leaving far behind her in
+her earthly path sad memories of happy days that nevermore can come to
+her."</p>
+
+<p>The man, then, gave to Father Felix his right hand and kept his left arm
+round Ruth's slender waist:</p>
+
+<p>"I do not doubt your word," he answered the good Priest. "I feel that
+every single word of what you've said is strictly true, and, yet, I have
+some fault to find with this young lady, here; she came away and did
+not leave a message behind for me, and I have had a weary, most
+disheartening time since she departed. I came to San Domingo, I traced
+her that far, easily, and, then, I found a little girl named Tessa
+something, who said she knew the very place to find her in ... she said
+she knew she'd go where, once, the mansion on the hill had stood ...
+and, so, I came straight here, and, so, I've found her. Tender Heart,"
+he asked, "have you told the good Priest how we met?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Ruth blushed her pretty, fleeting, characteristic little blush, and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Father Felix knows me even better than I know myself, for he has told
+me many times what I would do before I did it. Father Felix knows me
+better, even, that <i>you</i> do," then she turned to Father Felix, laughing
+like a happy little child, and added, "He don't even know my name and I
+have no idea what <i>his</i> is; he calls me Tender Heart because I am so
+easily misled by tenderness and I call him ... why, I have never called
+him anything at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you have!" he interrupted, eagerly. "You called me 'Dear' just
+now ... so she is Tender Heart and I am Dear and that's enough, I think,
+don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>The good Priest smiled upon them almost condescendingly, for he was far
+above such little human twists and turns, or so he seemed to be at
+least, and so he was in very truth, for he had had his romance ... he
+had seen the grave close over the bright curls of one he dearly loved
+who loved him just as dearly as he did her; it was after that that he
+had taken up the work he did so well; he left his human happiness behind
+him in that narrow grave and looked beyond it to a higher, better kind
+of happiness; Ruth knew a little of this romantic sorrow for the good
+Priest had imparted it to her, and, so, her tender eyes filled up with
+sudden tears and her low, sweet voice trembled into even softer cadences
+than usual as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Father Felix, you are more to me than any loving brother that a
+woman ever had ... you are the only one who ever understood my human
+sorrow and I think that you will fully understand my human happiness. I
+wish with all my heart that you could be as happy as we are," her fair
+face flushed again, "for you deserve far more of happiness than I do ...
+as for him," she added, archly, "as for him ... do not be too sure of
+perfect human happiness for him.... I am but a mere child in very many
+ways.... I have so very much to learn.... I'm sure I'll always do the
+very best I can, but whether that will be the very best that could be
+done, of course I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll risk it, anyway, and I will risk it gladly, joyfully," the man
+averred. "I'd go again upon that bloody battle-field if you'd be sure
+to find me, Tender Heart," he ended, "if only in that way we two were
+meant to meet."</p>
+
+<p>When Ruth went back to the refectory she found old Mage and Tid-i-wats
+as lively as two crickets and as cheery as could be ... she introduced
+the man whose life she'd saved, or so it seemed, to them, and each of
+them acknowledged the introduction in her own peculiar way; old Mage
+stared at the man and sized him up most shrewdly, and, then, she gave
+her verdict very plainly by her manner of addressing him:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad to see you, Sir," she said. "I'm surely very glad to see you
+for I've often heard my dear young lady speak of you; I hope you'll stay
+around here near to us for we will have another home to build and
+Tid-i-wats and I are not much help to her.... I'm growing to be an old
+woman, now, and Tid-i-wats is so peculiar that she never is much help to
+anyone."</p>
+
+<p>And, then, the little cat came close to him and smelled his hands and
+rubbed against his legs, and, finally, when he sat down, she jumped up
+in his lap and settled down and twisted round and licked herself and
+washed her face and made herself entirely at home; and then she looked
+up at old Mage and Ruth and whispered to them that she liked him very
+well indeed, and, so, he was adopted into that small family.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+
+<p>An author who has been considered by very many people to be a most
+successful writer, one whose words have set before very many eyes vivid
+pictures of individual characteristics and national events as well,
+whose Indians are known all over the world, and whose historical novels
+will be eagerly perused as long as there are American eyes to read the
+pages of any book at all, used to make a sort of summary of the
+principal events in the lives of his very interesting characters: it
+always seemed to me that there was something very wholesome and
+satisfying in the way he finished up his books, and, so, I'd like to
+relate just a little more about the people I have tried to picture in
+this little book of mine.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield found her earthly mate when she found him whose life she
+helped to save upon the battle-field at night, and spent full many happy
+years in his society; they built a modern home upon the site of the
+mansion on the hill and did much good among the peasants living near to
+them; the man became the author of very many books, and Ruth assisted
+him in very many ways.</p>
+
+<p>Old Mage and little Tid-i-wats lived out the span of earthly life
+allotted to each one of them, beneath the tender eye and ready hand of
+her who loved them both, and, when the time that had been set for them
+to leave this world behind them, came, Ruth Wakefield staid beside them
+to the very last, and ministered to them as no one else would ever do.</p>
+
+<p>The man she'd found had named her well when he said "Tender Heart!" to
+her, that night upon the battle-field.</p>
+
+<p>Her heart was very tender, always, except with reference to herself; she
+often did upbraid herself and never gave herself much credit; she often
+mourned, in secret, over her few brief memories of the wild, impulsive,
+almost insane, so-called love of him she'd married in her untried youth;
+she often said:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Boy! Poor, lost and misled Boy! I ought to have treated him far
+differently than I did; his earthly path crossed mine for some good
+reason, I presume; and I did not do all the things I might have done,
+when I was near enough to help him, for him ... yet ..." she always
+ended, "I did the very best I could do for him, it seemed to me, at the
+time I had the opportunity, and I always meant and prayed to do just
+right. I went wrong, somehow ... or he had gone too far along a certain
+road before I ever met him for me to turn him back ... anyway, I pity
+him with all my heart and hope that he is happy where he's gone.... I
+hope he's found the very place he belongs in.... I know I always think
+of him with tender pity and no resentment, although, according to the
+standards of the world, he did me grievous wrong. Poor lost and misled
+Boy! He often looked so sad and desperate ... I wish I had done better
+by him while I had the chance."</p>
+
+<p>Her tender heart was uppermost in almost all she did except when she was
+doing for herself, and, then, she'd say:</p>
+
+<p>"My tastes are very simple ... I do not need very much of this world's
+goods ... it takes so very little happiness to make me almost wild with
+joy.... I've had to look on sorrow often, and, when I come to Joy, I
+bask in it as if it were God's holy sunshine."</p>
+
+<p>But, if it should be that old Mage or Tid-i-wats or anyone of all of
+those who were dependent on her, from time to time, for she, somehow
+always seemed to accumulate those who needed her help round her, why,
+then it was quite different to Tender Heart ... then, she'd say and say
+with vigor:</p>
+
+<p>"Of <i>course</i> I can arrange to have it that way! Why, certainly, if that
+would bring happiness, I'll fix it right away."</p>
+
+<p>And sure enough she would arrange it, no matter what it meant for her of
+loneliness or labor ... no matter if she had to go along a lonely road
+that had been full of peace and happiness for her before the one who
+left her lonely had come into her daily life and made it hard for her,
+in that way, while the days were going by, yet made a grievous change
+again, in going; she set her teeth and did the things she had to do to
+make the other person happy, or to do the things he said would make him
+happy, then she turned her face toward her own life, cheerfully,
+although her hours were often very sad and lonely.</p>
+
+<p>But this was all before she met the man whose life she'd helped to save
+upon that battle-field ... all before she'd lost her cherished home and
+built another one. From that time on unto the end of earthly life for
+her, she found sweet satisfaction and content, for she had found a
+steadfast love to lean upon, a strong and true and virile human being,
+whose tastes were similar to hers, who loved his native land, America,
+with all his heart, as she did, too.</p>
+
+<p>It heartens all humanity to meet a happy pair who are congenial.</p>
+
+<p>It gives all other human beings courage to go on upon the path that has
+been set for them to go upon, to know that there is happiness if only
+they could find the way to reach it.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella soon forgot the handsome lover over whom she mourned so
+bitterly; the memory of him soon became a wild, sweet dream, and had she
+met him as he was in San Domingo, after she had found her proper place
+in life, it is probable that she would have turned away from him; life's
+contrasts have so much to do with early love that it is often difficult
+to know what love is really like; Estrella, when she was an unknown
+waif, was differently placed than she was later on. Victorio Colenzo
+would not have seemed the same to her that he did when she was but an
+unknown, simple girl; education made a change in her ... her sister
+looked to that. She grew to be a splendid woman, in very many ways, and
+married one who was her peer.</p>
+
+<p>Poor little Tessa seems the most forlorn of all the characters in this
+book. She tried so hard and failed so utterly in almost all she ever
+did. But Father Felix watched her tenderly, and helped her on, and,
+finally, one day, he married her to one who loved her truly in his own
+rude way, to one who was a sturdy peasant like herself, who had no
+romance in him, but who was true to her, and kind, as kindness goes
+among his sort of people; he provided for her and their children; she
+had many more necessities and even luxuries than most of those who were
+associated with her. She, sometimes, dreamed of Manuello; she never knew
+how his life ended.</p>
+
+<p>Ruth Wakefield looked her up, from time to time, but did not tell her
+very much about the Spanish-American war or those who entered into it;
+she knew she could not really understand much more than would the
+helpless baby at her ample breast, for Tessa did not stay the slim,
+small person that she was at first; she grew to be as wide, almost, as
+she was tall, and seemed to be quite happy as she was. She always limped
+a little from the blow that Manuello gave to her; the deep, sad scar he
+left upon her gentle heart could not be seen, and it, somehow, grew over
+as her flesh and family increased.</p>
+
+<p>Estrella always remembered her and sent her many costly and curious
+things which were her constant delight. She loved to display these
+mementoes of her girlhood's friend; her children, and her heavy husband,
+too, were, always proud of them.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me that, when such souls as animated little Tessa's form
+leave this world behind them for all time, it must be that they find
+some soft, warm places, where they can sit at ease and watch dear little
+children play, and, maybe, join them in their play, and dream of happy
+hours, and forget all the trials of their lives upon the earth.</p>
+
+<p>The course of human life will, sometimes, like a placid river, flow
+along for many years without a single change that is any more disturbing
+than a little, gentle ripple or an easy turn; then, all at once, like
+the water, that has been so clear and still, when it has reached the
+rapids and becomes a raging, turbid torrent, so human life may,
+suddenly, be stirred to its very depths; something may transpire that
+will call for the most sublime courage and the most strenuous endeavor,
+combined with the most harrowing self-sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>Like a stroke of lightning out of a calm summer sky, more than one great
+event in our national history has thrust itself upon our startled
+consciousness. At these times, leaders have appeared who have taken
+their places at the head of affairs as naturally and as calmly as if
+they had been, always, guiding those who followed after them, although,
+perhaps, before the time that they were needed, they were,
+comparatively, unknown. And so, it seems to me, it will be always. There
+is a Plan, an infinite, a just, a universal Plan, to which all things,
+mundane or otherwise, must, in the end, conform. To keep ourselves
+informed as to the part that we were meant to take in this great Plan,
+it seems to me, should be our constant study and our constant strong
+desire.</p>
+
+<p>The light of truth and understanding, that is God's Smile, looks up into
+our faces from the heart of every flower, whether bathed in moonlight,
+or shining underneath the sun; the simplest soul or the grandest
+intellect, alike, may bask beneath this light and feel its healing
+power.</p>
+
+<p>I love, above all else, the God of truth and right and justice, Who
+rules all worlds and watches over everything that lives and moves and
+has its being in His whole universe.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me that there is implanted, although it may be completely
+covered up, at times, in the nature of every human being, a reverence
+and a most affectionate regard, that rests upon implicit faith, for Him
+Who gave to us, at the very beginning of of our human lives, an
+infallible guide ... conscience, or inner consciousness of right and
+wrong ... which, if always heeded, will show us where to go and what to
+do, no matter what vicissitudes, disappointments or sorrows we may meet.</p>
+
+<p>And, next to God, it seems to me, it is both natural and right to love
+the land of one's nativity.</p>
+
+<p>I know I hold in my regard, above all personal advantages, above all
+temporal happiness or praise, America ... the great United States ...
+<i>that one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was
+free</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An American, by Belle W. Gue
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An American, by Belle W. Gue
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An American
+
+Author: Belle W. Gue
+
+Release Date: July 10, 2011 [EBook #36679]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AMERICAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Charlene Taylor,
+Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             AN AMERICAN
+
+                         BY BELLE WILLEY GUE
+
+
+    BOSTON
+    RICHARD G. BADGER
+
+    THE GORHAM PRESS
+
+    COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY BELLE WILLEY GUE
+
+    All Rights Reserved
+
+    Made in the United States of America
+
+    The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.
+
+
+    TO THE MEMORY OF HIM WHOM WE ALL DELIGHT
+    TO HONOR AS FIRST IN PEACE ... FIRST IN
+        WAR ... AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS
+             OF HIS COUNTRYMEN ...
+               GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+There are many characteristics that are essential to true Americanism;
+among these, none is more prominent than an inborn desire, not only to
+obtain personal liberty, but, also, to see justice done to others.
+
+We, as Americans, say, with loving pride, that we are citizens of that
+_one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was free_.
+
+Oppression of the weak and ignorant, by those who are wiser and stronger
+than they, has, always, aroused in us pronounced, and, often, openly
+expressed, indignation. More than once, have we, as a nation, arrayed
+ourselves upon the side of the down-trodden and pitiful, and, in every
+such instance, we have greatly increased and enhanced the well-being of
+those whose cause we have espoused.
+
+We have never gone out of our way to look for trouble, being more
+inclined to attend to our own affairs than to oversee those of our
+neighbors, and, yet, when, repeatedly, gross acts of injustice and
+cruelty have been forced under our observation, we have, at times, been
+aroused to a state of what we have honestly believed to be righteous
+indignation, and, in these circumstances, we have conducted ourselves
+in accordance with our ability and the fervor of our convictions.
+
+Prior to the evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-eight, our relations with the government of Spain were amicable;
+while we, as a people, sympathized, to some extent, with the uprisings
+of native Cubans, yet, those who were at the head of our national
+affairs did not, in any instance, uphold or palliate the unlawful acts
+of the insurrectionists; but, during the hours of darkness of that
+never-to-be-forgotten night, a dastardly and totally inexcusable deed,
+in spite of the recent renewal of our friendly intercourse with the
+Spanish government, made of that nation a foe to be contended against
+with all the might that was in us.
+
+While our only object, in the beginning of the Spanish-American war, was
+to teach the Spaniard the lesson he had so richly deserved to learn, at
+the same time, as the results of autocratic misrule were brought, more
+and more closely, under our direct observation, we took much honest
+pride in the reflection that we were not only resenting, as became free
+and enlightened men and women, an injury to our own well-beloved
+country, but that we were, at the same time, giving to a people, whose
+necks were raw and bleeding from the yoke of a tyrannical exercise of
+absolute power, an opportunity to throw off that yoke, and become, in
+due time, a self-governed and a self-respecting and an independent
+nation.
+
+Our short and fiery encounter with Spain demonstrated, as many years of
+unbroken peace and prosperity had not done and never could do, the
+invincibility of American arms, and the unexampled superiority of
+American daring, devotion, inventive genius and self-adjusting prowess;
+it was supposed that we had a very inadequate naval equipment, and that
+our standing army was very small, besides being poorly trained; in spite
+of this widely spread supposition, our troops won many brilliant
+victories upon the sea as well as on the land.
+
+The same spirit that saved the day for freedom and the right at Bunker
+Hill and Bennington animated the descendants of those gallant and
+intrepid warriors, who, soon after the heroic birth of our Republic,
+defended the cause they deemed to be a sacred one with all that they
+held dear, when they, too, went to meet the carefully trained and richly
+caparisoned phalanxes of those who bowed their heads and bent their
+suppliant knees unto an earthly king.
+
+An American volunteer is as nearly unconquerable as any merely human
+being can ever really be; his whole being is entirely devoted to the
+principle for the vindication of which he is about to enter into bodily
+combat; he is not hampered or bound down by anything that does not meet
+with the approval of his own conscience; physically, mentally, and
+morally, he is the equal of any enemy against whom he may be pitted;
+above him there floats a flag that has never been defeated, behind him
+are glorious deeds of valor that are well worthy of emulation, and
+before him are the hopes and aspirations of those who, with their feet
+firmly planted upon solid ground, practical, energetic and capable, yet,
+always, move among their fellows, seeing visions, dreaming dreams.
+
+Shortly before the beginning of the Spanish-American war, there were
+some, across the water, who dared to complacently imagine that the
+glowing spark of patriotism, implanted in the breast of every true
+American at the time of his birth, had lost its kindling power; those
+who were depending upon this erroneous idea must have had their
+complacency somewhat rudely shaken when it became known, all over the
+world, that, within ten days after President McKinley issued a call for
+one hundred and twenty-five thousand volunteers, seven hundred and fifty
+thousand eager patriots answered to that call, offering their energies
+and, if needs be, their lives, to the service of the land they loved and
+honored.
+
+After thirty-three years of peace, the fighting men of America buckled
+on their armor, bade a tearful farewell to their homes and families,
+and, determined, enthusiastic and buoyant, went, blithely, forward to
+meet, and conquer, a foreign foe; there was not one among these who did
+not realize and consider the seriousness of the enterprise he had
+started out upon, yet neither was there one who did not add, in every
+way within his power, to the light-hearted joyousness, and gentle,
+childish humor, with which our fearless and devoted "boys" undertook to
+secure the freedom and general well-being of the Island people, as well
+as to resent the insult that had been offered to our own country.
+
+The central figure of the Spanish-American war, from its hasty inception
+until its brilliant and triumphant close, was that of a gallant
+gentleman, mounted on a high-lifed horse ... as sternly devoted to
+principle and duty as any Puritan had ever been, as full of the bounding
+joy of life as any boy who followed him, leader, comrade, friend and
+brother, fearless, resourceful, primitive, refined, highly educated, yet
+as simple-hearted as an innocent child, bold, yet cautious and careful,
+unselfish, yet richly endowed with worldly wisdom, respected almost to
+the height of reverence, yet looked upon as a cheery, helpful companion,
+by those with whom he was most closely associated ... THEODORE
+ROOSEVELT ... a typical American, using that word in its widest and
+loftiest sense.
+
+After the close of our struggle with Spain, we discovered that we had
+not only given, but, also, derived, many benefits as the results of that
+short, but decisive, conflict; we had acquired considerable territory
+over which to extend the advantages to be gained from our educational
+and commercial institutions; we had come into such close contact with
+the people of these, and adjacent, territories that we were enabled to
+understand their needs and their desires, more fully than we could,
+otherwise, have done; we had presented to the powers ruling the Old
+World an object lesson as to the people of the United States of America
+being, at any and all times, and under every possible circumstance,
+fully able to take care of themselves, as well as all that,
+intrinsically, belongs to them; we had set before the mighty nations of
+Europe an example of the proper attitude of the strong toward the weak;
+we had bound together, in a common, just and righteous cause, all
+factions, all clans, all religions, and all parties, in short, we had
+bound together the entire population of our well-beloved country, and in
+such a way that the bonds were indissoluble, unbreakable, and permanent.
+
+While we are, above all things, a peaceful and a law-abiding people, yet
+we not only can, but always will, defend our altars and our homes
+against any harm that may be threatened to them; while we do not seek an
+encounter with any government other than our own, yet at the same time,
+we are not afraid to meet any nation on the face of the earth, in open
+combat, giving our enemy the privilege of selecting his own weapons and
+following out his own ideas as to legitimate warfare.
+
+The blood of the sturdy and militant Anglo-Saxon, flowing, now, in
+Yankee veins, is richer and more life-supporting than it was before the
+Mayflower landed her precious freight of human strength and more than
+human aspiration upon Plymouth Rock.
+
+All the fond hopes and all the high ambitions, all the daring and all
+the deep devotion, all the practical achievements and all the airy
+dreams, of their revered forefathers, are, now, alive and potent,
+although, it may be, hidden, in the breasts of all my fellow-countrymen.
+
+If all the titles that have ever been bestowed by human beings upon each
+other ... all the names that indicate the possession of wealth or fame
+or place or power upon the earth ... should be displayed before my eyes,
+and I be asked to select but one among them all to be the one by which I
+would be known, I would without a moment's hesitation, choose AN
+AMERICAN.
+
+
+
+
+PLOT
+
+
+Ruth Wakefield, as the daughter of the United States Consul to Cuba, has
+lived in a beautiful home which her father prepared for his family on a
+height above Havana harbor since early childhood. Having lost both her
+natural protectors ... her parents ... through earthly death, she has
+been much alone with trusty servants, as she has found little
+companionship among the natives of Cuba. However, she has found a highly
+respected friend in Father Felix, Priest of the village of San Domingo;
+to him she has confided her great anxiety concerning some prisoners
+confined, ex communicado, in the village jail, at the end of the prado,
+or central park of the village.
+
+"The Lady of the mansion on the hill," as she is known among the
+villagers, has not, though, told the Priest her real reason for wishing
+the freedom of the political prisoners. Victorio Colenzo is a handsome
+but unscrupulous fellow of mixed blood, being part Spanish and part
+Cuban; he has found the lonely American girl and has courted her with
+such dash and apparent sincerity that she has married him secretly, not
+even informing Father Felix of her union with the attractive stranger.
+This man is among the political prisoners and it is to free him from
+bondage that Ruth Wakefield has furnished Father Felix with means with
+which to overpower and overawe those who have him in charge. Ruth
+Wakefield is herself deceived, for in the village is a girl, named
+Estrella, whose lover Victorio Colenzo is known to be by her associates,
+among whom is another of her lovers ... Manuello ... a native Cuban.
+This man is also in the San Domingo bastile. Father Felix, at the head
+of a procession of his followers, breaks into the jail and confronts the
+keepers with a crucifix which he holds before them, commanding them to
+release the prisoners; superstitious terror finally induces them to
+yield to his demands; in the confusion, Manuello contrives to sever the
+handsome head of Victorio Colenzo from his strong and manly body, so
+that his corpse is found when the doors are finally thrown open to the
+people; Estrella finds this body and weeps above it. Father Felix meets
+Ruth Wakefield by appointment to report as to what he has done, and, in
+this manner, she discovers the perfidy of her so-called husband. She
+confesses the truth to Father Felix who sympathizes deeply with her as
+he knows her to be innocent. She visits the morgue and meets Estrella
+whom she befriends and, eventually, adds to her household. She has among
+her servants, a unique character, named Mage, who has been her nurse in
+babyhood and who is always faithful to her in her own strange way; this
+old woman, throughout the entire twenty-one chapters of this story,
+continues to perform unexpected and startling deeds.
+
+Old Mage accompanies her dear young lady when she goes to San Juan and
+is stationed not far from the battle-field of San Juan Hill. Here, as
+elsewhere, she continues to exhibit her own individual characteristics
+as her central and almost sole idea is to protect and assist Ruth
+Wakefield, whom, although she regards her with unlimited respect and is
+entirely devoted to her interests, she still thinks of as the small
+child she loved before they landed upon the Island of Cuba; realizing
+how different she is from those around her, only increases the worship
+of her faithful attendant, who, on the other hand, does not hesitate to
+use language that will express what she wishes those whom she is
+addressing to fully understand.
+
+Manuello has a primitive, passionate, unbridled and selfish nature; he
+is wildly in love with Estrella and because she has selected another
+lover he has committed murder; with this man out of his way, he hopes to
+succeed with Estrella and goes to her intimate friend, Tessa, to find
+out how she actually feels about the death of her lover, Victorio
+Colenzo; Tessa secretly adores Manuello; she is, also, a native Cuban,
+but her nature is more sluggish than that of Manuello and she has a
+dog-like affection for Estrella, who has become separated from her own
+family as a child and is a member of the household of Manuello, being
+known as his half-sister among the villagers; the handsome peon makes
+love to little Tessa but she is loyal to Estrella and does what she can
+to contribute to her happiness, although, when Manuello becomes a
+fugitive and has been wounded, she ministers to him in a deserted cabin
+up among the hills where it is almost entirely hidden in a jungle of
+weeds and rank vegetation. This cabin is the scene of many pitiful
+endeavors on the part of little Tessa who resists the desires of
+Manuello to make her his mistress although she dearly and devotedly
+loves him. Here, at one time, she is secretly followed by Estrella who
+is led to suspect some secret by Tessa's actions; Estrella informs
+Father Felix of the situation. Tessa, in one of her struggles with
+Manuello, has wounded him in one cheek with a knife which she happened
+to have in her hand. Father Felix visits the hut and Manuello, after
+severely wounding poor little Tessa, so that she is unable to leave the
+place, disappears, but turns up again, after the battle of Camp McCalla
+in a temporary hospital where Ruth Wakefield and Estrella are acting as
+nurses. Old Mage takes a hand in this affair and so frightens Manuello
+that he escapes from the hospital although he is wearing many bandages,
+and, painfully, but determinedly, reaches the deserted hut where he
+hopes to hide until he has recovered from his wounds. As he approaches
+the hut he realizes that someone is within it and looks through a small
+window, seeing Tessa lying on the rude bed she originally prepared for
+him, and, beside her, kneeling on the floor, Father Felix who has found
+the weak and suffering girl and is engaged in prayer; Manuello breaks
+into the cabin and attempts to thrust the Priest aside so that he may
+wreak his vengeance on the helpless woman. Father Felix, however, proves
+to be a worthy antagonist and does not hesitate to use his strength in
+the defense of the innocent, even though it becomes necessary for him to
+seriously injure the young man who is like a wild beast foiled of its
+prey. This struggle in the deserted hut, with the wounded girl looking
+on, continues for some time, but the younger man is finally overpowered,
+and, seeing himself to be at the mercy of his antagonist, becomes the
+penitent sinner and confesses to the Priest who labors with him lovingly
+and ministers to his spiritual condition. The two men then improvise a
+stretcher and place Tessa upon it, after which they carry the girl to
+the door of her own home in the village. Here, the Priest dismisses
+Manuello and tells him to go in peace. The young man then limps back to
+the deserted hut and remains there unmolested for some time when he
+disappears again from the neighborhood.
+
+The Americanism of Ruth Wakefield is pronounced. Father Felix is
+equally devoted to their common country. These two often confer as to
+possible complications connected with international affairs; at one of
+these consultations, Estrella happens to be present and declares that
+she believes that she, also, is an American and that she wishes to serve
+under the same flag as that to which the other two have so often
+pronounced themselves to be devoted. She offers to assist Ruth in every
+way she can should there be an occasion that would demand their help.
+
+Ruth Wakefield is awake in her own room and looking down upon Havana
+harbor on the night of February 15th, 1898 and sees the blowing up of
+the Maine with her own eyes; Father Felix also sees this and hurries up
+the hill to talk matters over with Ruth; they form plans as to what they
+can do for their own country and in the service of the down-trodden
+people of Cuba whose sufferings under Spanish tyranny they have so often
+witnessed. Ruth opens her home and offers it as a refuge to all those
+who wish to escape from Spanish oppression.
+
+Father Felix keeps Ruth well informed as to military matters and, when,
+on June 10th, 1898, our stars and stripes are waving, for the first
+time, over Cuban soil, Ruth Wakefield is standing beside Father Felix,
+who has become an army chaplain, at the window of a temporary hospital
+which her wealth has made possible. This hospital is situated near
+Santiago and many American soldiers as well as many Cuban scouts are
+cared for within its shadowy rooms.
+
+After the battle of San Juan Hill on July 1st 1898, Ruth Wakefield is
+one among many volunteer nurses who went to the assistance of a
+righteous cause. She stands beside a little cot and meets a man who
+speaks to her of "Teddy" and of the grand and glorious work that he had
+done that day; with this bond between them, they soon become friends.
+
+Ruth, as one who has authority, moves from cot to cot and, so, comes to
+stand beside the murderer of her husband or him whom she had called so,
+for Manuello evened up some of his wickedness by serving nobly in the
+battle of San Juan Hill and died in consequence of that day's dreadful
+harvest of human forms. Estrella, too, and Father Felix, come to stand
+beside his cot, but Ruth is all alone when his soul leaves the clay that
+it has been inhabiting for awhile, and, so, she realizes as never
+before, that the man she knew as husband was beneath her in every way
+and in that terrible and heart-rending moment, she begins to learn the
+way to forget the first wild love of her young womanhood and find the
+steps that lead to saner, quieter and happier hours and days and years.
+
+Ruth is given privileges that are not accorded to many near a bloody
+battle-field, and, when she leaves the hospital for the night on July
+1st, 1898, she drives her team along a lonely road, hoping to leave
+behind her, not only the scenes she has just been among, but, also, the
+thoughts that those scenes have awakened in her mind. She thinks she is
+going directly away from the recent battle-field. Her team is startled
+by the sudden rising of a man near the road and runs away, throwing her
+out upon the ground; she climbs over a low embankment beside the road
+and finds herself among the dead; she is almost stupefied by this
+knowledge, but, soon, her instincts for helping those who are in trouble
+rise above her fears and she cries aloud and calls ... asking if any
+there are in need of help that she can give to them. A faint voice
+answers her and she seeks it out and finds an officer who has been
+stricken down at the head of his squad of men; they are all lying in a
+disordered heap and Ruth is obliged to lift one dead body off of the man
+who seems to be alive. Having found him, she proceeds, from her
+knowledge as a nurse, to aid him ... finds a wound from which his
+life-blood is flowing fast and forms a tourniquet with a silken scarf
+she happens to be wearing. He revives enough to whisper to her, naming
+her, on the instant "Tender Heart" by which title he afterwards
+addresses her.
+
+Having rendered all the aid she can, she speeds away, without fear, now,
+as she has an object in her flight, until she secures help when she
+returns and removes the one whom she has found among the dead to the
+hospital, where, after a long period of suffering and faithful nursing,
+he recovers sufficiently to accompany her when she returns to her home.
+Here he proves himself to be worthy of her love which is bestowed upon
+him with the approval of Father Felix and even of old Mage. Ruth's home
+has been destroyed by fire and her entire estate has suffered much from
+vandalism and from enemies of Cuba and of her own country as well, but
+she still has plenty with which to rebuild her home and to assist many
+in the village of San Domingo who require aid and comfort from those who
+are stronger than they are.
+
+Among other patients in her temporary hospital near Santiago, Ruth
+discovers one who is a Spanish spy, for she remembers meeting him when
+he was a Spanish officer under most distressing circumstances, when it
+had been his great desire to do a grievous wrong to a young, ignorant
+girl whom Ruth rescued from his vile clutches. Ruth hesitates to report
+this case to the authorities as she is well aware of the fate meted out
+to spies, and she compromises by telling the facts to Father Felix, who,
+while he is very tender of the innocent, is just and stern where
+hypocrites and liars are concerned. The good Priest soon disposes of the
+Spanish spy.
+
+Father Felix distinguishes himself in many ways during the hostilities
+between the opposing forces in the Spanish-American war and does much
+good, for he does not hesitate to do anything that he finds to do
+regardless of whether it is in the line of his profession or not. He has
+many experiences as thrilling as the one in the deserted hut with
+Manuello. He throws himself into many a breach ... wins many a
+hard-fought battle, and, through it all maintains not only his religious
+attitude toward all mankind, but manifests a gracious and uplifting love
+for all who dwell upon the earth, and, at the end of his activities,
+resumes the humble station he occupied at first, for, as he believes, he
+can do more good right there in the little village of San Domingo than
+in a wider and more elevated station.
+
+Many refugees leave Santiago during, and directly after, the naval
+battle of Santiago; among these are very many wealthy women who are
+forced to leave their splendid homes and flee, in silken garments, with
+the riff-raff of the city.
+
+Some among these wealthy women sought to help in temporary hospitals,
+and one of them, at least, came to that which Ruth Wakefield had
+endowed; this woman was noticeable in many ways, being of superior
+intelligence as well as birth and breeding; she, soon, became proficient
+as a nurse, and when Ruth sees her standing close beside Estrella in the
+hospital, she suddenly recognizes a subtle resemblance between the two
+young women and calls their attention to the fact. And, so, it develops
+that Estrella finds her own blood-kin ... her own loving sister ...
+there in that shadowy hospital, for it is proven beyond a shadow of a
+doubt by a little trinket that the girl has always worn about her
+neck ... a little cross of golden memories, through which, and through
+the girl herself, her lineage is traced, so that she remains with her
+own kin, and does not return to the little village where she suffered so
+much sorrow.
+
+Tessa, with the stolidity of the Cuban peasant, seems to entirely
+recover both from her wounded leg and her wounded heart, for she marries
+a sturdy workman who supplies the earthly wants of Tessa and her
+numerous progeny. If she ever remembers the romantic days through which
+she has passed, her appearance belies the fact, for she becomes,
+apparently, contented with her lot in life.
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+About the beginning of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, there
+had been aroused in the hearts of the people of the United States a
+strong feeling of pity and compassion toward the inhabitants of the
+Island of Cuba who were under the ironshod heel of Spain and who had
+made many appeals for help to our own government in one way and in
+another.
+
+The time was ripe for a revolution among the dark-skinned populace of
+the large cities of the Island Empire and many confusing circumstances
+combined to add to the confusion of sentiments entertained toward the
+government by those who suffered from its rulings.
+
+Many indignities had been heaped upon the Cubans by those who claimed to
+represent the young King Alfonso XIII, who, in his far-away palace in
+old Madrid was as unconscious of what was done in his name, very many
+times, as he would have disapproved of it had he known it.
+
+The young King and his mother, the Queen _regent_, tried, in every way
+within their power, to adjust matters amicably between their rebellious
+subjects and those whom they had sent across the sea to govern them, but
+they found this a very difficult matter indeed, and between the fiery
+tempers of the natives and the over-bearing arrogance of the officers
+who represented them, the poor crowned heads of sunny Spain certainly
+had a pretty hard time of it.
+
+The Queen mother was naturally a gentle and a very highly educated and
+studious woman, while the boy King was as far from being the typical
+idea of a reigning tyrant as a handsome, well-trained young fellow could
+well be.
+
+But those who represented these two crowned heads were of quite another
+pattern as to character and disposition and many were the cruelties
+charged to the account of certain ones among their number due to the
+opportunities afforded them of gratifying their lowest impulses and
+following along the paths that led, for the time being, into what seemed
+to them to be very pleasant pastures and beside very still waters,
+which, as is well known, often, besides being still, run deep.
+
+One evening, just as dusk was falling over the little town of San
+Domingo, there appeared, passing along one of the quiet, shadowy narrow
+streets, a rather strange procession ... well in advance of the rest of
+the motley company appeared a village Priest bearing in his hand a
+crucifix which he held before him as if to fend off something evil ...
+he was dressed, as is the custom of the Catholic Priests of Cuba, in the
+flowing vestments of his office and the long cord that was knotted round
+his ample waist had a huge cross dangling from the end of it which
+struck against his well-formed legs as he strode along with head held
+high as if he saw beyond the things of earth and gazed upon some
+beatific vision which upheld him and lifted him above his immediate
+environment.
+
+Indeed, there was one who walked beside him though he, himself, was
+unaware of it, except subconsciously, for Father Felix, as this Priest
+was known, was wandering among strange thoughts as he passed along that
+almost silent little street, that one sad evening.
+
+He had been, for many peaceful years, the Priest who had officiated at
+almost all the public meetings of the village, but, never in his life
+devoted, as it was to the consideration of holy, high and spiritual
+matters, had he been called upon to conduct so weird a service as he
+was, then, about to do.
+
+He wondered, as he marched along, whether he was doing just exactly
+right in leading these, his simple-minded followers, into what it seemed
+to them they must do, that night ... he wondered whether, even now, he
+would not better turn to those who followed after him and call to them
+to halt and to consider well before they took another single step that
+might, each one of them, be an irrevocable and a much-to-be-regretted
+step, for it might lead to what they could not know of ways that might,
+as well as not, prove very winding and even thorn-strewn ways for those
+who followed along them. And Father Felix knew that he, alone of all
+that little company, was gifted with the power to reason out a fair and
+just conclusion from the premises presented to them all; he knew that he
+alone had enough of education to even understand the meaning of the
+words that had been spoken to them all ... he knew that those who came
+along that little street behind him had trusted to him most implicitly,
+for many years, in matters that required thought, and, although they had
+been the ones to beg him to take the step that they were then about to
+take, he knew that, even then, right at the last, had he been minded to,
+he might, yet, turn their minds away from what they seemed to be so set
+upon.
+
+He knew that, if he wished to do so, he could make them see the matter
+under their consideration in quite another light from what they saw it
+in at that time ... he knew that he could bend their wills to make them
+match with his own will for he had done this very many times before ...
+he was a natural leader, and being well equipped for leadership, he
+took that place as if it were his natural right ... and so it seemed to
+be.
+
+Any stranger, glancing along the line of human beings that followed
+Father Felix and his upheld crucifix, would have noticed many weak and
+vacillating faces ... many weak and vacillating wills as evidenced by
+the expressions on those weak and vacillating faces ... many wills that
+could be bent by anyone who had a strong and capable and domineering
+mind, and Father Felix had a mind like that ... a natural leader's most
+commanding mind ... he was a man to win respect wherever he might go ...
+a man to dominate the wills of those about him ... a man to lead the
+crowd ... a man to guide the minds of those he met, and, after having
+occupied the one place in the village that commanded the respect of all,
+for long, of course they looked to him for guidance and followed where
+he led as little children follow after the one full-grown human being in
+their midst.
+
+But, as they marched along, full many whispers ran along that motley
+little company and gave some prescience of the clamor that would come if
+all their bridled tongues should really become loose again, for, now,
+they only spoke in whispers dreading discovery of what they were about
+to do by some of those against whose orders they were doing it.
+
+"I wonder what the Governor would say if he could know the thing that
+we're about to do," a beardless youth began, as he edged a little nearer
+to his mother's side, "I wonder what would happen to us, now, if he
+discovered our intention."
+
+The mother only put her finger on her lips and shook her head at him,
+but, later on, when they had gone a little further on their journey, she
+whispered to him:
+
+"I hope the Governor will never know who did what we're about to do, at
+least, for, if he should discover which of us accomplished the purpose
+that all the villagers are interested in, we would suffer for our
+temerity in doing this ... I almost wish we had not joined this mob, my
+boy ... I almost wish, at least, that I had left you home to mind the
+house while I will be away from it," and, then, she ended, sadly, "God
+knows if we shall ever be allowed to see our home again."
+
+There was one who walked among that little company, that evening, who
+was not as the rest in very many ways, and, yet, her lot was cast in
+with the rest for she had lived in that small village since her infancy,
+and, so, it seemed to her and them as well, that she was one of them
+and, so, must be among them even then, when they were casting in their
+lots, at Father Felix' instigation, with the ones who so violently
+opposed the reigning powers that they were held, then, and had been so
+held, for many weary months, as _incommunicado_ in the village jail or
+prison in the wide and beautiful and picturesque great prado in the very
+centre of the town.
+
+The girl who, in very many ways, was different from all the rest was
+walking in the very centre of the little crowd and, as the others
+jostled against her, her great blue eyes stared almost vacantly, as it
+seemed, around her like a startled fawn's when something unknown
+ventures near to its retreat within its native forest.
+
+She drew her slender figure up to its full height, and she was taller
+than the rest of those who walked beside her, when someone whispered to
+her:
+
+"What think you of all this, Estrella? Is it to your taste to be a part
+of those who, in their puny strength, contend against the strong? Do you
+think that you'll enjoy the future that we are advancing to? What do you
+think will happen to us when we reach the prado, anyway? Do you think
+the Governor has found out what we are going to do and if he does what
+action will he take? I'm more than half afraid myself ... I don't deny
+that I'm afraid ... how do you feel about it all?"
+
+"I don't believe I know just how I _do_ feel, Tessa," said the taller
+girl, "I think that I'm afraid, too ... I know my knees are trembling a
+very little, so I must be scared the same as you say you are. Let us
+keep as close together as we can, so, if anything happens to one it will
+be sure to happen to us both ... it seems to me ..." she ended,
+dreamily, "that even death itself could not be much worse than the
+things that we've endured just lately, here."
+
+And then the two young creatures shuddered at the very thought of death
+and huddled just as close together as they could and marched along among
+the rest as quietly as if they had not been afraid of anything at all.
+
+At last they reached the prado and Father Felix paused and held his
+crucifix even a little higher than he had done all along and waited for
+the little company to assemble directly in front of him, when he
+stretched his arms out wide in silent blessing on their undertaking, and
+proceeded toward the little prison that stood at one end of the prado
+facing the great public square where games were held when _fiestas_ were
+in order.
+
+But it was for no festal undertaking that they had gathered there, that
+evening; silent preparations were making as they halted ... battering
+rams were being raised and carried forward by the men and tears and
+flowers seemed to be the offering of the women in the crowd to the ones
+they hoped to liberate from the dark, forbidding precincts of the
+edifice before them.
+
+Father Felix motioned those who held the battering rams to hold them in
+their hands in readiness for instant action at a word from him ... then
+he called aloud to him who kept the keys to bring them forth and give
+them to him, or he would be, in case that his request should be
+refused, compelled, in spite of his strong desire to avoid all violence
+if possible, to use force in effecting the object for which the
+multitude surrounding him, outside, had gathered there.
+
+He waited, patiently, for several minutes, but, as he received no answer
+to his demand, he called again:
+
+"Bring forth the keys at once!" he cried raising his voice so that it
+carried far beyond the limits of the building that stood there before
+him, "bring them forth unless you wish to force me to use violence for I
+am determined to liberate the prisoners you hold within, and, if you do
+not bring to me the keys so that I may open the strong doors with them,
+why, then, I'll be obliged to break down the barriers that are between
+the ones you hold within that prison and the freedom that is their
+natural right. Once more do I command you ..." he cried in a stentorian
+voice, using the quality of voice that he employed when he intoned with
+due solemnity, the holy mass, "bring forth to me the keys that I may
+liberate my children that you hold without the right to hold them, or,
+if you refuse to do my bidding, then may the consequences of what will
+follow that refusal be upon your own head...."
+
+As, still there was no answer from the dark and gloomy precincts of the
+edifice before him, he prepared to carry out the threats that he had
+made.
+
+First, he commanded those who held the battering rams in readiness to
+advance until they were the proper distance from the doors for the use
+of their rude weapons, then he told the others to await his word but to
+be in readiness, each one, to follow where he led, then, holding high
+his crucifix and calling most devoutly, on the name of God, he came as
+near to those who were about to use the battering rams as he could do
+and not impede their movements, then he cried:
+
+"Advance and give no quarter! Do your duty as I have instructed you to
+the full extent of it! Follow me, my little children, God is good and He
+will care for us in this our desperate undertaking."
+
+As the heavy detonation of the strokes of those who held the battering
+rams rang through the building, cries were heard as if of those who were
+in agony and many shuddered at the sound for well they thought they knew
+its cause ... it seemed to them that they would be too late ... that
+those they sought to rescue were even at that moment being foully
+murdered in their cells because they were about to save them from the
+fate that they had been condemned to undergo.
+
+The fair Estrella clung to her dark little friend and whispered to her:
+
+"Tessa, it is more terrible than we imagined it would be ... what shall
+we do? How can we bear to go yet nearer to the horror that the prison
+hides from us? Tessa ... little Friend ..." she ended, "I'm awfully
+afraid ... are you?"
+
+"I'm almost scared to death myself, Estrella," Tessa whispered back, "I
+know I'll die of fright alone if this keeps on much longer ... hear that
+scream! It's very terrible!"
+
+But, then, all sounds were hushed, for prison doors that had been locked
+as tight as any prison doors could be had yielded to the heavy blows
+that had been rained upon them and, as they opened, they could plainly
+see, in the dim light that fell within that prison's entrance, that they
+had been, indeed, too late for him who lay at his full length across the
+entrance to the prison, for his body had been twisted in its fall so
+that his head that had been almost severed from it lay askew as if its
+eyes, that stared as wildly and as full of earthly horror as dead eyes
+could, had been trying to discover something strange about the figure
+that, but only lately, was as full of life and vigor as was any figure
+standing there without that prison door.
+
+Estrella gazed at that still figure ... then she screamed in almost more
+than human agony and darted forward till she crouched beside it as it
+lay there at the entrance to the prison ... straightening the handsome
+head, she lifted it until it rested in her lap, and, then, she softly
+smoothed the dark and clustering curls that hung above the broad, full
+brow, and looked within the great brown eyes that stared at her, or so
+it seemed, as if the owner of them had been walking in his sleep, and
+then she pressed her virgin lips upon the full, be-whiskered mouth of
+him whose head she held within her lap.
+
+She fainted, then, and fell across the body of the man who lay across
+the entrance to that prison, and Father Felix lifted her and laid the
+senseless, almost severed head upon the floor again, and supported her
+until he left her with her little friend, outside, among the crowd.
+
+And then the village Priest came back and led the men who held the
+battering rams within the prison to the cells of those they wished to
+liberate and commanded them to break down those doors as they had broken
+down the other ones, but, here, he found his way was barred, for, just
+as soon as blows began to fall upon the doors of those narrow cells
+those within those cells began to call to them and caution them that, if
+the doors were broken down, they'd find the prison-guards behind them
+with their loaded guns and the prisoners told their friends that those
+loaded guns were pointed at their breasts and would be fired at them
+just as soon as their cell-doors gave way.
+
+When Father Felix heard this ultimatum he thought that all his efforts
+had been useless and his deep-laid plans of no avail until he heard a
+voice behind him softly whisper ... a voice that he had never heard
+before:
+
+"Be not weary in well-doing. The cell-doors will open and the prisoners
+come forth alive if you but use the proper means to bring about that
+end. Call out to those you wish to succor, now, and tell them to be of
+good cheer for deliverance is at hand."
+
+The soft voice drifted away into silence, then, but the village Priest
+obeyed its mandates and reassured the ones within those narrow cells and
+gave them courage to withstand the threats of instant death that faced
+them there.
+
+And, then, he turned to those who waited his commands and told them
+that help was very near ... that, waiting there within the corridors of
+that small prison were those who'd come from far to bring to them
+assistance ... the kind of help that loaded guns would not affect. Then,
+he told them of the punishment that would await the ones who disobeyed
+the orders he was just about to give ... a punishment that would not
+only last through earthly life but would go on into eternity ... a
+punishment that would not only blast the earthly tenements but would
+condemn the souls of those who chose to act in opposition to his orders
+to everlasting torment.
+
+And, then, he turned to those who, breathlessly, were waiting for the
+orders he was just about to give, and said to them:
+
+"When I have counted up to three, prepare to break the doors down ...
+when I have counted up to six, if so be they remain unopened, go on and
+break them in!" he stopped a moment, then, to ascertain whether his
+followers fully understood the instructions he was giving to them ...
+seeing all of them alert, he continued, "to you who are within, I make
+this unalterable statement. Choose between a longer lease of earthly
+life and instant death! Choose between forgiveness for your past sins or
+everlasting punishment! Open these doors from within or we will break
+them down and those whose human bodies we will find, lying stark and
+cold in earthly death, will not be those of our dear friends who are
+your prisoners, for there are those within those cells of whose presence
+you are unaware but who are potent in the cause of right and truth and
+justice. I will now proceed to count ... one ... two ... three ..." at
+that, he heard a key thrust rapidly within a lock, but, as it was
+unturned, he went on counting, "four ..." he heard another key inserted
+in a lock, "five ..." he waited just a second longer, then, than he had
+done before, hoping that the keys would turn before the final number had
+to come, but, as they did not do that, he opened his mouth to pronounce
+the fatal word and was about to utter it, when, suddenly, all the
+cell-doors opened and the prison-guards within had fallen on their knees
+in superstitious terror of what they did not know, and, so, instead of
+uttering the fatal number, good Father Felix said, "Thank God!" and
+raised his crucifix and pronounced a blessing on them all, both
+prisoners and those who'd guarded them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+When Father Felix ceased to be engaged in silent prayer he lowered the
+crucifix he held in his right hand and placed it in the bosom of the
+robe he wore and welcomed those who came from out that gloomy
+prison-cell with praises and with prayers upon their trembling lips; he
+took their hands in his and held them for a moment as they passed in
+slow procession, for they were very weak from fasting and from long
+confinement, on their way out into the open light of day.
+
+The first of all who passed from out those gloomy cells was he who'd
+called to Father Felix to stay the hands of those who sought to liberate
+the prisoners ... he was taller than the rest of those who crowded out
+into the corridor and they seemed to follow him as if he were their
+natural leader.
+
+He only paused a moment when he reached the side of the Priest and
+hurried on as if he sought someone whom he hoped to find among the
+motley multitude who surged around the broken doors that led into the
+prado where most of the women were assembled waiting for the more
+desperate action of the men who'd gone inside the prison.
+
+The liberated prisoner, although he, too, was weak and worn as all of
+his companions were, yet rushed with rapid strides from side to side of
+the excited mob whose clamor, now released, quite filled the prado with
+vociferous shouts of joy, until he seemed to find the object of his
+hasty search, for, when he came to where Estrella lay supported by her
+little friend upon a hastily constructed bed of straw and grass, he
+stooped above her anxiously and leaned to look within her face, but,
+when her wide and terror-stricken eyes looked into his, he turned away
+as if he had not found the one he was in search of after all.
+
+Estrella raised herself upon one elbow and rested on the ready shoulder
+of her little friend while she gazed after his retreating form with an
+eagerness not unmixed with sudden fear; it seemed as if the girl were
+fascinated by him, and, yet, dreaded his approach, for she did not even
+speak to him although she knew that he had been one of those whom they
+had come to liberate and had looked forward to greeting him when he
+should be released.
+
+But the horror that had been thrust upon her at the very entrance of
+that dark and gloomy prison had quite unnerved her and had made her
+shrink from any contact with the prisoners who, now, came trooping out
+and mingled with the crowd by which they were soon, as it seemed,
+absorbed.
+
+Then, suddenly, a trumpet blast rang through the wide and spacious
+prado and a company of mounted cavalry, with naked swords uplifted, rode
+madly in among the crowd and scattered it as chaff is scattered by a
+furious wind ... cries of agony were heard as some were trampled by the
+horses, tortured by the cruel spurs which their infuriated riders were
+driving into their tender skins, and many men and women fell into
+disordered heaps of human misery in wildly scrambling toward a place of
+temporary safety.
+
+The soldiers gave no quarter to the fleeing masses of the people but
+kept driving all of them who stood upon their feet at all toward the
+open streets of the little village that led out of the prado, ordering
+them to cease from disturbing the peace and calling upon them in the
+name of the young King, Alfonso XIII, to disperse at once and to return
+to their homes in the village without delay.
+
+The most of those within the prado had been driven out before the
+commanding officer of the soldiers noticed that the prison doors were
+open, even then, at first he did not perceive just what the crowd had
+been collected for, or he might have given other orders than he had.
+
+When he beheld the broken doors he marvelled greatly, for this was an
+unlooked-for and unprecedented method of liberating political prisoners
+in San Domingo and the commanding officer did not know just what action
+to take in the matter but felt that he must wait for further orders
+from his superiors in command before taking any drastic steps to quell
+the evident uprising of public opinion.
+
+Father Felix had seen the soldiers as they dashed into the prado and he
+hastened outside the prison intending to meet them and hold some
+colloquy with their leader, but, when he had reached the centre of the
+prado the soldiers were driving the crowd out at the farther end of the
+enclosure, so that, instead of meeting the leader of the soldiery he
+came upon his own people as they lay in disordered heaps or staggered to
+their feet.
+
+Observing Estrella and Tessa crouched back against a wall as far away
+from the soldiers as they could manage to put themselves, he approached
+them and asked them what they knew about this new phase of the
+tumultuous doings of the day.
+
+The two girls greeted him joyfully for they had had their fill of horror
+and welcomed the Priest who represented to them the sanctity of the
+church:
+
+"Father Felix," cried the little Tessa, "tell us what we are to do next
+and where we are to go and what we are to do when we get there, for we
+are dreadfully upset and poor Estrella has had a terrible shock and is
+still weakened from her fainting fit, while I am just as I have been
+right along ... scared half to death."
+
+The good Priest stopped beside the girls long enough to tell them to
+quietly go to their own homes and stay indoors until morning, then he
+passed on to the other groups, and, where he could do so, assisted them
+to leave the prado, preparatory to seeking their own places of abode
+where he advised them all to remain if possible without molestation from
+the authorities.
+
+When Father Felix had reached the little cluster of people surrounding
+the liberated prisoner whom we have mentioned before, he came to a halt,
+and, beckoning the young man referred to to follow him, he passed on out
+of ear-shot of the rest and said to him:
+
+"I wish that you would explain to me how it happens that Estrella is in
+need of help and you, although free, are not by her side. How does it
+happen, Manuello, that your half-sister has only her little friend,
+Tessa, to lean upon, while your strong arms are without a burden?"
+
+The young fellow hung his head as if ashamed, for a moment, before he
+answered Father Felix, and seemed to ponder deeply over his reply to the
+good Priest's intimate question:
+
+"I can tell you about that in a very few words, Father," he at length
+summoned courage to say, "I have only within the past few most
+delightful moments been freed from a loathesome dungeon and have been
+receiving the felicitations of some of my friends on my fortunate
+escape. I did not realize that Estrella needed my services ... if so,
+of course I will at once offer them to her."
+
+Bowing low before Father Felix, he put his right hand to his head as if
+to doff its covering, but, finding it bare except for his thick mop of
+dishevelled brown hair, he smiled, instead, and, suiting his actions to
+his words, approached the two girls who still remained where Father
+Felix had left them as if afraid to move:
+
+"Allow me!" he cried, gayly, extending one strong arm to each of the
+maidens, "Accept my escort to whatever place you desire to go!"
+
+Estrella seemed to take no notice of the offered arm, but Tessa eagerly
+laid hold of the proffered protection and snuggled her small person
+against the tall figure of the young fellow who turned to her companion
+as if to discover the cause of her apparent coolness.
+
+"Why so silent, fair Lady?" he inquired, "Have you no congratulations to
+offer me upon my recent harrowing experience and subsequent and most
+fortunate escape?"
+
+Estrella did not answer him at first, but gazed intently into his eager
+face as if to read there the inner motives that prompted his
+lightly-spoken words.
+
+After she had looked into his face for a few seconds of earnest
+scrutiny, she said to him:
+
+"Manuello, why did you not speak to me when we first met after your
+liberation from the prison? Why have you spent the time since then among
+the others instead of looking after my interests? Have you ceased to
+care for me during your incarceration? What have I done to deserve such
+treatment from you? Have I not treated you as a sister should? In what
+way have I offended you, Manuello?"
+
+As she uttered these words her fair face flushed with the tide of deep
+emotion that swept over it and her blue eyes grew dark and full of
+feeling. She placed one of her hands on his arm, lightly, but held
+herself aloof from contact with his person.
+
+He recognized this attitude of hers by standing a little more erectly
+and holding the arm on which her hand had been laid, stiffly extended a
+little from his body:
+
+"How suddenly affectionate you have become, my soft and yielding sister!
+It seems to me that I remember how earnestly you plead with me to cease
+embracing you whenever opportunity was afforded to me, before I went to
+prison for my sins.... I think you are the girl who used to say to me
+'please, Manuello, don't hold my hand so tightly! You are too rough!' I
+do not wish to be considered rough by any woman, and, so, I am more
+cautious in approaching your sacred person, now that I have had time to
+reflect upon your many words."
+
+"How can you speak so to her, Manuello," exclaimed the dark-skinned
+Tessa, "now that you are free once more? Poor Estrella has had a most
+terrible experience, here, tonight ... you ought to comfort instead of
+scolding her."
+
+The tender-hearted little girl looked up at the big man reproachfully
+and reached around his back to pat Estrella's shoulder, but he only
+stalked along between the two girls, sullenly and almost silently.
+
+At length, they reached the little cottage where Estrella and her family
+lived and Tessa ran along a little further to her own home while
+Manuello and his half-sister entered their own dwelling.
+
+It happened that they were alone, at first, as the other members of the
+little family had not yet returned from the prado, and, in that interval
+of time, considerable was said and done by both of them.
+
+"Manuello," said the girl, putting one hand on each of his broad
+shoulders, "have you no pity for me, now that Victorio is dead? You must
+have seen his poor, mangled body lying there at the entrance of the
+prison, Manuello ... can you tell how he came to die just as he and all
+the rest were about to be released from prison?"
+
+Her tear-stained face was very near to his and his own lips began to
+tremble before he mustered courage to answer her:
+
+"Of course, I'm sorry for you, Estrella," he began haltingly and slow,
+"of course I pity you as well as any other woman whose lover's newly
+dead. As to how he happened to be killed ... why, I guess you will
+never know just what did happen in that prison when those battering rams
+began to rock it by their impact ... I am certain that I cannot give you
+much explanation as I, myself, was one of those who suffered, although
+you do not seem concerned as to that in any way."
+
+"You escaped alive, Manuello, and poor Victorio did not for his poor
+head was almost severed from his body ..." said Estrella, weeping
+violently, with deep-drawn sobs of agony, "I lifted him and tried to
+hold his head upon my lap ... oh, Manuello," she continued, clinging to
+him involuntarily, "it was very terrible!"
+
+Her sufferings seemed to move him for he put his arms about her
+shoulders and drew her head forward until it rested on his broad and
+palpitating breast:
+
+"Poor little girl!" he murmured, softly, stroking her fair hair, "Poor
+little Estrella! I _am_ sorry for you ... I _do_ pity you, though why
+you chose Victorio for your lover was always beyond my comprehension."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+When Father Felix left the prado he went directly to the church where he
+officiated, and, thence, into the small refectory behind it; here, he
+removed the flowing vestments he had worn when engaged in the enterprise
+which we have described in a previous chapter of this book, and assumed
+a more conventional and handy garb for he had work to do that would
+require all the strength of his arms and all the muscles of his broad
+back; he had set himself a task that was never meant for priestly hands
+to do, and, in the doing of it, he would need all the strength that
+years of careful living and an inherited and bounding health had
+bestowed upon him.
+
+He, at once, began preparations for the work he had to do, and, to begin
+with, he adjusted the heavy cross which he always wore about his neck so
+that it would hang exactly in front of him and not over-balance his body
+by being on one side or the other; this cross had been a relic much
+prized by him of an old Priest with whom he had studied and whose
+sainted memory he revered almost as much as that of the saints whom he
+had been taught to worship along with the Virgin Mary and The Babe of
+Bethlehem; then, he put on next to his skin a hair-cloth shirt so
+constructed as not to scratch and yet to be very warm; over this he
+placed a heavy riding-coat which had been given to him by one of those
+who attended the services he conducted in the church; these garments,
+together with heavy breeches and warm, woolen stockings worn under heavy
+boots, completed, with the addition of a broad-brimmed hat, a disguise
+that would deceive almost any person who was acquainted with his
+ordinary appearance.
+
+Having clothed himself to his own satisfaction, he took a heavy stick he
+had handy in his strong right hand and proceeded to leave the vicinity
+where he was accustomed, at all hours, to be found, and, stealthily and
+quietly, exercising all the precaution of which he was capable, he
+proceeded up the street that ran behind the little church with as much
+of haste as was consistent with the object of his journey.
+
+When he had gone about two blocks from the church he turned sharply to
+his left and proceeded about as far again up the street that led away
+from the village, then, turning again to his left, he walked briskly for
+another block or two, when he came to a sharp turn and paused as if in
+doubt as to just which turn to take, when, suddenly, as if from the
+ground at his feet, he heard a low voice addressing him in no uncertain
+language:
+
+"Turn toward the right side of this street," whispered the voice, "take
+the right-hand side of this street and then turn again toward the left
+when you have gone for two more blocks toward the right. You will find
+the object of your search has been in waiting for you for some hours and
+is now growing impatient ... so make all possible haste, good Father
+Felix ... make all possible haste for she is sore pressed with fatigue
+and fear."
+
+When the voice had ceased speaking to him, Father Felix followed the
+direction it gave him, implicitly, and found, indeed, as it had assured
+him, the object of the night-journey he had just made, waiting for him
+with great impatience, coupled with much fear and dread of consequences;
+he hastened to reassure her as soon as he reached her side by saying
+softly to her:
+
+"Be of good cheer, dear Madam. The work that you commissioned me to do
+has been well done and all of the prisoners excepting one are now at
+liberty. Unfortunately, one of our friends lost his life just before the
+wide doors of the prison were burst open ... no one seems to know how
+this came about, but we found his dead body across the very entrance as
+if, indeed, he had been about to join our ranks outside when death
+overtook and stopped him."
+
+"Which of the prisoners was killed?" asked the woman who had been
+waiting there for his coming, eagerly and apprehensively.
+
+"I do not suppose that you were acquainted with the young fellow ..."
+answered the good Father Felix, soothingly, "he was called Victorio
+Colenzo ... he was the lover of a girl I know very well and she was with
+the crowd, who followed me; she dashed into the entrance of the prison
+and held his head, which had been almost severed from its body, in her
+lap until she fainted and became mercifully unconscious of her horrible
+surroundings ... the poor girl was almost crazed with agony and regret,
+for she had flouted him to some extent because of his revolutionary
+sentiments...."
+
+He had gotten that far in his narrative little thinking of the intense
+interest it had for the woman listening to it, until he happened to look
+earnestly at her when he saw, in an instant, that it held for her great
+personal appeal; he stopped at that knowledge and waited for her to
+explain the situation if so be she wished to do so; at length, between
+low-drawn sobs, she said, falteringly:
+
+"You say Victorio Colenzo was the lover of some light girl you know?
+Indeed, you are much mistaken. Instead of being any girl's lover, he
+belonged solely to me. He was my own dearly beloved husband, Father
+Felix. I had not yet told you of our marriage for I wanted you to think
+of me only in my own personal right, but I am the widow of the man whose
+shameful and horrible death you have just been describing to me ... I am
+the weeping widow of Victorio Colenzo, Father Felix, and, if it be in my
+power, his death shall be avenged in blood!"
+
+As she ceased speaking she put her hands before her face and gave way,
+utterly, to her great sorrow, for she had but spoken the solemn truth
+although no one of her many acquaintances suspected that she was a
+married woman at all.
+
+Father Felix was dumbfounded by the intelligence the young woman had
+just given to him and pitied her from the very bottom of his tender
+heart and he blamed his blundering tongue for giving to her such a shock
+as he had just been the cause of; at the same time he could not blame
+himself as much as he might have done had he not known of the marriage
+contract of Estrella and this same man of whom he had been speaking; he
+hastened to place this young girl in the right light before his
+companion by saying:
+
+"My dear Madam, as to the girl of whom I was just speaking, she is in
+every sense of the word a good girl and innocent of any wrong intention;
+if there is a sinner in this matter it was he who is now not to be
+condemned by any human being, for he has gone before his Maker Who will
+mete out to him whatever is his just dessert. I am deeply grieved that I
+should have caused you this deep grief at this time, but, as the
+circumstances are, you would have been obliged to know it very soon in
+any case."
+
+The young woman who had been waiting for the Priest to come to her to
+make his report as to how he had done the work that she had set for him
+to do, was beautiful as any dream of womanhood could ever be.
+
+Her great gray eyes, that shone like stars upon a misty night, were
+lifted to his face and questioned him as to the truth of his last
+statement while they plainly showed the almost holy faith she had in all
+he did:
+
+"Dear Father Felix," she said, finally, stifling as best she could the
+sobs that shook her slender figure, "dear Father Felix, I know you speak
+the truth, and, yet, it does not seem to me that he could have ever been
+a hypocrite such as a man would have to be to be what you infer he was.
+He was my darling husband ... if he, also, was the lover of a trusting
+girl, then he sinned most grievously ... it breaks my heart," she ended,
+clasping her soft, white hands together spasmodically, "it breaks my
+heart to think he could be such a villain as you say he was. Dear Father
+Felix," she began again, for hope will sometimes come upon the very
+heels of wild despair, "dear Father Felix, are you sure that this man
+who is newly dead can be the Victorio Colenzo that I know ... the man
+who is ... I hope he is ... my own dear husband? The one I mean was a
+prisoner with the others you have liberated ... it was for his sake
+alone that I arranged to have you do the work you've done ... might it
+not be that you have been mistaken in the man? Might there not have
+even been two men bearing the same name within that prison?"
+
+Eagerly and hopefully, she questioned the good Priest. He sadly shook
+his head and said to her:
+
+"The young man whose body lay within the entrance to the prison when we
+had battered down the door, was tall and very dark ... his hair was like
+a raven's wing for blackness ... his eyes were like the falcon's in
+their keenness ... he was a handsome fellow in every possible way and
+the girl, Estrella, of whom I spoke, fairly worshipped him although her
+own family flouted her for doing so, as he only came to see her at long
+intervals and seemed ashamed to be seen with her ... seldom ever went
+out anywhere with her, but they were plighted lovers ... that I know ...
+they came to me together, one evening, in the church, and I blessed
+their future union, believing him to be an honest man and knowing her to
+be a gentle, true and loving girl."
+
+"I fear he was my husband, Father Felix.... I fear the very one I hoped
+to liberate has lost his life and lost his honor, too. Father Felix,
+tell me how to bear this great and hopeless sorrow! _Is_ there any way
+to bear a sorrow such as this one is? _Can_ I shut my Husband's memory
+from my heart because I can no longer have respect for him? _Is_ there
+any way," she wailed, pleadingly, "_is_ there any way to bear a sorrow
+such as this one is? _Tell_ me, good Father, _tell_ me, is there any
+way of escape for me who am as innocent as is this young girl of whom
+you have just spoken? Is there some way in which I can assist her,
+Father Felix? Perhaps it is my duty, under these circumstances, to hunt
+her up and try to help her, who is, also, as it were, a widow of my
+darling Husband. Must I do this, Father? Would it be my duty, as the
+wife of Victorio Colenzo, to look this girl up and try to help her bear
+her sorrow on account of his death?"
+
+The good Priest looked at her in deep amazement, but he answered her as
+calmly as he could command his voice to speak:
+
+"No, my Daughter, no ... that would be going beyond reason as to duty.
+It might be right for you to send her something if she were in need of
+monetary assistance.... I do not think she is, however, I do not think
+Estrella is in need of anything to live upon ... they had not been
+married, you understand ... she was not his wife as you were ... only
+just he'd promised he would marry her, sometime. No, you owe her nothing
+more than womanly sympathy in her bereavement and you do not need to see
+her at all, for that matter. It would give you unnecessary pain, it
+seems to me. As for her, if we can, we will let her remain in ignorance
+of the character of him she loved ... she would the sooner repair the
+injury, it seems to me, if she could still respect his memory. It must
+be doubly hard for you, my Daughter, to lose him and respect for him at
+the same time ... yet, it would have been a terrible knowledge for you
+to have gained ... that he had misled this innocent girl ... even during
+his life. A man has little thought of the women who love him when he
+plays fast and loose with more than one of them at a time, anyway. I
+wish I knew what words to say to you to make you strong to bear this
+misery, dear Daughter ... you must bear it all alone, I know that
+much ... only God in His great Mercy, can assist you in this matter ...
+only He can tell you what to do or how to endure your agony of spirit,
+for only He can understand your heart. I am but a feeble instrument in
+God's Own Hands, my dear, afflicted Daughter.... I am but a very feeble
+instrument.... I wish I knew the way to help you bear this thing. I wish
+that I could say the fitting word to turn your mind to other thoughts,
+for only in the mind can fitting help be found ... only the spiritual
+side of your strong nature can uphold you now."
+
+He'd kept on talking to her hoping to alleviate her pain in some
+degree ... hoping that her fits of violent and heart-breaking weeping
+would grow farther and farther apart until they would cease altogether
+so that, being calmer, she could better face this heavy burden that was
+hers, and hers alone, to bear. Seeing no cessation of her sobs and moans
+of agony of spirit, he began to speak of other matters, hoping to
+distract her mind and turn her thoughts to other things, thereby giving
+her an opportunity to face the sorrow that had come upon her so suddenly
+with more strength than she would have if she continued to dwell on it
+alone. So he bethought him of the soldiery and of their coming riding
+into the prado and he began to tell her of this phase of the adventure
+he had on her account, mainly. She listened calmly to this narrative and
+even asked some questions, haltingly, but, just as soon as that account
+was ended, she began again to ask concerning poor Victorio:
+
+"Where have they taken his remains, good Father? Where can I find my
+darling Husband's body? How can I bear to have to see his face which has
+always to my knowledge been so full of life and youth and perfect health
+lying stark and still with no expression in his glorious dark eyes that
+always looked so lovingly at me? Father Felix, even now, it seems to me
+that there must be some mistake about my Husband's being the same man
+who was the lover of this girl you know about.... I think that I will
+see her ... there ... beside my darling Husband's body and decide the
+matter for myself instead of listening to the tales that have been told
+to me. That is how I think I will proceed," she ended, then, quite
+calmly, as it seemed, for secretly she then began to hope that it was
+not her husband, after all, "That is how I will proceed about this
+terrible calamity, Father Felix. I will see this girl beside the body
+of the man she says has been her lover ... he may not be my darling
+Husband, after all."
+
+And so their conference ended, he giving her explicit directions as to
+where Victorio's body had been placed, and she thanking him for carrying
+out her wishes even though, as it seemed then, the very thing she had
+him do the work for had failed her utterly.
+
+Father Felix went back, then, to the refectory, with this complicated
+matter bearing hard upon his heart. He pitied both the suffering women
+very much and wished to help them both if so be he could find the proper
+way to do the task in.
+
+He pondered deeply on the various situations he'd surprised in carrying
+out the project of the woman he had met, that night; she had not told
+him of her plans in their entirety, and, so, it seemed, the very plans
+she doted on the most had very far miscarried and the work, so far as
+she had been concerned, had not only been as futile as any work could
+ever be, but, also, it had brought to her a new and horrible calamity
+besides the failure of her plans and loss of him she evidently deeply
+loved as tender women love but only once in all their human lives,
+perhaps, for Victorio Colenzo had been a man to claim the love of tender
+women ... he was very tall and very handsome, too; his deep, dark eyes
+were very full of loving expression and his strong arms, folded close
+about a tender woman's yielding form, would lift her spirit up and make
+her almost wild with joy and gladness.
+
+And, as it looked now, those strong arms had been folded, not only round
+his own wife's tender form, but, also, about, at least, one other
+woman's, too. Good Father Felix reflected on the fraility of man and
+pondered deeply on the tenderness of women, but he did not, even then,
+reach the very root of the whole matter, for he, being what he was,
+would not be very likely ever to know the heights and depths, as well,
+of human love, for he had always been a religious devotee in spite of
+his great strength of limb ... he'd only used his bodily powers to
+forward the work to which his whole life was devoted utterly, and, so,
+good Father Felix could not fully understand a man such as Victorio
+Colenzo must have been to leave the record that he'd left behind him
+when he died, there, in the entrance to that dark and gloomy prison,
+just as he had been about to come again, a free man, into the glorious
+light of day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Father Felix had prepared the widow of Victorio Colenzo for the sight
+she would behold when she went to the rude dwelling where they had laid
+the form of the prisoner whose dead body had been found lying in the
+entrance to the prison on the day the people battered down the doors and
+set at liberty several political prisoners confined therein, but no one
+could, really, prepare a woman for the vision presented to her eyes when
+she entered the cottage that had been turned into a temporary morgue,
+for more than one of those engaged in the deadly strife with the
+soldiery in the prado after the deliverance of the prisoners had given
+up his earthly life, either at the time of the attack or afterwards from
+wounds inflicted either intentionally or inadvertently by those who had
+been sent to the prado to quell an uprising of the Cuban populace.
+
+As the woman we have before described entered the rude shelter where the
+dead bodies of several of the residents of the little village lay, she
+was surprised and grieved by the number of the dead and, also, by the
+many mourners who crowded among the slabs on which the bodies lay, for
+there was little of orderly array there, everything being of the rudest
+and most primitive pattern as the reigning government did not wish to
+dignify those who had opposed it even after death had taken from their
+limbs the power to oppose anything in the world of men and women.
+
+The woman, who was of a higher class than most of those assembled there,
+was treated with marked deference as became her superior position both
+as to wealth and education, for the widow of Victorio Colenzo occupied a
+proud place in her own right, having been, for a long time, the occupant
+of a large and beautiful residence that commanded a wide view of the
+harbor of Havana and was situated on an elevation above the little
+village of San Domingo; this home had been hers long before she had ever
+met the handsome peon whom she had acknowledged as her husband to Father
+Felix after having learned of his death.
+
+It was through her own instigation that the man had taken the position
+which had, subsequently, placed him among the prisoners for offenses
+against the reigning government who had been liberated under her direct
+orders and with her pronounced sanction, although she had not actually
+taken part in the work which she had directed.
+
+This woman was of another type entirely as compared with the others in
+that small dwelling and walked among them almost haughtily in spite of
+her eagerness in the search after evidence that would convince her that
+she had not been utterly mistaken in the man she had secretly married,
+believing him to represent the finest and highest example of patriotic
+courage and devotion that she had met during the whole of her long
+residence in the Island of Cuba.
+
+She had come to the Island, in her first youth, as the daughter of the
+American Consul who represented the United States in the council
+chambers where were gathered those who discussed affairs of state with
+the ruling Spanish powers; her father had purchased the beautiful site
+on which he had built the home that was still hers, although both of her
+parents had died, there in Cuba, within the past few years; the girl had
+been left practically without living relatives, and, so, loving her
+Island home, she had remained there in spite of the solicitations of
+many American friends who had visited her in Cuba and urged her to
+return to the United States with them; she was of a reticent and
+retiring disposition, loving a good book more than almost anything else
+in the world, and being surrounded by a splendid library, her time was
+fully and pleasantly occupied, as she had trustworthy retainers who
+followed her mandates because they loved to fulfill them and pitied her
+loneliness while they almost worshiped her superior manners and style of
+speech as well as of living; Father Felix, alone, understood her mental
+attainments and was greatly bewildered when she told him that she had
+married Victorio Colenzo as he considered her far removed from the peons
+who were the regular inhabitants of the Island and among whom he labored
+as a missionary rather than as an equal, although his deep humility of
+manner always led them to believe that he was on their own level of
+intelligence, while the aloofness of this one woman set her apart from
+all of her neighbors and made her seem to them like a being from another
+and a higher world.
+
+As she walked among the slabs on which the dead bodies had been laid,
+that morning, for she had come down from her home early, having slept,
+during the past night, only the few hours preceding her meeting with
+Father Felix, as she hoped to have her doubts set at rest and to be
+assured that the man she had secretly united to herself by marriage was
+still worthy of her respect and love which she had given to him without
+further knowledge of his character than what he chose to exhibit to her
+in their infrequent meetings prior to his declaration of undying worship
+and deep and overpowering love for herself as well as of patriotic zeal
+which latter emotion she fully sympathized with, as she regarded it as
+similar in many ways to her own feeling for her much-beloved land which
+was all the more powerful because of her isolation from others of her
+own nation, she representing, to herself at least, the whole of the
+entire broad expanse of the United States; it was this sympathy with
+the ardent patriotism of Victorio Colenzo that had led to her present
+plight for, believing him to possess the strong feelings for his native
+land which he had professed to her to have, she had urged his
+participation in the plot which, on its discovery by the Spanish
+authorities, had plunged him, with others, into the prison from which,
+through her own earnest efforts, they had just been liberated, or, at
+least, a part of them.
+
+Now, she reached the side of the farthest slab in that small room, and
+noticed, at once, crouching down beside it, a fair-haired girl who
+seemed, beyond all doubt, the one bereft by the condition of the body
+lying there, so straight and still, beneath the rude pall that had been
+thrown over it so that even its face was hidden from sight. She softly
+touched the mourner on the shoulder nearest to her and whispered:
+
+"My poor Girl, for whom do you mourn? Is it the body of your brother
+lying here, or, yet," she went on, hesitatingly, for a horrible
+suspicion began to thrust its ugly head before her vision, "can he who
+lies here so quietly have been, maybe, your husband? You are young but I
+know well that the girls, here, marry very young...."
+
+She ended haltingly, for the girl had raised her lovely face,
+tear-stained and drawn by sorrow, and looked up into the face that bent
+so near to her own:
+
+"He was my plighted husband, Lady; he _would_ have been my husband had
+death not intervened to take him from me! I _love_ him so ..." she
+suddenly screamed in agony, "I _love_ him so ... Victorio! Why have you
+left me all alone in a cruel world to be a widow before I was a wife?
+Victorio...."
+
+And, then, she rose, as one who had that right, and turned the pall back
+from the countenance of him who lay there on that senseless slab.
+
+The other woman did not scream, as poor Estrella had ... she did not
+even move, indeed, but stood as if she had been carved from marble, for
+her face was almost just as pale as death itself ... the pulsing blood
+receded from her cheeks and from her trembling lips ... she stood so
+tall and still that the poor girl became conscious of her in spite of
+her own grief and wondered if she, also, sought to find some one she
+loved among the dead; with that thought in her mind, she stepped back
+from the corpse she had been leaning over, and said to her who stood
+there silently as if her interest in the affairs of life had, suddenly,
+ceased:
+
+"I beg your pardon for my selfishness. Are you, too, one of those who
+lost some loved one yesterday? Do you seek, here, in this sad place, the
+body of one whom you've loved as I have loved the man who lies here ...
+dead ... before me?"
+
+The older girl was silent, for she could not talk to poor Estrella as
+she wished to do ... as she had meant to do in case her worst fears had
+to be realized; she did not wish to add a single hair's weight to the
+sorrow that the poor girl felt for him who had been false to both of
+those trusting women who stood there beside his corpse; she did not wish
+to harm the innocent girl, for she could see how true and loving she had
+been by gazing, only for a moment, in her wide, blue eyes, and, yet, it
+was her right and, perhaps, it was also her duty, to the man who had
+been her earthly husband, to claim his body and to bury it as would
+become the husband of a woman such as she had, always, been; but, as
+he'd always begged her to keep secret their marriage which had taken
+place in Havana instead of having Father Felix marry them at his
+request, for political reasons, he had told her, with the thought that
+she, being an American, might complicate his position with the Spanish
+government, as he had occupied a place of trust under the Governor,
+until the proper time would come to expose his actual feelings for his
+native land.
+
+And, so, she had to think of this side of the complicated problem
+presented to her by her strange position while she stood there with that
+weeping, loving, sympathetic, untaught girl clinging to her hand and
+questioning her. At length, having collected a little of her usual
+unselfish consideration for the people living on the Island, she turned
+to poor Estrella and said to her, softly, and, yet, without
+condescension in her manner:
+
+"Yes, my poor Girl, I, also, seek someone I love among the newly
+dead.... I, also, wish to find the man I loved as you have loved the man
+who lies here on this slab.... I, also...."
+
+Then, her courage failed her utterly and she fainted dead away, even as
+poor Estrella, herself, had, when she had first beheld the body of the
+man who had made love to both of them.
+
+The fair-haired girl bent over the older woman and lifted her in her
+strong arms and carried her into the outer air and found the carriage
+where it waited for its mistress and placed her in the care of those who
+served her; then, for the first time, she realized who the lady was
+who'd found her there beside her dead, as she supposed, for Victorio had
+no family in San Domingo, having only come there recently, and having
+held himself as somewhat superior to the most of his own countrymen whom
+he met, so poor Estrella claimed his body as having been his sweetheart,
+since he had, as she believed, no wife in all the world, for he had
+often told her he had never found a woman he could love before he met
+her.
+
+Now, she helped to chafe the hands of her who lay there in that costly
+carriage with her brown hair making a soft frame for her pale face which
+lay upon the lap of one who loved her with the kind of love an ignorant,
+older woman gives to one she much admires and who is far superior to her
+in every possible way; this woman smoothed the fluffy hair back from
+the high white brow, now, and spoke to her as if she were her baby
+instead of one whom she looked up to and respected:
+
+"There ... there! My Pretty! Open your sweet eyes and look at your own
+loving Mage!" she said, as the long, brown lashes that fringed the
+delicate white lids still brushed the rounded cheeks that were almost as
+white as the smooth brow. "Look up at me and let me see your shining
+eyes, again!"
+
+"Her heart is beating, now, more regularly," said Estrella, for her hand
+had sought the other's bosom to see if she still lived at all. "She
+breathes more easily, too. I think she will recover very soon ... poor
+Lady! She sympathized with me in my great sorrow so deeply that she
+fainted. How sweet and dear she is!" she added, softly, as a shudder
+shook the form before her. "How very sweet and dear she is. You _must_
+love her very much indeed.... I never happened to see her before today,
+but I know who she is, now, and how very kind she has been to so many of
+our people."
+
+"I wish the color would creep back into her cheeks ..." moaned Mage.
+"Her cheeks are almost always rosy as the dawn ... it seems so strange
+to see them white ... she don't look natural to me this way ... you
+should see her when she thinks her husband's coming to the house ...
+_then_ her cheeks are like a flame of light ... her eyes are just as
+bright as stars at midnight ... there! They've opening, now ... my
+Pretty ... my own pretty Dear ... Mage is here ... I'm right here by you
+Dearie ... there! I'm afraid she's fainted away, again. She seemed to
+look at you, Estrella, stand farther back so, when she opens her eyes
+next time, she'll see just me ... she knows old Mage loves her
+always ... she knows her own old Mage would take good care of her no
+matter what would come.... Dearie ... I am right here ... old Mage is
+close beside you...."
+
+At that, the woman lying there within her faithful arms, stirred softly,
+and, once again, her glorious gray eyes opened, and she looked at poor
+old Mage whose face was all distraught with many wrinkles and with deep
+anxiety for her. Then she raised herself to a sitting posture and put
+her hands before her eyes as if to hide some horrible spectre from her
+sight, and, then, she looked at poor Estrella standing there not knowing
+what to do, for Mage would not allow her, even now, to come a single
+step nearer to her mistress, and then she spoke:
+
+"My poor Girl," she said, "My poor Girl, I too, sought to find the man I
+loved, but his body is not here. I pity you with all my heart and wish
+that I could help you bear your sorrow. Come to me and I will try to
+help you ... come this evening, just at sunset, to my house. I think you
+know which one it is.... Mage, you tell her where to come."
+
+For she had reached the limit of her endurance, for the moment, and old
+Mage, seeing her evident distress, hurriedly told Estrella where to come
+to find her mistress, and gave the orders to the coachman to drive home
+at once.
+
+And, then, Estrella went again into the habitation of the dead and the
+other woman, with her heart like lead within her breast, went back to
+her own place and left the body of the man she'd called her husband for
+a few short months lying there upon that senseless slab with the weeping
+girl beside it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+When the evening shadows were falling over the almost palatial home of
+Ruth Wakefield, the young girl whom she had begged to come to her
+climbed the rugged height upon which the former United States Consul had
+erected his residence hoping to occupy it long after his term of office
+should expire as he had found the climate very beneficial to the health
+of his entire family, as it seemed, and desired to have a fitting place
+of abode during the childhood of his only and much-loved child, who,
+now, a sorrowing widow and a humiliated wife, was sitting idly waiting
+to receive poor Estrella, not knowing, certainly, just what she would do
+or say when she had to really face the situation into which she had been
+forced by untoward circumstances.
+
+As Estrella reached the rear door, to which she had gone by an almost
+unerring instinct, feeling strange and unnatural among the rich
+surroundings, old Mage appeared to welcome her, as she had been directed
+by her mistress to do; the old woman was greatly in doubt as to the
+condition of affairs in the home she loved to be a part of and had
+longed to get hold of the peon girl alone.
+
+There was something about Ruth Wakefield that commanded the respect of
+even the lowest among those who knew her ... her natural refinement had
+been accentuated by her seclusion from the outer world and by her almost
+constant thought of higher and better matters than the gross and humdrum
+affairs of the daily life by which she was surrounded. Yet, she always
+entered into practical affairs with vigor and entire understanding, so
+that, while she was counted as a dreamer of dreams beyond the earth, yet
+she was acknowledged to be eminently practical and able to attend to her
+own business affairs with no danger of being over-reached by those with
+whom she dealt as to monetary matters, as her natural acumen in such
+matters had been sharpened by various experiences of a more or less
+unpleasant character, such as the loss of certain sums of money through
+trusting to the honor of some of those with whom she had had sympathy in
+their need, for she had discovered that, when it comes to money, people
+are very apt to forget their obligations entirely, only attending to
+that part of life when in need themselves and not considering the fact
+that, unless one gets what is one's due, at least to some extent, one
+cannot, on the other hand, meet one's own obligations, so that the
+lonely girl had learned some hard lessons by practical knowledge of
+human nature gained in the only school where such knowledge can be
+gained ... experience.
+
+But old Mage was of a far different type of womankind ... true as steel
+to her beloved young lady as she always called her in her thoughts,
+although she often found verbal fault with her to her fair and tender
+face ... fond of gossip and garrulous to an almost alarming extent yet
+she could keep a secret as inviolate as even Ruth Wakefield herself.
+
+At this moment, her great desire was to worm out of poor Estrella
+whatever it was that had made her own young lady faint that morning ...
+she was not worried about the poor girl's loss of him she had called her
+lover except in so far as it affected her own people as she was fond of
+distinguishing them, for old Mage, although uneducated and almost
+unaware of her own nationality as her mother had died at her birth and
+her father had immediately deserted her, yet prided herself on being far
+superior to the natives among whom she dwelt, for she had come to Cuba
+with the Wakefield family, having been employed by them as nurse for the
+small Ruth and having stuck tightly to her charge from that time on.
+
+So that, when she faced the poor, ignorant, as she secretly considered
+Estrella, girl, it was with an air of superiority as belonging to a
+higher race than she, for it is a fact that uneducated persons feel any
+elevation above their fellows much more strongly than those who have had
+more insight into the humble attainments of even the wisest of human
+beings, for those who have been permitted to climb the heights of
+thought have had a glimpse of the vastness and unattainable grandeur of
+which even the highest human intellect must only be a spectator ... an
+humble and admiring witness of the matchless beauty and majestic
+splendor that dwell beyond and yet beyond the vision of the keenest
+human imagination.
+
+But old Mage seldom allowed herself even to wonder about what she could
+not understand, being content with the plane of existence upon which she
+found herself and finding amusement and profit as well in attending to
+the various small duties of her daily life as she performed those duties
+through love and pride. Having seated the girl who was almost
+overpowered, already, by the unknown glamour of wealthy surroundings,
+she proceeded to follow out her own ideas and to attempt to satisfy her
+own curiosity before apprising Ruth of the arrival of her invited guest.
+
+She began by commiserating the girl upon her recent loss, little
+dreaming that, in this way, she would find out far more than had been
+her own desire, for old Mage, while she had never liked the young man
+who, for the past few months, had been an almost daily visitor at the
+home she dearly loved, yet had tried to think that her young lady had
+chosen wisely, even if unconventionally, when she had married him, as it
+was very hard for her ever to really question any object upon which
+Ruth had set her heart, it having been one of the criticisms of the
+parents of the little girl that old Mage had always indulged her
+slightest whim and always satisfied at least her own conscience by
+finding some good reason for the indulgence; in the present instance,
+she had often said to herself:
+
+"My poor child is alone so much with her own thoughts and what she gets
+out of all those big books," for what anyone could find in the way of
+company in a book which required so much labor, in her own case, to
+decipher at all was a mystery to her, "and she needs company ... a woman
+needs a man around to make love to her and this fellow is good at that
+what with his guitar and his mandolin and his fine voice, not to speak
+of his wonderful dark eyes and his curly black hair and his strong,
+powerful figure ... it is too bad that he is only a native Cuban instead
+of an American ... that is too bad ... but..." she would end, brightly,
+"he can be naturalized if we ever go back to the States."
+
+So, now, when she turned to Estrella with the conventional question as
+to the identity of her lover on her ready tongue, she little dreamed of
+the consequences:
+
+"My poor girl," she began, "you were to have been married, they tell me,
+to the man who was found dead at the entrance to the prison, last
+night.... I wonder if I happened to know him ... what was his name?"
+
+She had asked the question idly, wishing only to engage the girl in
+conversation to find out whatever she could.
+
+"My lover was a wonderful man ..." declared Estrella; "he was not a
+common man at all ... he was superior to all the men I know or ever have
+known ... he was the handsomest as well as the most intelligent man
+among the whole people of this Island, I think.... I know I never saw
+anyone either so handsome or so smart as was my dear Victorio.... I
+don't suppose you would ever have met him for he was not a servant and
+yet he was a Cuban ... he was a wonderful man and I was to have been his
+wife and he was most foully murdered there in that hateful prison."
+
+And the poor bereft creature began to moan and sob and wring her hands
+in agony of spirit.
+
+This was not at all what Mage desired to do ... to get the girl all
+wrought up before her young lady even saw her, so she tried to comfort
+and calm her by speaking rather sharply to her as she knew hysteria can
+only be overcome by the application of fierce remedies, or, at least,
+that is what she had been taught, so, in order to cauterize the wound
+her words seemed to have made, she said:
+
+"You say your lover was a superior man ... was he, then, a leader among
+the political prisoners who were liberated?"
+
+"Indeed he was ..." proudly answered the bereaved girl. "Victorio
+Colenzo was a leader where-ever he went ... why ..."
+
+But even her pride in her dead lover did not hide from her the effect
+his name had had on poor old Mage for she had crumpled down in her chair
+as if she had received a stroke of some kind and seemed as if paralyzed,
+for her poor old mouth fell open, revealing its entire innocence of
+teeth; she gasped for breath for a moment and then demanded:
+
+"Say that name again! What kind of looking man was he?"
+
+Hastening to comply with the demand made on her, the girl proceeded,
+proudly:
+
+"His name was Victorio Colenzo and he was the handsomest man in the
+whole of Cuba, I believe ... his eyes were very dark and expressive and
+his hair was the very most beautiful curly hair that ever grew on any
+human head ... he was tall and strong and handsome in every way and,
+yet," she ended dreamily, "and, yet, he never loved a woman in his life
+before he found me."
+
+Old Mage had other words upon her lips than those which she said after
+having hauled herself up sharply, remembering how unprotected her dear
+young lady was and wishing, above all else, even her own almost
+insatiable curiosity, to shield her from any harm:
+
+"It must be a great comfort to you to know that, now that he is dead and
+gone," she said to the girl, though what she added in her own mind may
+as well not be recorded here, for, with all the fierceness of the
+far-famed tiger with her young, old Mage, in her own primitive mind, was
+wishing several distinct kinds of punishment would fall, in its
+immediate future, upon the soul of the man who had brought sorrow to her
+dear, innocent lamb. As far as the girl was concerned she felt that she
+had had more than her just deserts already and wished to relieve her
+young lady of any further torture regarding the mixed matter, for old
+Mage, though an ignorant woman in many ways, had lived a great many
+observant years among human men and women, and, now, that her experience
+might serve to protect Ruth in this hard crisis of her young womanhood,
+she threw herself and all her previous knowledge of the world right into
+the breach. She reflected only for a few moments after having made the
+diplomatic speech referred to above, before she decided on a course of
+immediate action.
+
+To begin with, she decided to clear the decks, as it were, of the
+obstruction of the girl's presence in the home of the wronged wife; she
+went about this with precision and dispatch, for, once she had settled
+on any certain course, old Mage was like a mild whirlwind, scattering
+everything before her:
+
+"Well," she began, eyeing the girl suspiciously, wondering whether she
+had any inkling of the exact situation, "I suppose you have folks to
+live with and are not in need of anything much?"
+
+"I am alone in this wide world," declared Estrella, "for I am but a
+foster child among the people who have brought me up ... my parents I
+know nothing of but believe that I am not of Cuban blood.... I
+think ..." she hesitated, "I think ... I am ... an American, the same as
+the sweet young lady who lives here with you."
+
+The last few words almost undid old Mage's stern resolve, but she kept
+her one idea of saving her young lady from further annoyance in view and
+answered this appeal:
+
+"It don't make much difference in this world _who_ you are but it does
+matter _what_ you are ... now, I take it, you are a good girl and will
+marry some good man when you have recovered from this loss ... you are
+too young to feel this as deeply as you might ... I hope so, anyway ..."
+she temporized, seeing the look of despair that settled on Estrella's
+really beautiful and innocent features, "and my young lady wanted me to
+help you if you needed any help for she feels so sorry that your lover
+happened to be killed just as he was about to get free ... she wanted me
+to tell you ..." but at that point in her benevolent intention she was
+interrupted by the appearance of the mistress of the place, and ended,
+rather lamely, "she wanted me to tell you to come to her as soon as you
+got here."
+
+"Why, Mage," said Ruth in her usual sweet, low voice, "you had not told
+me that Estrella had come ... have you been waiting for me very long?"
+she kindly asked the girl.
+
+"No, Madam," said Estrella feeling the immense difference in their
+positions in spite of the evident indisposition and tender youth of the
+other woman, "I have only rested for a few moments after my climb to the
+top of the hill. It was very kind," she added, "of you to ask me to come
+and the cool air of the evening has refreshed my head for it has been
+aching terribly, all day."
+
+"Can't you find some sort of refreshments for her, Mage?" asked Ruth,
+feeling sorry for the other's plight. "Maybe a good cup of tea would
+give you added strength to bear your great sorrow ... we women," she
+said while her sweet, low voice trembled, "we women are but weak and yet
+often the very heaviest of sorrows is laid upon us.... I do not know the
+reason for this ... I do not understand ... but I believe that we are
+all but a part of a very great plan which is beyond our comprehension
+while we are here in this finite world, and I hope ..." she had the look
+of one of God's good angels on her face as she said it, "and I hope to
+know more about this great plan when I have passed beyond this world
+and all its many disappointments. You have had a terrific blow, my poor
+Girl," she went on, kindly. "You alone must bear this grief but God has
+sent other human beings into this human life so that we may help each
+other, if only by our mutual sympathy, when we must meet what it seems
+almost impossible for us to bear alone ... so," she ended, "so, maybe I
+have been sent to try to give you courage to go on in life when your
+future must look dreadfully black to you."
+
+"It surely does look black ..." moaned poor Estrella, "Victorio was all
+I had to lean upon in this wide world for I don't belong to the people
+where I live and Manuello persists in making love to me and I can't bear
+to have him touch me after having known the love of a man who never even
+looked at any other woman but me, and who was," her pride in her dead
+lover again taking the ascendency in her emotions, "the handsomest and
+smartest man who ever came to Cuba."
+
+"The low-lived pup!" said old Mage, who had just come in with the
+tea-tray in her hands and heard the last few words, but she made this
+remark to herself alone and would have ground her teeth in making it had
+it not happened that she had mislaid those triumphs of the dentist's
+art, for old Mage was the proud possessor of two entire sets of teeth,
+although she seldom could lay her hands on them as she invariably
+removed them from her mouth each time she wished to eat anything, having
+grown so accustomed to gumming her food that the teeth were dreadfully
+in her way.
+
+She set the tea-tray with its array of cups and saucers down and added
+several little concoctions of her own making to the little feast before
+she began, thinking to change the subject:
+
+"Dear Miss Ruth, I wish you could have seen little Tid-i-wats a few
+minutes ago; she was out in the big yard and I wanted her to come back
+in her own place so as to be safe and so instead of going to pick her up
+as you know very well she won't allow anyone to do except yourself, I
+just got one of her saucers and a silver spoon and pounded on the edge
+of the saucer with the spoon, and here she came fairly bounding along
+the driveway; she galloped, Miss Ruth, just like a little colt out in
+one of our own big pastures, back home."
+
+"The dear little Dadditts!" exclaimed her young lady, using a pet name
+of her own making. "How cute she must have looked ... she is so little,"
+she explained to Estrella, "she is so very small and so very cute ... I
+have had her with me, now, for ... how long is it, Mage?" for she knew
+the old woman enjoyed being asked for information, "since we came from
+America the last time?"
+
+"Let me see ..." answered Mage, deliberating, "it must be anyway twelve
+years and Tid-i-wats was not a young cat, even then, for she had raised
+one family of kittens at least ... she must be thirteen or more years
+old, my Dear," she said to the young girl, hoping to attract her
+attention to herself and so leave Ruth free from her immediate scrutiny,
+"just think of that! You must come with me, when you have had your tea,
+and see the cute little yard we have for her and then you must look over
+the grounds with me. Miss Ruth is not feeling very well, today, although
+she has such a healthy-looking, rosy face, and, so, I'll entertain you
+while you're here; Miss Ruth is a great reader and her eyes are not very
+strong ... sometimes the sun hurts them awfully."
+
+And Ruth let here have her way, that time, as she found that she could
+scarcely endure the calm, blue, staring eyes of the girl and listen to
+her innocent gabble concerning her own husband; so she called old Mage
+into another room and cautioned her to be very kind to poor Estrella and
+gave her quite a sum of money to hand to her, thinking, in this manner
+to defray the funeral expenses of the man whom she had believed to be
+the very soul of honor fired with an almost holy patriotism.
+
+Old Mage received her directions quietly enough and used her own good
+judgment as to carrying them all out; her main idea was to relieve her
+mistress and this she did by assuring her that she would look after the
+girl and would ask her to come to see them again when she had in some
+measure recovered from her sorrow.
+
+What she was saying to her own self we will not record but she relieved
+her own feelings, while attempting to help Estrella who was as innocent
+as her own young lady was, as she could see, for old Mage was seldom
+mistaken in her estimate of women, although men, as she expressed it,
+quite often "pulled the wool over her eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+As the young girl descended the hill to the little village she reflected
+upon the splendor of the home she had just quitted and wondered if such
+wealth as was displayed there could take the place of the companionship
+of a loved and loving human being; she remembered the very sad
+expression of the great gray eyes into which she had peered for a few
+fleeting moments and she marveled at the memory, for, as it seemed to
+the inexperience of Estrella, Ruth Wakefield should have been as happy
+as a queen indeed for she had the proud position, almost, of Royalty
+among the peons to whose constant society she, herself, had had to be
+accustomed from her earliest recollection of society at all.
+
+In spite of her own great sorrow on account of the sudden death of
+Victorio Colenzo she felt comforted, somehow, by the memory of the vital
+nearness of the woman who was so much her superior, as it seemed to her,
+in every possible way; she could not know that in Ruth Wakefield's
+gentle bosom there throbbed a deeper and more lasting agony than any
+that she, herself, had ever experienced ... she only saw her own
+position among those who had little sympathy for her, as all the girls
+she knew well, except little Tessa, envied her as having been the
+sweetheart of a man they all admired, and the young men, feeling that
+she was superior, in many ways, to the girls of their own type, were
+jealous of the handsome Colenzo who had won so easily what they had
+failed to even attract.
+
+Chief among these latter was Manuello who called himself her
+half-brother, half in derision and half in rough sport, for well he knew
+that no similar blood flowed through their veins as Estrella had been
+taken care of by his own mother simply from motives of pity for a
+deserted and helpless orphan; this loving and unselfish mother had
+passed away some time before the opening of this tale and Estrella had
+taken full charge of the household affairs of the family among whom she
+had grown up, as being the eldest of the girls, having always been of a
+domestic turn of mind and wishing to repay the kindness of those who had
+cared for her when she was unable to do so.
+
+As she walked along she remembered several little duties for her to
+perform yet that night, although she felt that she wished to devote her
+entire attention to the funeral arrangements that she had made for poor
+Victorio whose mangled remains still lay at the improvised morgue in the
+village.
+
+Reflecting on these arrangements, she remembered the money that old Mage
+had given to her which was yet clutched in the hand that had received
+it; hearing a slight noise in the path ahead of her, she hastily thrust
+the money into the bosom of her gown and advanced, cautiously, for there
+was much unrest all over the Island of Cuba at this time and no one was
+really safe, either at home or abroad, as the Governor-General had
+issued positive orders to arrest without question all those who were, in
+any manner, detrimental to the ruling powers.
+
+Estrella was aware, in a dim and uncertain way, of existing conditions,
+and, having been a participant in the recent uprising, she was afraid
+that she might be detained by the government, in which case, how she
+could attend to the sorrowful duty of the morrow was a problem too big
+for her to solve on the spur of the moment; with the thought of this
+danger in her mind, she stepped carefully to one side of the narrow
+path, hoping that whoever or whatever had made the noise she had heard
+would pass on up the hill without observing her; she was standing as
+still as possible, fairly holding her breath and involuntarily clutching
+at the bundle of money in her dress, when she became conscious of the
+approach of someone or something from behind her and jumped, like a
+startled fawn, back into the path and down the hill at top speed; she
+knew that she was followed but did not stop until she had reached the
+door of the little cottage where she made her home; as she pushed madly
+at the door it yielded to her touch too quickly to have been moved by
+herself alone, and, hurridly entering, she found herself face to face
+with Manuello who pulled her hastily inside and barred the simple door,
+saying testily:
+
+"Why did you startle me so? Had I not known your step, I would have kept
+you out until you had told me who you were ... don't you know that we,
+who have made ourselves conspicuous in the recent uprising, are being
+closely watched by the authorities and are liable to arrest at any
+moment? Why do you expose us in this manner by staying out after
+nightfall and perhaps bringing the soldiers who are stationed in the
+block-houses upon us? Is it not enough that you are marked as being the
+sweetheart of our dead leader? Must you even stray about the
+country-side after dark?"
+
+"Manuello ..." panted the poor girl, "I was so frightened ... someone
+was in the path and I jumped to one side and then someone came behind me
+and I ran! I did not mean to do wrong ... I went to see the lady at the
+mansion on the hill ... she asked me to come for she pitied me because
+of Victorio's death.... I am sorry if I did wrong by going, Manuello ...
+I hope you will forgive me ..." she ended, pleadingly, leaning against
+the door with one hand over her fluttering heart and looking up into his
+angry eyes.
+
+His countenance softened in a moment as he gazed upon her delicate
+beauty, and stretching out his arms he said to her:
+
+"Rest, little Sister, here, here upon my breast. All the others are
+asleep and you and I are alone. I would not scold you for the world, but
+we must all be as cautious as we can for we are living in very dangerous
+times."
+
+Estrella evaded his offered embrace and hastened into her own little
+room after bidding him a short goodnight; she wondered, vaguely, what it
+was that had startled her in the path, but, in spite of everything, her
+healthy youth soon asserted itself and she was lost to her little world
+upon the earth with all its many disappointments and unknown turnings.
+
+The day upon which Estrella made her visit to the mansion on the hill,
+as the residence of Ruth Wakefield was popularly known in the village of
+San Domingo, was a memorable one in the history of the Spanish-American
+war for it happened to be the fifteenth day of February in the year of
+our Lord and Master 1898.
+
+Upon that fateful day secret preparations had been made by the agents of
+some of those who were then in power over the people of Cuba ... secret
+mines had been laid and large quantities of explosives had been placed
+in Havana Harbor with a set purpose in view; many of those who had been
+incarcerated in political prisons had been kept in total ignorance of
+the movements of Spanish troops in Cuba but most of the inhabitants of
+the Island had known that, for some time, some definite object with
+reference to our own United States was being considered by those who
+directed the Spanish soldiery.
+
+Among those who had been apprised of what had been going on during the
+confinement of those who had been liberated the night before in San
+Domingo was Manuello; during the absence of Estrella from their home,
+that evening, this redoubtable warrior had been hobnobbing with the
+Spanish soldiers in the block-house nearest to the village and had
+discovered something of the plot to blow up a United States battleship
+in Havana Harbor; as it was known that the _Maine_, an armored cruiser
+of the second-class, had been lying in the harbor for some weeks, the
+young fellow was especially nervous, and, hearing Estrella's flying feet
+approaching their dwelling, he dreaded some new horror.
+
+The little village of San Domingo was wrapped in the first sound slumber
+of the night. Good Father Felix had been dreaming, for some hours, of
+the heavenly home he hoped, sometime, to reach; old Mage had long ago
+forgotten all about her defense of her dear young lady, that day, and
+Estrella was far away from every human care.
+
+But Ruth Wakefield was one of those who never sleep right through the
+dark hours of any night; from her earliest recollection, she had been
+wide awake, with a clarified vision of the affairs of daily life as well
+as of those that were quite beyond the world of men and women who were
+yet embodied, about the hour of two A.M., and, when she had some
+especially knotty problem to solve, she seldom slept for more than an
+hour or so at a time, but would waken to a consciousness of the facts of
+her human existence with a shock that would almost always cause her to
+jump as if struck a blow, which, indeed, was the exact state of affairs,
+only the blow was a mental one.
+
+On this one night, having lost the most of the sleep she should have had
+upon the previous one, her bodily strength was almost entirely exhausted
+so that she sunk into a deep and dreamless sleep during the first part
+of the evening and woke, with a start, about nine P.M.
+
+Rising from her bed, as was her custom upon awakening in the night, she
+approached one of the large windows of her own room facing Havana
+Harbor; she could see the lights from the various vessels lying at
+anchor and imagined that she could make out those of the _Maine_, which,
+as it represented her own native land to her, was, naturally, of deep
+interest to her; she fell to imagining how it would seem to return to
+the United States on that great ship lying so peacefully and appearing
+to be so stanch and strong in the harbor below her window ... she
+wondered if it might not be better for her, now that she no longer had
+the keen interest in Cuba that she had only recently had, to go back to
+her own country and so possibly forget the dark eyes and lying lips of
+the man to whom she had given her virginity only to find it flouted and
+treated with disdain; for, try as she would to vindicate Victorio
+Colenzo, she was too just and reasonable to deny to herself that he had
+acted the part of a sneaking villain both to her and to poor, trusting
+Estrella, who had not had to see her dream of him lying in fragments at
+her feet, but who still believed that he had spoken the truth to her
+when he had told her that she was the only woman he had ever loved; she
+was too young to know that this statement is a regular trite and tried
+prevarication, common to almost all male lovers.
+
+But Ruth, at present, was laboring under no delusions with regard to the
+man she had married, although his dead body was still unburied and she
+had not so much as said a prayer over his remains ... she knew beyond
+all shadow of doubt that he had been untrue to both of the women he had
+professed to love in San Domingo, and her mind was much distraught as
+she sat at her window and, gazed down upon Havana Harbor upon that
+memorable evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-eight.
+
+She had been watching a little boat plying back and forth between the
+wharf and the battleship which she had picked out among the other black
+hulks in the harbor as being the _Maine_, and was speculating, idly,
+what it could be about, as it seemed busily engaged in something of
+importance, when, all at once, a mighty detonation shook the entire
+harbor and the adjacent shore, making even her own stout residence
+tremble, and, where the majestic battleship had, only just a moment
+before, been a thing of beauty and power, there was nothing but a wild
+mass of flying debris and a raging furnace of belching, flaming fire.
+
+Ruth Wakefield realized, even as the terrific explosion occurred, that
+here was a turning point in the affairs of state and that, in all
+probability, her own country would, after this, become involved in the
+war that had been raging in Cuba, then, for about three years; it was
+with mingled feelings of dismay and dread that she surveyed the activity
+that very soon became apparent both in the harbor and in the city of
+Havana; she could see the lights of the rescuing boats as they circled
+about the scene of the wreck and even hear the groans and supplications
+of some of the severely wounded survivors, for the night was clear and
+the light wind carried the sounds from the harbor up to her window so
+that her very acute hearing told her that this was no casual accident,
+but, in all probability, a carefully planned holocaust in which her own
+much-loved native land would, inevitably be involved.
+
+Manuello was one of the first to rush out upon the streets of the little
+village after the terrific noise of the explosion had rolled away; he
+passed hastily from cottage to cottage asking the inmates if they were
+aware of the cause of it, for, being a little below the level of Havana
+Harbor, the inhabitants of San Domingo could not command a view of it.
+
+As no one seemed able to give him any explanation of the disturbing
+detonation, he even dared to approach one of the block houses held by
+the Spanish soldiery; here, he found everything in confusion and
+excitement ... men were hastily arming themselves so as to be in
+readiness for whatever orders might come from their superiors, and
+Manuello found no one among them who seemed much better informed than
+he, himself, was; he imagined that what he had heard had been the result
+of the consummation of the plans upon which he had stumbled earlier in
+the evening and started to climb to the top of the hill upon which Ruth
+Wakefield's residence was located in order to gain a view of Havana
+Harbor.
+
+Manuello had almost reached the very top of the hill before he realized
+that he had come out into the night without a weapon of any kind, and,
+no sooner had he made this disconcerting discovery than he became aware
+of some sort of movement directly in his rear; wishing to avoid whatever
+it might be, he hastily concealed himself and waited for the approach of
+his unseen companion in the darkness; the steps he had heard came along
+the path hastily, yet steadily, and the owner of them soon appeared; as
+he passed Manuello, the young fellow made out that the new-comer was
+none other than the village Priest who, as it seemed likely, was bent
+upon the same errand as the hidden peon; Father Felix kept on, sturdily,
+climbing the grade to the mansion on the hill; having reached the house
+he at once disappeared inside it and Manuello was again alone upon the
+hillside.
+
+Gaining a point of vantage, Manuello looked down upon Havana Harbor,
+and, at once, decided upon the course that he must pursue to cover
+himself from danger of suspicion as to the possibility of his having
+participated in the terrible calamity that had befallen the United
+States battleship, for Manuello knew the exact location of the different
+ships then anchored in Havana Harbor as he had in his possession a map
+of it upon which he had drawn certain black crosses which indicated the
+positions of different vessels, also certain ingenious little flourishes
+told him the nationality of the various ships, so that he felt as sure
+as if he were right upon the scene that the battleship _Maine_ had been
+blown up in Havana Harbor, that fateful evening, and he knew that there
+would be a searching investigation made as to what had caused the
+explosion, so that Manuello had this little problem to consider as well
+as the one concerning the sudden and mysterious death of Victorio
+Colenzo just as he was about to be liberated from the prison at San
+Domingo; for Manuello knew far more concerning that casualty than he
+had imparted to Estrella when she had so diligently inquired of him
+about it.
+
+Father Felix found Ruth Wakefield and her little, frightened household
+fully awake as well as fully aware of the nature of the episode that had
+startled him to such an extent that he had climbed the hill to ascertain
+the safety of the inhabitants of the mansion on the hill, for the good
+Priest pitied the mistress of the mansion far more than he did the poor
+girl in the cottage, knowing that added refinement often makes more
+poignant a sorrow that would inevitably be hard for any human heart to
+bear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+All over the little village of San Domingo, on the morning of February
+sixteenth, 1898, the news spread like wild-fire that the United States
+battleship, _Maine_, had been blown up in Havana Harbor.
+
+Manuello, having secreted his map in what he considered to be a safe
+place, and having remained quietly inside his own domicile during the
+balance of the night preceding the general acceptance of the the salient
+facts concerned in the great disaster, ventured forth at daylight,
+hoping to discover the condition of the public mind with regard to it.
+
+The first place he visited was one of the block-houses where he had
+hob-nobbed with the soldiers before the news of the explosion had
+reached them; here he found closely shut mouths and stern countenances
+meeting him on every side, as he was known to be engaged in stirring up
+strife and dissatisfaction among the peons of whom, to some extent, now
+that Victorio Colenzo was dead, he was an acknowledged leader; the
+soldiers, knowing nothing of what action would be taken by their own
+government, much less of how far the resentment of the powerful nation
+involved in the disaster would carry them, thought that discretion was,
+by all means, the better part of valor, in this instance, and,
+accordingly, had no private conversation with Manuello at all, being
+careful to have several of their number within ear-shot of every word he
+uttered; he, realizing the situation, after some few moments, went
+quietly away, glad, indeed, to escape so easily from among the armed
+hosts of Spain, for his own native country had been under the heel of
+Spanish oppressors for more than three years, at this time.
+
+From the block-house, the young fellow proceeded to the dwelling of
+little Tessa for he had a sort of mild affection for her, knowing how
+profoundly she admired him and being flattered by her preference, while
+his own heart was set on Estrella, to win whom he had, indeed, committed
+a most terrible crime, for it had been his hand that had almost severed
+the handsome head of Victorio Colenzo from his strong and agile body, he
+having taken advantage of the confusion in the prison at the time of the
+liberation of the political offenders to vent his own jealous spite upon
+the natural leader of them all, little dreaming that he had cut off in
+his prime the husband of the lady of the mansion on the hill, but only
+congratulating himself on having removed from his own path a dangerous
+rival in the affections, not only of Estrella, but also of all of those
+with whom he, Manuello, hoped to advance his own interests; for Victorio
+Colenzo was a man to be feared by all those who opposed him as Manuello
+knew very well; now that his dead body was lying there in the little
+improvised morgue, it seemed to the young Cuban that his great influence
+would soon die away, and, so far as Estrella was concerned, he felt
+pretty sure of her as she was so near to him and would, naturally, lean
+upon him in trouble.
+
+So that, he felt quite complacent as to the recent turns in his affairs,
+when he entered the rude home of little Tessa; he found that small, dark
+young woman standing quietly beside a window watching his approach; she
+turned to him, when another member of the family had admitted him,
+eagerly and expectantly:
+
+"What do you think, Manuello?" she inquired. "What will be the result of
+last night's terrible disaster? Shall we, now, have the Americans to
+fight as well as the Spanish? Will the great United States hold us
+responsible for this crime? I wondered, right away, what you would think
+about it all and am so glad you have come over early. Is dear Estrella
+as well as we could expect under her distressing circumstances? Will the
+body of her lover be buried, today? Will this new trouble make any
+difference with the burial of the bodies in the morgue? Tell me
+everything you know, Manuello. Don't pay any attention to my
+questions ... just go ahead and tell me!"
+
+She had come near to him as she kept asking questions, and was now
+beside him and had grasped the collar of his short jacket, for Manuello
+was something of a dude among his associates and was very particular as
+to his appearance, being proud of his straight, strong figure and broad
+shoulders which towered above many of the heads of his companions, so
+that little Tessa had to stretch her small, dark hands well above her
+smooth, black head in order to cling as closely as she desired to him.
+
+The young fellow looked down into the eager face lifted toward his own
+and hesitated a little while before he answered her; diplomacy had
+become so much a part of his acquired habit that, even when it was
+unnecessary, as in the present instance, for Tessa trusted him
+implicitly, he still employed it:
+
+"To begin with," he said, as if issuing a decree from a judgment-seat,
+"I do not think that the blowing up of the battleship, last night, will
+make our case in Cuba much harder than it already is ... in fact, it
+might be that the American government would resent the loss of their
+property and the murder of their sailors sufficiently to induce them to
+assist us in our struggle for independence from the tyranny of Spain."
+He looked about him anxiously, as he made this last statement, for he
+knew that agents of the government might be in hiding almost anywhere.
+"As to the burial of Victorio Colenzo," he pronounced the name with some
+braggadocio, "and the rest, this disaster should make no difference as
+to that, for when human beings die they have to be buried somehow, no
+matter what happens." It was with secret satisfaction that he explained
+this last matter, for, so far as he was concerned, the sooner the body
+of his victim was under the ground the better he, himself, would feel,
+"and as to Estrella, as soon as she recovers from the loss of her
+handsome lover, I think she will listen to reason again and be the same
+nice girl she was before she ever met this stranger who came among us
+like a whirlwind and who has left us as suddenly as he appeared among
+us. Now, little Tessa," he ended, "I think that I have answered all of
+your questions ... suppose you answer some of mine ... for example," and
+he bent his bold eyes on her little face, "why are you growing to be so
+beautiful? Whom do you love more than anything else in the world? When
+will you be a married woman? Do you like me as well as you did when we
+were little children? Do you think that Estrella will ever marry me, now
+that she has lost her new lover? Are you my little friend in this matter
+and will you assist my cause with Estrella?" seeing a look of
+consternation spread over her countenance, he ended his category with,
+"Who is _your_ lover, little Tessa? I know you must have one for you
+have grown to be very fair and winsome since we were shut up in that
+hateful prison."
+
+"Manuello," said the girl, "I don't believe that I will ever marry....
+I have no lover and I am not beautiful. Estrella does not love you, now,
+but she may learn to do so. I wish her to be very happy and if being
+your wife would make her so, and I see no reason why a girl could not be
+happy as your wife, Manuello, then I will do what I can to further your
+cause with her. I know she is in deep sorrow, today, and I intend to do
+all that I can to help her. Of course you know what arrangements have
+already been made. Father Felix will take charge of the ceremonies, I
+understand. I will accompany poor Estrella to the burial place. You may
+tell her that I will soon be with her."
+
+The simplicity and truth of the young and innocent girl affected even
+the hardened heart of the murderer and the evident adoration with which
+she regarded him also had its effect upon him, so that Manuello
+trembled, inwardly, in spite of all his hardihood and determination to
+force his passionate love upon Estrella, as he intended only to use poor
+little Tessa's admiration for him to influence the older and fairer
+woman; the very fact that Estrella was, very evidently, not of his own
+race had a powerful attraction for his untutored imagination and, in
+secret, he often dwelt upon her difference from all the other women of
+his acquaintance, while he assumed toward herself an air of superiority,
+hoping thereby to attract her to himself as being above all of the
+others of their acquaintance; now that his successful rival was out of
+his way the young fellow looked forward to an early conquest of the
+heart and hand of Estrella, and, now that the Americans had become
+involved in the Cuban war, he hoped for the defeat of the Spaniards as
+he never had before. Therefore, he could well afford to be a little
+condescending to the young girl who still clung to his hands as if to
+her only hope of happiness and looked up adoringly into his smiling
+eyes.
+
+Stooping toward her a little, he suddenly raised her in his strong arms
+and lifted her small, eager face to a level with his own; her lips were
+very near to his and were trembling for that very reason, so he stilled
+them by holding them for a passionate moment against his virile mouth.
+
+Tessa yielded to his embrace without thinking of its import for Manuello
+was a strong and healthy man, full of the electrical attraction that
+goes with those of his build, and, like many uneducated human beings,
+the animal side of his nature was more fully developed than any other
+part of it so that almost any healthy young woman appealed to him in
+some degree and Tessa's evident affection for himself added to her power
+in this respect.
+
+The two young beings were placed in the situation in which we have
+described them for only a very short space of earthly time, but it was
+sufficient to build up a barrier around Manuello that separated him from
+all the rest of the young men known to the simple-minded girl with whom
+he was only playing at making love, for all of that sacred emotion of
+which he was capable had been laid at the feet of the girl who had
+scoffed at his advances, for some years.
+
+When he had set her, gently, upon her small feet again, Manuello
+addressed the small maiden in an almost wheedling tone, for he thought
+that he could, now, better control her feelings than before the episode
+of the past few moments:
+
+"You _do_ like me as much as before I was put away in prison, don't you,
+little Tessa? Estrella's aloofness from me on account of her crazy
+notions about Victorio Colenzo has not affected you with regard to me,
+has it? I can depend upon you as upon a faithful little friend, I
+believe I can, anyway ... how about that, little Girl?"
+
+He bent his black eyes upon her as he asked the question, and, with his
+picturesque costume, dark face, up-tilted _mustachio_, as black as his
+heavy, curling hair, and his strong and agile figure, in many ways, he
+was as handsome as anyone upon whom Tessa's eyes had ever rested, for,
+to her simple mind, Victorio had been too much inclined toward
+intellectual pursuits to really appeal very strongly to her untutored
+mind and she had never been able to understand why Estrella preferred
+him to Manuello; now, she answered the latter in no uncertain language:
+
+"Of _course_ you can depend on my friendship ... of _course_ I would
+always do anything I could to help you ... even ..." her voice shook
+over the words, "even with the woman whom you love and prefer to all the
+other women whom you know ... Estrella," she said this firmly as if to
+convince even herself of the truth of the statement. "Estrella _is_
+superior to the rest of us girls around here ... she is of another race
+of people, I believe ... a superior race, I guess ... anyway," she ended
+naively, "I love her and do not blame _you_, Manuello, for doing the
+same thing."
+
+It took a good deal of courage and loyalty combined for the girl to make
+the remarks we have just recorded here with her small mouth yet tingling
+from the kisses, for Manuello had not been chary of their number while
+he had the opportunity to bestow them, of the man whom she almost
+worshiped as earthly women adore merely human men, but she had waded
+through the above sentences, bravely, and felt better after having
+passed through what was an ordeal for her to undergo.
+
+Manuello scarcely knew how to meet this plain exposition of the matter
+under consideration and quickly changed the subject of conversation, not
+wishing to go too far, all at once, with Tessa, as that might complicate
+his relations with Estrella, and, yet, feeling the need of some stanch
+friend, in case he should have need of one, for he realized, dimly, that
+he might easily be in danger, at any time, for various good reasons,
+for he had been implicated in many of the plots of the revolutionists as
+well as having secrets of his own to cover up; he was naturally cautious
+as far as his own safety was concerned and did not wish to involve
+himself any farther than seemed best for his own interests with Tessa,
+and, yet, he desired to have her assistance ready at hand in case he
+should have need of anything so feeble.
+
+He had now fixed her previous regard for him upon a vital memory,
+so that she would not soon forget the few moments she had passed
+encircled by his arms, and this was all he cared to do in that line,
+at present.... Later on, in case Estrella still remained obdurate ...
+why ... that would be a far different matter; he had now arranged for
+himself a secret harbor in the simple heart of this uneducated girl, so
+that, if pursued too closely by cruel storms, out on the open sea, he
+could retire to it at will.
+
+As for Tessa, after she had made her declaration of love for Estrella,
+she felt that she had performed her full duty in that matter, and went
+about her preparations for the affairs of that day, with an even lighter
+heart than before Manuello's short visit, for, after all, she had
+discovered that she was not at least repulsive to the man she had
+secretly loved for almost as long as she could remember anything, for
+they had grown up in San Domingo together and he had always been
+identified with her daily life; the beauty of her personal dream
+regarding the tall Cuban had been her motive in assisting in the
+liberation of the prisoners, mentioned in the beginning of this
+narrative, as she had small sympathy with Estrella's adoration of
+Victorio Colenzo, although she was willing to have her intimate
+girl-friend feel exactly as she had felt and pitied her with all her
+loving heart, now that she had lost, in such a terrible manner, the man
+she loved and who, as they both had believed, loved her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+When Manuello left the dwelling of the little woman of whose affection
+he was certain he hastened home to find out what attitude the woman he
+loved would take toward the new conditions in Cuba, as well as to
+ascertain what preparations she was making for the burial of the man
+whose earthly life he had, himself, taken, although she was far from
+imagining anything of the kind concerning either her dead lover or her
+so-called half-brother.
+
+He found Estrella much perturbed as was to have been expected under the
+circumstances for he knew that she had been deeply enamored of the
+handsome stranger whose dead body was now being prepared for interment
+by the village undertaker to whom Estrella had given the money presented
+to her by old Mage, so that the man's body was being taken care of
+through the charity of his wife which had been bestowed upon his
+sweetheart neither of whom had been known to him at all a few months
+before.
+
+As the hour for the funeral exercises drew near, a handsome carriage
+drew up in front of the humble door where Estrella made her home; from
+within it emerged no less a person than old Mage herself who had been
+sent by Ruth Wakefield to escort the sorrowing girl to and from the rude
+graveyard where the body of her own husband would be placed, that day;
+she had told good Father Felix what to do as to the simple services but
+had decided to absent herself from them, not being sure as to how much
+endurance she would have and being determined not to add to the grief of
+the innocent girl who had been deceived by the man whose name she had
+assumed but never been known by in her own family, even, as, at his
+especial request, she had kept the marriage hidden from all of her
+acquaintances except the few members of her own little household who
+were devoted to her and her interests and went about among the villagers
+very little, as what business they had was transacted in Havana instead
+of San Domingo.
+
+Estrella was pleased and flattered by this attention from the lady of
+the mansion on the hill and entered the carriage to find Father Felix
+already there, for the carriage had been sent to the refectory before it
+came to her own home; she remembered the message little Tessa had sent
+to her so she asked old Mage to go to her dwelling for her, which was
+done, and completed the sad little group that rode directly behind the
+rude wagon which took the place of a hearse and which carried the body
+of Victorio Colenzo to its last earthly resting-place.
+
+The grief of the young girl was very pitiful and, as they turned away
+from the narrow grave, old Mage felt moved to try to comfort her a
+little by distracting her attention from her sorrow; seeing Manuello
+lurking in the background as the funeral party were about to leave the
+cemetery, she said to Estrella:
+
+"Will your brother ride home with us? I remember his face for he has
+brought fruit to our door and he told me, once, that you were his
+half-sister."
+
+The poor girl stifled her sobs long enough to listen to the old woman's
+remark but made no other answer to it than to shake her head; little
+Tessa turned her face in the direction indicated by old Mage and saw
+Manuello with a look of diabolical triumph mingled with fear and hatred
+on his dark face so that, in spite of her love for him, his expression
+frightened her and made even her turn away from the sight of the great
+change in his countenance from what she had seen resting there only that
+morning.
+
+Ruth Wakefield had spend the hour devoted to the funeral exercises of
+her own husband very quietly and in entire solitude; she was accustomed
+to the latter condition and there was no one among her acquaintances in
+whom she cared to confide except the good Priest who had done what he
+could to console and sustain her spirit through this trial that had been
+forced upon her by untoward circumstances and her own faith in humanity;
+she watched her own carriage descend the hill and pass into the little
+village ... she saw the small funeral procession as it wended its way
+along the palm-lined street ... she watched it enter the gate of the
+little cemetery and even saw poor Estrella as she alighted from the
+vehicle and leaned upon the arm of her small friend as she approached
+the open grave that was to contain the mortal remains of the man who had
+been, if only for a short space of time, her own husband ... and yet she
+did not faint ... she did not cry out ... she had had her fight with her
+own nature and she had won out after a hard struggle; all that was left
+of the love she had entertained for the handsome Cuban who had entered
+into her life so disastrously, was an open wound which time alone could
+ever heal.
+
+When old Mage returned to the mansion on the hill she sought out her
+young lady and would have, in her usual garrulous manner, reported
+everything that she had noticed during her absence had she received
+encouragement to do so; on the contrary, she found Ruth, apparently,
+deeply interested in a large volume which she had placed on a table
+before her chair; she rested her head on her hands, from time to time,
+and only looked up to welcome her old nurse, then resumed the perusal of
+the page she happened to have open at the time of her entrance into the
+library.
+
+Ruth Wakefield had always found her chief delight among her many good
+books; she browsed among them for mental sustenance and for spiritual
+solace and found rich pasturage; it had been said of her, while she was
+yet a small child, that, in case it ever became necessary to perform a
+surgical operation upon any part of her delicate body, an anaesthetic
+would not be essential, as all that she would need would be to have
+someone read aloud to her from some fine piece of literature.
+
+So, in the terrible affliction that had so recently befallen her, it was
+as natural for her to go to her books for comfort as it would have been
+for another woman to go to some understanding friend, for that was what
+Ruth Wakefield found among her books ... understanding and safe friends
+who would never betray her secrets or her confidence in them ... who
+would never deceive and torture her and who represented to her the
+finest and best impulses in human nature as well as those higher
+sentiments to which she always clung and which, now, in this crisis of
+her life, carried her safely over what might have crazed a mind less
+well poised than hers.
+
+The morning after the funeral exercises of Victorio Colenzo, Father
+Felix ascended the hill upon which Ruth Wakefield's home was located and
+sought her out, for the good Priest was much perturbed because of her
+present condition and went to see her with the intention of advising her
+to leave Cuba, at least for a time, as the situation with regard to her
+own country was almost certain to become acute, after the disaster of a
+few nights previous, and it seemed to him to be imprudent for a young
+woman to remain alone with only retainers about her among the wild
+people among whom he labored; for Father Felix knew far more of the
+nature of these people than many others possibly could and he realized
+that the wealth surrounding the Wakefield residence was in itself a
+menace to the fair owner of it; although he, himself, intended to remain
+among his parishioners under all circumstances, it did not seem to be a
+wise procedure for an unprotected woman to do so.
+
+He had studied the situation over from many view-points and had settled
+on the best course, according to his judgment and knowledge of the
+situation, for her to pursue, and he, now, laid this course before her
+with the benevolent intention of assisting her to follow it in every way
+within his limited power:
+
+"My dear Miss Ruth," he began, hesitatingly, for he was not sure of just
+what effect either her husband's violent death or the recent explosion
+in the harbor would have on her sensitive nature, "I wish that you would
+consider your own situation very carefully; you are now alone here
+except for those who are under your employ, and the people of the
+surrounding country are in a high state of excitement. At almost any
+moment, now, your own native land, to which you are devoted, may declare
+itself to be in a state of war with Spain, following the blowing up of
+the battleship; in that case, your situation, here, would be even more
+precarious than it is at present and it is far from being secure, even
+now; what I had thought of proposing to you is that you, at once, gather
+together what you consider to be the most precious of your worldly
+possession, here, and place them in some storage building in Havana,
+leaving the house, here, with as few valuables as possible inside of it,
+then, with probably your old nurse as a companion and charge, return at
+once to your own country, anyway, until the war-cloud that is now
+hanging over Cuba has been lifted; it looks to me," he ended, "as if
+that would not be for some years yet ... of course America is a powerful
+country and if she takes this matter up in earnest, it may be that it
+will come to an end more quickly than I fear it may."
+
+He waited, quietly, then, for Ruth to think over his remarks; she had
+regarded him earnestly while he had been speaking, and, now, sat with
+her hands folded in her lap for a few minutes before she spoke:
+
+"Father Felix," she began, at length, "Father Felix, I appreciate the
+reasons that prompted you to come to me and advise me as you have just
+been doing; I understand that you consider me unfit to cope with the
+present situation under my circumstances and I wish to inform you that I
+do not intend to run away from my duty any more than you do. I take it
+for granted, Father, that you expect to remain with your people no
+matter what may come to them? I believe that the more need they may
+have of you, the more anxious you will be to serve them. Now I," she
+continued, earnestly and unwaveringly, "I have not done my full duty, up
+to now, among these people to whom you have devoted all of your
+energies; I feel that I owe my fellow-beings more than I have given to
+them in many ways, for I have been very much of a recluse, as you know,
+loving my books and enjoying my home and the natural beauties I have
+delighted in all around me; it may be, that, in the crisis that seems
+imminent, I may find some good work that will wholly absorb my
+energies ... it may be ..." she said, while a high resolve settled over
+her sensitive features, "it may be, good Father Felix, that I may be
+permitted to do almost as much good in our little world as you,
+yourself, are doing and have already done. Would you bar me from the
+proud privilege of sharing your labor and of receiving some measure of
+the rich reward which is awaiting you?"
+
+Father Felix gazed upon her as if upon a being already translated beyond
+the common things of earth, and, realizing the firmness of her evident
+resolve, he extended his hands toward her in blessing. As she bowed her
+head to receive it there was a rapt look upon her face such as the holy
+angels who welcome the souls of the newly dead must have upon their
+features ... the inner consciousness of Ruth Wakefield shone through her
+earthly lineaments and transfigured them so that they were even more
+fair than they had been before.
+
+"My Daughter," said the good Priest, "forgive me for proposing what I
+did; I did not fully understand you; from this time on, I hope that we
+may find much good work that we can do in common, for I would be proud
+and glad to be engaged with you upon our Father's business. Let us
+consult with each other in our plans for the betterment of the poor
+people among whom our lot in life has been cast. I was going to speak to
+you about the girl, Estrella," he went on, watching her face while he
+talked; "she is in need of different surroundings than she has at
+present, for she is not of the race of those with whom she has been
+staying; the young man who calls her his half-sister knows very well
+that she has none of his blood in her veins, and he is almost constantly
+tormenting her with offers of his heart and hand, when the poor girl is
+really a mourner for the man whom she believed, as you did, to be worthy
+of a good woman's love. The girl is strong and willing and capable
+beyond the common run of the people among whom she has spent her life
+thus far. I believe she would fully appreciate kindness and would repay
+it in every way in her power. What I have just thought of is, perhaps,
+impossible for you to do, at present, but it may be that, in the future,
+you may consider it. If you could bring yourself to have her in your
+home she would be safe from harm and might be a very great help to you
+if you carry on the work that is now in your mind to do. For," he rose
+to his feet and walked rapidly from one end of the room to the other,
+"if America declares war on Spain with a view to the independence of
+Cuba, there will be much heroic work for you and me to do, my dear
+Daughter ... there will be much work for us two to perform."
+
+Ruth Wakefield also rose ... it seemed to her that the situation
+demanded that she meet it on her feet....
+
+"Father Felix," she said calmly and softly, "Father Felix, have Estrella
+brought to me, today; let us begin our good work at once. There is
+nothing that my beloved country can demand of me that I would not be
+glad to give to its sacred cause. I believe that I can do more for my
+native land, here, in Cuba, at the present time, than if I should return
+to it, now. It may be that an American, with some degree of wealth and
+intelligence, can be of service, here, at this critical juncture in her
+country's history."
+
+"Our native land could not have a better representative, my Daughter. As
+you know, I, also, am an American and I am proud, indeed, to claim you
+as a fellow-countryman. From now on we will more fully understand each
+other and I shall be glad to consult with you about many important
+matters. I will proceed at once to carry out your instructions with
+regard to the young girl of whom we have been speaking, for I feel that
+her case is one of peculiar importance, since I fully believe that she,
+also, is an American, although I have been unable, up to this time, to
+trace her parentage beyond the fact that a man, presumably her father,
+left her in the care of the woman who brought her up as one of her own
+children, in the little village below here. The poor girl has had a
+sorry life so far and really deserves better treatment than she has
+received, or so it seems to me from my finite stand-point. I do not
+presume to question the wisdom or justice of God, but, often, I am
+puzzled when I see the innocent suffer and the guilty escape punishment
+here in this world; I always trust in our heavenly Father implicitly,
+and, yet, at times, I am sorely put to it to furnish reasons for certain
+people having been placed in certain environments. I believe that all
+this will be explained to us in good time, but many things are hard to
+understand while we remain finite beings with only the intelligence that
+has been bestowed upon humanity to reason with. Conscience," he went on
+almost as if talking to himself, "conscience is our infallible guide and
+was given to us so that we would never be without direction in whatever
+circumstances we may be placed. Now, in this instance ... I honestly
+thought that I was doing right to come here this morning and advise you
+as I did, and, yet, God, in His great Wisdom, guided you, at once, into
+the only path that you were ever meant to walk in ... the path that
+will lead you on to the peace that passeth human understanding."
+
+After a little rather desultory conversation, with which he hoped to
+lighten the outlook of the lonely woman, the good Priest wended his
+solitary way down the hill and back to the scene of most of his labors
+among the ignorant people whom he hoped to help toward a better
+enlightenment, and, as he walked slowly down the path leading to the
+village, he turned and looked back at the mansion on the hill, crossed
+himself, and murmured:
+
+"Of such is the kingdom of heaven."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+When Estrella reached the mansion on the hill she found its mistress
+quietly awaiting her outside the dwelling; she welcomed the young girl
+with out-stretched hands, saying:
+
+"Father Felix has done well, indeed, to send you to me so quickly,
+Estrella. I want you to feel perfectly at home, here. Old Mage will take
+you to your own room and tell you what little duties you may assume if
+you wish to do so. When you have arranged these little domestic matters,
+come to me in the library and we will talk over some plans I have in
+which I think you will be interested when you have somewhat recovered
+from your recent loss. I know, from my own experience, that there is but
+one way to carry sorrow through one's daily life and that is to be busy.
+If one has enough physical energy and nervous strength, one can
+accomplish a great deal of good in the world in spite of personal
+sorrow. You are young and have not had an easy life so far ... it may be
+that I can assist you so that, from now on, you and I may be able to
+help each other in doing good work among those who are weaker than we
+are."
+
+Old Mage was only too willing to take charge of the girl, for, while she
+did not really like the idea of having her in the family, yet, she was
+aware that Ruth needed companionship and she enjoyed having a goodly
+number of people around her as her life consisted, mainly, of what each
+day brought into it, for old Mage, while she was a good woman and a
+faithful friend, was not a thinker and made few plans for the future.
+
+She led Estrella to the room that Ruth had arranged to have her occupy,
+and, having explained certain little matters to her concerning the daily
+round of life in the house, she began to question her as to what she had
+learned regarding the explosion in Havana Harbor and what she thought as
+to the probability of the United States declaring war on Spain on
+account of it.
+
+The girl had little information to give to the old woman for she had
+been too much absorbed by her own recent grief to even think of any of
+the consequences that might follow the accident ... it seemed to her
+that if the whole United States navy were blown up, it would make small
+difference to her now that she had lost Victorio for he had represented
+to her everything that meant happiness for her in the future; she had
+yet to learn many things that would, eventually, bring to her the kind
+of happiness that is lasting and to be depended upon when all that is
+transitory and ephemeral has passed beyond knowledge and memory.
+
+At length, old Mage wearied of quizzing Estrella and left her to her own
+thoughts which were confused and uncertain; she did not understand why
+the lady of the mansion had condescended to ask her to come to her for
+Father Felix had left her in doubt as to any reason, only telling her
+that Miss Ruth desired her to come to her, at least for a time, to act
+as a sort of companion as she was alone a great deal; he did not explain
+to her that there might be work for her to do in the near future,
+leaving that part to Ruth, very wisely.
+
+Father Felix led his little flock into fresh pastures when he felt that
+they were ready for such a change but he reflected deeply before doing
+this and hoped, in the case of the girl under consideration, that
+companionship with one as unselfish and intrinsically good and noble as
+Ruth Wakefield would do more for her character than any counsel he could
+give to her; the good Priest was well aware that the handsome, young,
+dashing Cuban had fascinated both the women and he felt sure that, had
+he lived long enough in the same world with them, he would have broken
+both their hearts, for it was his nature, evidently, to gather flowers
+wherever he found them and throw them away to wither and die; Father
+Felix was a normal human being as well as a spiritual leader and he
+recognized facts with regard to human nature as he found them, not being
+deceived by appearances as a less intellectual person would have been,
+or as a man possessed of weaker masculine traits than those that had
+been bestowed upon him.
+
+There was one among his parishioners of whose case he was doubtful ...
+he was very anxious concerning Manuello for he knew that the young man
+had some sort of guilty secret that he had confessed to no one and this
+was one reason influencing him in his endeavor to extricate the innocent
+Estrella from her immediate surroundings; he knew that, in the troubled
+condition of the country, Manuello would be almost certain, with his
+wild and untutored nature, to get into some sort of tangle with
+authorities and supposed that the trouble he was well aware of as being
+on the young fellow's conscience had something to do with existing
+Spanish laws; he, himself, in breaking down the doors of the prison in
+order to liberate this man among the rest of the prisoners, had been
+guilty of violating a strict mandate and knew that he was liable to
+arrest at any time, but, now that America might come into the struggle
+on her own account, instead of simply through sympathy with the wrongs
+of the people of Cuba, he realized that his own case had taken on a new
+color, for, as he had told Ruth Wakefield, Father Felix was a native
+American and loved his own country devotedly, although he had been
+acting as a missionary in Cuba for some years of his active life in the
+priesthood; he was dwelling on the state of mind of Manuello, sitting
+quietly in his own place in the refectory, the evening after the events
+related in the preceding chapter, when he heard a hasty knock at his
+door and immediately opened it to admit the subject of his thoughts.
+
+The young man entered as if upon a desperate errand and sat down in the
+first chair he found without waiting for the invitation of the Priest, a
+proceeding that, alone, showed the condition of his mind:
+
+"Good Father," he began without introduction, "where is Estrella? She
+has not been home for some hours and none of the family seem to know
+much about her; all they told me was that I was to come to you for
+information ... and here I am."
+
+The Priest looked into his eager face and pitied while he condemned him,
+for he could see that he greatly mourned the absence of the girl whom he
+had decided in his own heart to have for his own.
+
+"Manuello," said Father Felix, at length, having regarded him with a
+sympathetic smile, "you must accept the situation as calmly as you can.
+I have to tell you that Estrella has found another home than yours and
+will, from this on, be under good care and will, I hope, find happiness
+later on in her career ... she is a good girl and deserves to be happy,"
+he concluded, benevolently.
+
+"Do you mean," demanded Manuello, "that I am not to see her any more?
+That I am to be shut out from her life? I want to know," he rose to his
+feet, "I demand to know what you have done with her? Have you placed her
+in some convent?"
+
+His voice had risen as he added question to question and he faced the
+Priest with a fierce expression on his dark and lowering features. His
+attitude had no effect on Father Felix who was without bodily fear and
+knew that, in the present instance, at least, he stood upon safe ground,
+having, as he well knew, removed the girl from danger from the very
+being who, now, glared at him:
+
+"My Son," he said, "my Son, compose yourself. I will brook no
+demonstration of vile anger from you. Estrella has been put beyond your
+power. I do not know," he went on, coolly, "just what it is that is upon
+your conscience at present, but I do know there is something that will
+not bear a close investigation by the authorities, and I advise you to
+have a care how you conduct yourself in the future. Cuba will have need
+of your strong arm and I hope that you will use it in her service."
+
+Cowed by the sternness of the tone of voice in which he had been
+addressed as well as by his own guilty knowledge, Manuello, silently,
+and without thanks or regrets of any kind, left the refectory, slamming
+the door after him ... an indignity that few would dare to place upon
+their record; giving vent, inwardly, to the curses he did not dare to
+utter, he retraced his steps to his own home, intending to get what
+information he could from the other members of his family as to how
+Estrella went away; reaching his domicile, he, at once, began to ply his
+father, who had returned from his daily toil, with various inquiries,
+but found him not only uncommunicative but, apparently, also uninformed
+as to what had taken place during his absence; all that the other
+members of the family knew was that Father Felix had come hurriedly to
+the house and had a short conversation with Estrella when she had packed
+a few personal effects, of which, indeed, the poor girl had but few, and
+left the place, telling them she would see them again from time to time
+and leaving kind farewells for both himself and his father.
+
+Then he remembered how intimate Estrella had always been with Tessa and
+decided his best course would be to go to her little friend, being well
+aware that any information she might have she would gladly give to him;
+he was hurrying along, intent upon this new hope of relief from his
+anxiety regarding the woman he imagined himself to be deeply in love
+with, when, all at once, he became aware that someone was following his
+footsteps, guardedly and yet with determination; immediately upon this
+knowledge, there stalked into the foreground of his consciousness the
+fear of discovery of his recent crime; the intimation of the Priest that
+he had suspected it had stirred within him the instinct of
+self-protection and he hastened his progress along the familiar and
+narrow street, hoping to out-distance his pursuer, whoever he might
+happen to be.
+
+It seemed to him that he was succeeding in this last effort and he was
+congratulating himself upon his own celerity, when a hand was laid
+rather heavily upon his shoulder and a loud and insistent voice declared
+him to be the prisoner of the owner of it.
+
+Instantly, Manuello became a beast of prey, cornered in its lair, and
+furious with all the animal instincts of self-preservation. He squirmed
+away from the heavy hand and whirled around to face his would-be captor
+and looked directly into the muzzle of a very capable gun held in steady
+hands that seemed well accustomed to its use.
+
+"Up wid ye'er fists, ye dirty spalpeen ye!" commanded the man behind the
+gun, using his own rich native brogue in the excitement of the moment.
+"Hould 'em right there ..." he went on, as Manuello, instinctively,
+though sullenly, obeyed him, "til I snap these putty bracelets on ye'er
+wrists!" fumbling in his pocket with one hand while he held the gun in
+the other, steadying it against his shoulder, for he had come prepared,
+knowing his prospective prisoner to be a desperate character. "There,
+now!" having completed his search and placed a handcuff on one of
+Manuello's wrists. "Up wid that one and over to its mate!"
+
+But his prisoner was indeed a desperate man and did not intend to yield
+to arrest as easily as it had appeared, at first; raising the manacled
+wrist, he brought the steel bracelets down on the red head of the
+Irishman, felling him to the ground; then it was but the work of a
+moment to secure the loaded gun, and, after that, the tables were
+completely turned for Manuello immediately became the master of the
+situation; looking hastily about him to be sure that he was unobserved,
+he was about to complete the utter defeat of the man who had given him
+such a terrific fright by beating his brains out with the clubbed gun,
+when he heard his own name spoken in a soft, low, scared voice; turning,
+he beheld little Tessa standing behind him.
+
+"Oh, Manuello," she cried, breathing pantingly, "what has happened here?
+Are you hurt? There is blood on your wrist ... and ..." here she stopped
+in consternation, "what else have you here?" for the Irishman had done,
+at least, a part of his work well, having locked the handcuff which the
+young man had almost forgotten he was wearing, "Take the hateful thing
+off, dear Manuello ... do take it off ... I don't like to see it on your
+wrist."
+
+"Easier said than done, my dear little Girl!" declared the victim,
+smilingly. "But we can fix that somehow; in the meantime, we will let
+this fellow lay where he has fallen. Someone of his tribe will, likely,
+be along, soon, and they can take care of each other. Come along, Tessa,
+we will see what we can do with this piece of jewelry ... it is rather
+unwieldy ... I don't like the look of it."
+
+The home of the young girl was not far distant and thither they
+repaired; after repeated efforts to file through or break the manacles,
+Tessa bethought herself of one possible method of releasing Manuello and
+acted upon her idea at once; running out upon the street she approached
+the place where the soldier had fallen, for he wore the uniform of the
+Spanish army, intending to feel in all of his pockets for a key that
+would unlock the handcuffs.
+
+As she drew near to the spot she heard low voices and crept along in the
+shadow of the shrubbery that lined the narrow street until she was
+within ear-shot; then she realized that two more soldiers had joined
+their fallen comrade whom they had resuscitated, so that he was relating
+to them something of the circumstances that had led to his present
+plight:
+
+"Ye see, b'ys," he was saying, "I wanted to arrist the spalpeen
+myself becase I think he is not only a revolutionist, but, also, a
+mhurderer ... a fella we arristed yesterday tould me that he thinks
+_this_ wan killed the leader of thim all ... seems he was jealous of
+him ... they both wanted the same ghirl...."
+
+Tessa, realizing that her errand was useless, turned to go back
+silently, but the words she had heard had burned themselves into her
+brain, and when she was again beside Manuello he seemed far different
+to her than he had before; she found him almost crazy from fear of
+discovery as he had failed in all of his efforts to free himself from
+the device that had been placed upon his wrist.
+
+"Did you get the key?" he demanded, almost fiercely. "Where is it? This
+cursed thing is almost killing me!"
+
+Frightened at his expression and regretting her inability to help him,
+the girl began to cry, lifting her apron to her eyes to wipe away her
+tears; as she did so, the young man said to her, angrily:
+
+"Well ... _stand_ there and cry while I am suffering ... you'll do a lot
+of good that way ... hustle out and see if you can't find some tool to
+get this thing off of me ... go to the village blacksmith and tell him
+some lie or other ... ask him how you can get an iron off your little
+sister's leg ... do something ... someone will come in and find me this
+way!"
+
+"Even if they did, Manuello ... you are not under arrest ... the man
+don't know where you are, now; but I'll go and try to find some way to
+help you ... of course I will ..." said the generous-hearted girl, "I am
+_so_ sorry for you, and, now, that Estrella is gone...."
+
+She hurried out, then, leaving the young fellow in no pleasant mood, for
+he had much to reflect upon and a pair of heavy handcuffs hanging to one
+wrist is not conducive to a man's happiness.
+
+Tessa soon returned and had to report that her efforts in his behalf
+were, again, unsuccessful, for the blacksmith had only said:
+
+"Bring the child to me and I will do what I can for her."
+
+Manuello was, now, almost in despair and he was wise enough to know that
+cursing, while it might relieve his feelings to some extent, would not
+really help the situation, so he pulled his sleeve down as far as he
+could over the manacled wrist and proceeded to find out what he could
+concerning Estrella.
+
+Tessa would have felt much freer than she did had she not remembered the
+words of the soldiers concerning the crime of which they suspected the
+young man, and only told him that Estrella had come running to her, that
+morning, and had told her that she was going away for a while but that
+she would see her again, soon.
+
+Manuello had to content himself with this, hoping to find out more from
+Tessa within a day or so, and went away, divided between a desire to
+revenge himself upon the man who had tried to arrest him and
+self-congratulation upon his escape, but most of all he pondered how to
+get the hateful handcuffs from his wrist, for, besides being painful and
+unwieldly, he knew that they would attract attention to him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Manuello was almost desperate regarding the manacles still clamped
+firmly on his wrist; it left his right hand free and he could use the
+fingers of the left hand, so he bound the wrist, placing the second
+handcuff above the one that was locked and laying it as close to the
+wrist as possible; he left his hand free as he could and simply told his
+family that he had cut the arm when engaged in practicing with the
+machete in the use of which weapon the Cuban insurgents were especially
+accomplished; this explanation of his supposed wound was sufficient and
+no one had any idea of the actual facts except Tessa and she was both
+too loyal to the young man and too frightened because of the reported
+crime he had committed to do anything but keep his secret inviolate; he
+depended upon her acknowledged affection for him and had no doubt that
+she would defend him if occasion required such a proceeding; his chief
+anxiety, at present, was to find out the where-abouts of Estrella, for
+he was of a fiery and passionate nature and the disappearance of the
+girl but added to his desire for her.
+
+On the morning after the accident he had sustained he started out with
+the determination to discover where Estrella had gone, for, as she had
+said that she would soon see his own family as well as little Tessa, he
+reasoned that she could not have gone very far away; so he began his
+search by climbing to the top of the hill behind the village, intending
+to try to locate her hiding-place by the simple method of checking off
+in his own mind impossible localities for concealment and then deciding
+which of the probable ones to investigate; having reached the point of
+vantage he wished, he began by cutting out the refectory ... then his
+own home ... then Tessa's dwelling-place ... then numerous small houses
+where he knew it would be practically impossible for another human being
+to be entertained in.
+
+Just as he had reached this point in his revery, his attention was
+attracted to the mansion on the hill, and he began to observe, closely,
+the movements of every one who came to or went from the house; he did
+not really suspect that Estrella was there, but his mind wandered idly
+over the residences within his view and lighted upon the mansion on the
+hill as something different from the other dwellings he could see.
+
+As he watched the gateway of Ruth Wakefield's residence, he noticed,
+emerging from it, old Mage whom he remembered as being there, in what he
+considered to be the capacity of an upper servant; he looked at the old
+woman because she happened to be in his line of vision and not because
+he had any curiosity concerning her movements; but the nature of the
+errand upon which she seemed to be bound not only surprised, but amused,
+him, for she carried in her hand a large basket of choice cut flowers,
+and, from time to time, as she walked along, she stooped to gather dried
+leaves that had fallen in the pathway with which she seemed trying to
+conceal the contents of her basket; she seemed satisfied, at last, and
+ceased to gather leaves, while she quickened her pace to a sort of slow
+amble which gait she maintained until she had passed beyond Manuello's
+view; he wondered, idly, why she covered the flowers, and was about to
+move to a point which commanded a more perfect view of the pathway, when
+his attention was again attracted to the gateway of the Wakefield
+residence.
+
+This time, it was quite a different person who appeared between the high
+stone pillars ... a tall woman, evidently young and active, plainly but
+serviceably dressed, stood, for a moment, shading her eyes with her hand
+from the glaring sunlight, peering down the pathway along which old Mage
+had just been walking; she remained in this position but a very short
+time, however, for she was, soon, joined by another woman who seemed as
+much interested as she had been in watching the pathway; as the two
+young creatures stood there, side by side, Manuello could not but remark
+upon the similarity of their forms and general appearance ... both were
+evidently strong and agile ... both seemed possessed of bounding health
+and youthful vigor; it seemed to him that one of the women looked more
+sturdy than the other one did, but, as she was wearing a wide and
+drooping hat, such as many of the natives of the Island were accustomed
+to wear, he could not see her face; as she approached the woman who had
+first appeared in the gateway, there was something in her manner that
+seemed familiar to the young fellow, and, as she put one hand, gently,
+on the other's shoulder, he, again, seemed to recognize something
+familiar in the movement; then she spoke, and, although he was too far
+away to hear her words, he knew the tones of her voice, and realized
+that his search for Estrella was ended.
+
+As this knowledge was fully impressed upon him he cast about in his mind
+as to what method of procedure to take to bring about his desired end
+which was to see and talk with the girl, himself, as soon as possible;
+first, he thought to approach the house as a fruit-peddler, but put that
+thought aside as unlikely to attain his object ... then, he decided to
+spy around the place until he located Estrella's own room, intending to
+bring his guitar and sing under her window some native love-songs,
+hoping to impress upon her his undying affection and imagining that, now
+that Victorio was out of the way, his cause would be more likely to
+succeed than before.
+
+He had started out to carry this intention into practice, leaving his
+original position among the heavy timber that skirted the hill, and
+going more into the open than before in order to more closely approach
+the house, when he became aware of another presence in the wooded
+section that he had just left; he could not make out just what this
+presence was ... his ideas concerning it were hazy and uncertain, but he
+felt sure that he was not alone and, now that he had left the timber, it
+seemed to him that the unknown presence was following close behind him;
+he turned sharply around but discovered nothing behind him and kept on
+in the direction he had been proceeding in, although his nerves were
+keyed up and ready to jump at the slightest sound; suddenly, directly in
+front of him, he heard a voice saying:
+
+"Do not approach any nearer to her. If you insist upon doing so you must
+take the consequences which are freighted with bitter pain for you."
+
+It seemed to Manuello that this voice was within himself and came from
+his own thoughts and, yet, it seemed, also, to be in the pathway ahead
+of him, separated from him and yet a part of him; he hesitated, as above
+everything else, the natives of Cuba are superstitious and Manuello was
+no exception to this rule; his own criminal record, naturally, made him
+timid; besides, Estrella's evidently favored position as a member of the
+household of Ruth Wakefield elevated the girl in his estimation, for
+everyone in that neighborhood had great respect, amounting almost to
+veneration, for the inmates of the mansion on the hill.
+
+The young man stopped in his progress toward the house and turned his
+attention, for an anxious moment, to his manacled wrist, which gave him
+a great deal of uneasiness and some suffering as well; as he held this
+wrist with his free right hand, he had his back toward the path that led
+down into the village, and was unaware of the nearness of Father Felix
+until the good Priest touched him on the elbow; wheeling round,
+instantly, he faced the only man he was not afraid to meet among his
+neighbors; for, although the Priest had told him he knew that he
+possessed a guilty secret, yet he, also was aware of Father Felix' usual
+kindness and protection exercised over his people, so that it was with a
+feeling of relief that he discovered who the new-comer was.
+
+"My Son," said the Priest, "you are abroad early ... what news have you
+heard in the village, this morning?"
+
+Manuello looked at him searchingly as if to discover why he asked him
+this question, wondering if he had heard of his own encounter of the
+evening before, but failing to gain any knowledge of the secret thoughts
+of the Priest, he said at random:
+
+"Everything is about as usual, I guess ... nothing startling seems to
+have happened during the night."
+
+"I heard," began Father Felix, "I heard that a soldier had been struck
+down by some marauder shortly after the time of your leaving my society,
+last night, and I thought you might have happened to be in the vicinity
+of the crime. By-the-way," he went on, solicitously, "what has happened
+to your left wrist?"
+
+"Oh ... that!" said Manuello, carelessly. "That is simply a love token
+from the machete of a friend of mine while we were sparring for
+practice; as you said, last night, Cuba may have need of us fighting-men
+soon, and we wish to be ready to take our proper place when the time for
+action comes."
+
+"Well, be careful of your weapons, my Son ... save your steel for your
+enemies and those of your native land."
+
+Speaking in this manner, the good Priest pursued his journey up the hill
+and disappeared within the gateway where Manuello had, only very
+recently, seen Estrella standing with the mistress of the mansion; he
+decided, under the existing circumstances, to retrace his steps toward
+the village, contenting himself with the thought that he now knew where
+Estrella was; he thought that he might as well impart this information
+to little Tessa, and, also, he wanted to find out whether she had heard
+anything more about his encounter with the soldier on the street, also
+if she had thought of any way whereby he might be freed from the
+manacles which became more and more distressing and uncomfortable.
+
+With this thought in his mind, he was approaching Tessa's home when he
+was intercepted by the very individual he meant to inquire about.
+
+"What the divil!" exclaimed the Irishman. "Sky-larking by daylight
+_this_ toime, me foine high-way-mon?"
+
+Manuello had drawn back, prepared to again bring the hated handcuffs
+down upon the poll of the man before him, if he offered any indignities,
+when he was surprised to notice a wheedling tone in the voice of his
+opponent of the evening before.
+
+"Indade, mon," began the soldier, "I am in need of those putty bracelets
+I gave ye, last night; a prisint like them is not bestowed ivry day, I
+tell yees. The only thanks ye give me was a crack on me head wid em
+which took away but little of me sinse as I had but little in the
+beginning.... I might have known betther than to have tackled a foine,
+up-standin' fella like yees, single-handed. Yer a foine figure of a mon,
+me Frind, and I'd like mighty well to serve be the side of ye ... how
+would it _do_, now, fer ye to enlist in the arrmy and give me back me
+bracelets if I spake a good worrd fer ye wid me Captain?"
+
+Manuello looked at him in surprise, but, seeing a chance to get rid of
+the hateful manacles, decided to agree to the proposition of the other,
+at least for the time being.
+
+"All right," he acquiesced, "go ahead and take these cursed thing off
+me, first, and then tell me where you want me to go."
+
+The wary Irishman watched the face of the Cuban, doubtfully, but, as he
+really wished to be able to account for the handcuffs, he took the key
+from his pocket and stepped a little closer to the young fellow in order
+to use it, being careful to keep a firm hold on his gun the while; just
+as he was about to unlock the manacles, he heard a slight noise behind
+him and looked out of the tail of his eye to be horrified by the near
+proximity of one of his superior officers; instantly, he changed his
+attitude toward Manuello, dropped the key, and pointed his Mauser rifle
+straight at the heart of his prisoner.
+
+"Ye will ... will yees?" he cried out. "Oi'll see about that, ye
+Spalpeen! Shtand shtill unless ye want a bullet in yer gullet! Now,
+Sir," he said politely to the officer, "ef ye'll be ahfter clicking the
+other bracelet on his right wrist whilst I kape him covered, Oi'll be
+much obleeged to ye. He's a nasty customer, Sir," he explained, kindly,
+"and Oi've been havin' a rough toime wid 'em."
+
+The Spanish officer stepped gingerly up to the prisoner, seized hold of
+the manacled wrist and reached for the other uplifted hand; but
+Manuello had had enough of their society and proceeded to rid himself
+of it by striking at the officer with his left wrist while he made a
+grab at the rifle of the Irishman with his right hand; the young Cuban
+was wiry and his muscles were like taut steel; the officer went down
+like an ox before the slaughterer but the Irishman discharged his gun
+regardless of the aim which had been destroyed by the action of the
+living target; the result was disastrous to all parties for Manuello
+felt a sharp, stinging pain in one of his legs, but, in spite of this,
+he clubbed the rifle and brought it down over the skull of the Spanish
+soldier, limping away, again a conqueror, but sorely wounded, for the
+bullet had passed clear through the injured limb, tearing through the
+flesh and bone as is the manner of the long and slender Mauser missile.
+
+In this emergency, the young fellow, knowing that he would be hunted
+after the last encounter, not only because of the crime of which he had
+tacitly been accused by the soldier but because he had struck down a
+Spanish officer, and realizing that, with the manacles still locked upon
+his wrist, he was a marked man, bethought him of a deserted hut far back
+among the palms that grew all over the Island in tropical profusion; if
+he could but reach this hut, he thought, and first apprise Tessa of his
+new mishap, he might hide there while he recovered from his wound which
+was beginning to give him great pain as it recovered from its first
+numbness.
+
+Walking as erectly as he could under the circumstances and keeping his
+left wrist well covered by the wide cuff of his jacket-sleeve, he was
+proceeding along the familiar street, when he met the girl he was in
+search of, strolling placidly along, little dreaming of the imminent
+peril in which he had just been placed, for the discharge of the Mauser
+rifle had been almost as silent as smokeless; telling her in a few
+hurried sentences of his great need and describing to her the location
+of the ruined hut he had in mind, Manuello retired from the scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Tessa was very much distressed as to the condition of Manuello and,
+feeling that he depended upon her alone, cast about in her mind as to
+how she could assist him; to begin with, she was anxious about the heavy
+handcuffs hanging to his poor wrist, as she put it in her gentle
+thoughts of the man whom she suspected of being a murderer; if, however,
+the charge against him were true, she felt that the crime was committed
+in the heat of a jealous passion, and being what she was, herself, she
+excused it for that reason, for a Cuban girl is apt to love as madly
+and as unreasonably as any man ... to her, Manuello was almost a
+demi-god ... it had been a hard trial for the little woman to give him
+up to Estrella, even, and, now that he was in dire need and the girl of
+his first choice had deliberately deserted him, it seemed to her as if
+she had the right to let her own wild love guide her in all that she did
+with regard to him.
+
+She was slowly retracing her steps to her own home with the intention of
+getting some supplies and managing to evade the vigilance of the rest of
+her family sufficiently to carry them to the man she loved ... her eyes
+were directed to the path along which she walked, idly, yet, all at
+once, those dark eyes lighted up with sudden joy and she hastily swooped
+down, like a fluffy little bird upon a morsel of food, and took into her
+hand a small and intricate-patterned key; she hoped that this was the
+key that would unlock the hated manacles from Manuello's wrist and,
+regarding this as a good omen, she concealed the little deliverer in her
+bosom, tying it in the corner of the kerchief that was crossed upon her
+breast.
+
+When Tessa had secured what necessities she found available on the spur
+of the moment, she at once concealed them as far as possible and
+prepared to ascend the side of the hill toward the ruined hut where
+Manuello had directed her to come; her heart was fluttering wildly for
+this was her first secret mission, as she had always had someone near
+her during her short life on earth: she wound her way among the cactus
+plants that covered the ground in almost all directions, with an
+unerring instinct that was of more value to her than any education could
+have been for the moment, for one unaccustomed to the wild cacti in Cuba
+might, easily, become bewildered, as it is necessary to walk almost in
+circles among the thick clumps of prickly foliage.
+
+Tessa was young, but the women of Cuba, like those of most tropical
+countries, mature early in life, and she already had the strong maternal
+instinct that is a part of normal womanhood; this instinct now directed
+her to watch over Manuello as if he were, indeed, her child, instead of
+the man to whom she had given the first wild love of her fiery nature;
+for women are made that way ... no matter what their own body may demand
+of them, it is as natural for them to put all personal feeling aside and
+allow a higher, more unselfish love to rule them entirely, as it is for
+a man to, first gratify his own desires, and, then, if so be he can
+without inconvenience to himself in any way, minister to the wants of
+the woman in the case, all well and good, but if, on the contrary, to
+care for the woman would, in any way, cause him to exercise self-control
+and self-sacrifice, why, of course, he seeks another woman as soon as he
+can well rid himself of the one who has flouted him; I am now speaking
+of the general run of men ... there are exceptions to this rule, of
+course, just as there are exceptions to the rule just stated regarding
+women ... not all women are as little Tessa was, but most of them are
+and it is indeed fortunate for the world of men and women that this is
+as it is ... wonderful beyond the ways of human beings is the love of a
+pure woman ... wonderful and worthy of the highest respect and devotion
+of any man is the almost angelic love that women often bestow on most
+unworthy objects.
+
+It was so in this case, for, while the girl was winding among the cacti
+that hindered her advance up the hill, the man was lying in a miserable
+heap in the corner of the deserted hut, cursing not only his own hard
+luck, but even the girl on whom he depended for sustenance and care;
+with maledictions on his tongue and the heavy manacles on his wrist, and
+with the increasing pain and torment of his undressed wound, the poor
+fellow was far from appearing much as had the gay peasant who had
+congratulated himself on having escaped from prison, and, at the same
+time, having rid himself of his rival in the affections of Estrella,
+who, now, seemed lost to him.
+
+When the girl reached the ruined hut she found the object of her loving
+care under the circumstances described above, and it took all of her
+courage to face the situation alone and unaided by surgical skill for
+they both realized that discovery would be almost certain to be fatal to
+the man who now lay groaning and cursing by turns, even while his
+ministering angel in human form knelt at his side and unlocked the
+handcuffs from his wrist, for, luckily, she had happened upon the very
+means of deliverance from the manacles for which they had both longed;
+then Tessa gathered dead palm branches with which she fashioned a rude
+bed for the sufferer, after which she raised his head upon a small
+pillow which she had thoughtfully brought with her, for she was a sturdy
+little peasant and could act as a beast of burden without harm to
+herself; having fixed him up as comfortably as she could, under the hard
+circumstances, she insisted upon his eating and drinking some of the
+refreshments she had carried up the hill for him; she had used what
+skill she had in bathing and binding the wounded leg, and, as the bullet
+had gone clear through, there was little else to do so far as that was
+concerned; then they began to consult as to what method of procedure
+would be best for them to take; in this, of course, Manuello thought
+only of himself, as was natural to a man of his type, while little
+Tessa, as was also natural to one of her trusting and loving
+disposition, also thought only of his comfort and safety.
+
+"I must come to you each day until the wound heals, my dear Friend,"
+said the earnest little woman. "I must bring you what you will need and
+I must be very careful not to be detected in doing this. I wish ..." she
+ended, earnestly, "I wish that dear Estrella could come and see you for
+it would do you more good than anything that I can do for you."
+
+"You are a darling little girl, Tessa," said her turbulent patient. "You
+ought to satisfy any reasonable man; Estrella don't care anything at all
+about me, and I am beginning to think that I can get along without her
+as long as I can have you."
+
+The adoring look in his dark eyes as he said these words was like manna
+in the wilderness to little Tessa, for she could not help being pleased
+to think that, after all, maybe Manuello would fix his affections upon
+her small person, since Estrella had so often flouted him and shown him
+plainly by her great preference for Victorio that she did not love him;
+the name she had just used in her thoughts brought up the hateful
+suspicion aroused in her by the remarks of the Irishman who had seemed,
+at first glance, to be a Spaniard, but who, as soon as he opened his
+mouth to speak, proved his nationality beyond the shadow of a doubt.
+
+But the loving girl put her thought aside almost at once ... she did not
+wish to believe the suspicion to be true and she did not intend to
+believe it--until she had to, if such a sad time could ever come to her;
+just at present all the strength of her being was concentrated upon the
+desire to aid Manuello in whatever manner she could.
+
+To further this desire, she arranged a signal whereby he might know that
+she was coming up the hill and concealed, as well as she could the
+approach to the hiding-place as well as the hut itself, by throwing, in
+apparent disorder, as if blown by a strong wind, such branches and twigs
+as she could find by a hurried search.
+
+She did not stay any longer than she thought was necessary for the
+comfort of her patient for she was determined to continue her care of
+him if possible and realized that a prolonged absence from her own home
+might bring suspicion upon them both; as she was leaving, she looked
+pitifully weak and small to cope with such a complicated situation
+alone; even Manuello realized, for a moment, the devotion of the girl,
+and called her over to his side to say a word or two at parting.
+
+"Dear little Tessa," he began, "this is going to be a hard task that you
+have undertaken. I wonder if I am worth all this trouble. Perhaps you
+would just better turn me over to the soldiers and let them work their
+will on me; it may be that I will never be able to reward you for all
+your care; of course, it may, on the other hand, be possible for me to
+offer you help and comfort when you, yourself, may be in need of it. Now
+that you have freed me from those shackles, I begin to feel my old
+strength and courage coming back, and if I ever am again as I was before
+this last mishap, I will surely reward you somehow for all this
+sacrifice that you are making for me."
+
+This speech, coming from a man in the condition of Manuello, appealed to
+the little woman so forcibly that she knelt beside his rude couch and
+laid both her small, dark hands on his brow as she looked deeply into
+his eyes; this position, being very favorable to the impulse that came
+over the man as he lay there, made it easy for him to draw her head,
+with its great mass of black hair, down upon his shoulder; as her cheek
+was laid against his own, Manuello held her small face closely with both
+his hands while he kissed first her trembling lips, then each of her
+eye-lids, for she had closed her eyes in a sort of blind ecstasy, then
+her low forehead, then the top of her small head and, finally, her
+quivering chin.
+
+The impulse that prompted him to give these welcome caresses lasted only
+a moment for the pain in his leg was beginning to be very insistent and
+a groan of agony took the place of the loving words that had been upon
+his eager tongue during the moment when he forgot his wound, but the
+effect of those few wild moments of unbridled passion went with the
+little woman down the hill and covered her small body with a delicious
+glow that took away much of the terror and apprehension with which she
+viewed the situation in which she found herself.
+
+Ruth Wakefield found Estrella to be much more of a companion than she
+had thought she would, and found that, in the innocence and naturally
+responsive disposition of the girl, she could almost forget the tie that
+had brought them together; had the girl suspected the truth as to
+Victorio's relations with the mistress of the mansion on the hill, the
+situation might have been strained or even acute, but, as it was, Ruth
+only pitied, while she almost envied, the sorrow of the sweetheart of
+her own husband.
+
+On the morning when Manuello had discovered the where-abouts of
+Estrella, the two women had been watching for Father Felix, intending to
+consult with him concerning something that they both wished to do and
+yet were not sure of the wisdom of; when he came, they both waited,
+anxiously, for his first words, for they depended upon them for
+enlightenment regarding a question in which they were both much
+interested.
+
+"Miss Ruth and Estrella," he began, addressing both women, "I have great
+news for you but we must be cautious in discussing what I have to impart
+to you; if, through our carelessness, the information I am about to give
+you, should miscarry, it might mean almost as great a disaster as the
+recent explosion in Havana Harbor. We must be sure that we are not
+overheard. I think we would better repair to the library, Miss Ruth, if
+that would meet with your approval. I think we would be more secure from
+eaves-droppers inside the house than here. I just met Manuello, my
+Dear," he said speaking to Estrella, "as I came up the path. I do not
+like to have him lurking around your dwelling-place. I am sure that he
+is in some sort of hiding from the authorities and I dread to have him
+near you, for he has an evil look in his eyes, lately. Be very careful,
+my Daughter, as you go about the place or into the village ... it might
+even be well for you to remain away from your former home for some time
+to come. I can carry any news of you that will be necessary for them to
+know or do any little errands that you may think should be done.
+By-the-way," he ended, turning his attention, once more, to Ruth, "I met
+your old nurse hurrying along down toward the village as if in great
+haste; as she does not often walk down the hill I noticed the
+circumstances."
+
+"Old Mage!" exclaimed Ruth. "Why, I did not know that she had gone out.
+Do you know anything of this, Estrella? Did she tell you that she had
+work to do in the village? Was there something that had to be secured
+for the larder, at once, that would not brook delay? Dear me, I hope she
+will not over-tire herself. She is not very strong any more and I try to
+have her, always, take very good care of herself. As you may know, good
+Father," she went on, "old Mage is almost the only living human friend
+on whom I can rely and her fealty to me is beyond question. If I should
+find old Mage untrue to me," she declared, "I would not expect the sun
+to rise the following morning. I must look into this, and, if you will
+excuse me for a few moments, I will do so at once."
+
+"Now, my Daughter," said the Priest when Estrella and he were left
+alone, "I wish to say to you, privately, that you must, from this time
+on, avoid meeting Manuello in any way, both for yourself and also for
+the well-being of your good friend, Miss Ruth; the fellow is
+evil-minded, lately, and I believe would not stop at robbery or even,
+though I greatly regret to think so, _murder_," he uttered the dreadful
+word softly but emphatically, "if he believed that he would benefit by
+either crime and I must urge you not to allow him to come here to see
+you under any possible circumstances. As I said before, I can do what
+must be done as between your former family and yourself."
+
+Estrella gladly acquiesced in this good judgment of Father Felix and
+agreed to do all in her power to avoid meeting Manuello which she had no
+desire, personally, to do, as she dreaded his protestations of love as
+much as she would have dreaded his anger for any other reason in the
+common affairs of daily life.
+
+In a short time, Ruth returned, explaining that old Mage had, indeed,
+gone down to the village, though for what purpose she had been unable,
+so far, to discover: they, then, repaired to the library and carefully
+closed all doors and windows before Father Felix began to tell them what
+they were so anxious to hear.
+
+"My dear Friends," he began, "the information that I have to impart to
+you is of a very delicate as well as secret nature and must be so
+regarded by both of you. Estrella, to you, especially, I wish to say
+that you must not, under any circumstances, breathe a single word of
+what I will say to you for it is of vital importance to the native land,
+as I believe, of all three of us. For I have reason to think that you,
+as well as Miss Ruth and myself, are an American. I know that all of
+your sympathies are with our native land, at least, and, in trusting you
+with this information, I am, in a measure, making you one of us in deed
+and in truth, whether you are so by reason of your birth or not. Before
+I go any further, I want your assurance of what I believe to be true."
+
+He waited a moment for the girl to speak, then, seeing her evident
+embarrassment, he added, kindly:
+
+"You need have no fear of either of us, Estrella. If you have friends in
+this wide world, you are with two of them at this moment."
+
+At these earnest words, the expression of the girl's face changed
+somewhat and she replied to the implied interrogatory of the Priest:
+
+"I, also, believe that I am an American, although I do not know anything
+of my own parentage beyond what my foster parents have told me. I do not
+even know," she blushed while she made the statement, "whether my father
+and mother had been married before my birth.... I have no means of
+finding out anything more of myself than that I am an honest girl and
+that I am deeply grateful to both you and Miss Ruth for your great
+kindness to me in my great sorrow. As far as my fealty to America is
+concerned," she ended, proudly, "I am as true to that great country as
+anyone who knows himself to be a citizen of it. I would, gladly, lay my
+feeble life upon the altar of what I believe to be my native land ...
+the United States of America."
+
+She pronounced the words with reverence and bowed her head as if in
+prayer, so that Father Felix no longer hesitated, but proceeded, at
+once:
+
+"At this moment, an American squadron is in Asiatic waters, ready to
+move, at the moment its Commander receives the cablegram from the
+President of our own country, against the Spaniard, almost on his own
+territory. By this move it is hoped to so cripple him that we, here, in
+Cuba, may, with the help of our soldiers and sailors, conquer and drive
+from the Island those who have so long usurped the places of great power
+among us."
+
+When the good Priest had pronounced these fateful words, he found his
+two auditors sitting erect, as if at attention, with hands folded in
+their laps, and eyes fixed upon his face in breathless eagerness. Ruth
+was the first to break the silence.
+
+"I pray the good God," she said, softly and reverently, "I pray God to
+strengthen the hands of those who are to do this great, good work! I
+trust that those who will be engaged in battle may be prepared to meet
+their Maker with clean hearts, if with bloody hands. War," she cried,
+suddenly, losing her attitude of prayer in the violence of her emotions,
+"war is a terrible calamity but it seems that, only through war can a
+nation be purged of such foul crimes as have been committed right here
+in Cuba."
+
+Estrella watched her with flashing eyes and sympathetic expression and
+the good Priest crossed himself and clenched his fists at the same
+time, for, had occasion required such action at his hands, it was
+evident that Father Felix could have changed from the spiritual guide to
+the fiery enthusiast willing to take his place among the fighting men
+who would defend what he believed to be a sacred cause.
+
+"Now, Father Felix," demanded the practical side of Ruth Wakefield,
+"what action can we take in this matter to help the good cause? Is there
+not some preparation that we can make to welcome our soldiers to Cuba,
+for, of course," she lifted her head, proudly, "our boys will win
+whatever conflict they may become engaged in ... it is only a question
+as to how many of them may be injured or even killed in the terrible
+encounter. Every man in America," said this American woman, "is a
+soldier if he is needed in that capacity, for every American, man, woman
+or child, is a _patriot_ ... devoted to the sacred traditions and
+splendid example of those who followed _George Washington_ to victory
+over those who had oppressed and insulted them."
+
+"My Daughters," said Father Felix, rising, "I must leave you for the
+present. I will find out what we may do to assist our countrymen and
+will come again to let you know the result of my search for further
+information. All we can do, now, is to hold the information I have just
+given to you inviolate and prepare ourselves, spiritually, to meet
+whatever emergency may arise. My Daughters," he ended, stretching out
+his hands in blessing over their bowed heads, "we shall have work to do
+and we will do it with our might. May God, in His great Mercy, guide us
+into the path in which He intended us to walk."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+On the day of Manuello's search for the girl he had so madly and
+hopelessly loved, old Mage made a surreptitious visit to the little
+cemetery in San Domingo where she had seen the body of Victorio Colenzo
+laid away in its final resting-place; she went among the new-made
+graves, of which there were a goodly number for so small a graveyard,
+until she found the one she sought: she stopped, then, took the dried
+leaves from the top of her large basket, removed a beautiful bunch of
+roses, tied, carefully, with a broad blue ribbon, and laid them, softly,
+upon the top of the mound of fresh earth; after having done this, she
+took a small object wrapped in tissue paper, from the very bottom of the
+basket, dug a small hole under the roses and buried it, covering it
+carefully, packing the ground over it, at first, and, then putting loose
+earth over the top of the miniature grave, so as to conceal its
+existence as much as possible, she again laid the roses carelessly over
+the spot.
+
+Having performed this little ceremony, old Mage looked down at her
+handiwork and said, apparently addressing herself, as no other human
+being was in sight at the time:
+
+"There! _Now_ I hope that she will forget all about him ... she will
+think that she has mislaid the ring ... I had a hard time to get hold of
+it. I hope that it will never come to life again any more than him ...
+let them both lay there together. You lying pup, you!" she cried,
+shaking her trembling old fist at the grave. "You _lay_ there and don't
+you ever try to come near my dear young Lady again! The _idea_ of an
+ignorant thing like you ever daring to come near her, anyway. I wouldn't
+be so darned mad at you," she ended, "for you were a mighty good-looking
+fellow and any woman might have been proud of your appearance, once she
+could overlook your dark skin, but you even fooled _me_, doggone you!
+You _lay_ there, now, and never do you dare to try to fool any more
+women ... three of us is enough in _this_ neighborhood, anyway."
+
+She drew a long sigh of relief after this speech and hurried out of the
+cemetery with her empty basket; she had slipped away when she thought no
+one was observing her and intended to tell Ruth after her return what
+she had done with the exception of any reference to the ring which, as
+the reader may have guessed, was the wedding ring that Ruth had, up to
+this time, kept always on her left hand or in her jewel-case on her
+little dressing-table before which she always sat when she combed and
+brushed her long and beautifully luxuriant brown hair; she had taken
+the ring off the night before, little dreaming that she was touching it
+for the last time, and sadly laid it among her jewels, thinking of the
+bright face and laughing dark eyes that had looked so handsome to her
+when he had put that little ring upon her finger, whispering of his
+undying love and of the fact that she and she alone was, and had been
+since his first meeting with her, the entire mistress of his hither-to
+untouched heart; she had even shed a few tears over the little ring,
+then, and old Mage, silently witnessing this fact, determined that she
+should never again have that opportunity; so, after Ruth was sweetly
+sleeping, the old woman slipped into her room and removed the object of
+her scorn; she lay awake almost all of that night, planning how to
+secrete or do away with the visible bond that had united her dear young
+Lady to an unworthy mate; at length, toward daylight, it seemed to old
+Mage as if someone had whispered to her what to do with the ring so that
+poetic justice would be done to the first youthful passion of Ruth
+Wakefield's innocent life; acting upon this suggestion, for so it seemed
+to her, feeling sure that she had solved the problem so nearly affecting
+the life of the one she loved best in all her world, she carried out the
+plan she instantly formed, and, while she was a very weary old woman,
+from lack of sleep and unusual exercise, when she again reached her
+much-loved home, she had within her spirit a sense of satisfaction that
+was beyond anything she had felt since Ruth had married the man whose
+grave she had, that morning, visited; she felt, in some sense, to blame
+for the marriage, as she had not strenuously opposed it, and found
+herself much in the position she used to occupy when Ruth had been a
+little tot and she had allowed her to do some small thing of which she
+knew her parents would not approve.
+
+Now, she felt relieved because, as it seemed to her, she had sort of
+evened up matters, and, after informing Ruth that she had gone to the
+grave and put the roses there, she never intended to speak of Victorio
+Colenzo again, and, as far as possible, she intended to rid Ruth of his
+memory; with this thought in mind, she picked up many little memontos of
+him which she found lying about the place ... a guitar here and a ribbon
+there ... a photograph, perhaps, showing the dashing young Cuban in
+military dress, which much became him, or mounted on a fine horse which
+he, for the moment, had secured the use of ... even in one picture he
+appeared standing, proudly, behind Ruth as if protecting her; all of
+these and anything else that old Mage could find that would inevitably
+remind Ruth of the man she had married, she destroyed ruthlessly and
+with inward glee; her object in all this was, really, to protect her
+dear young Lady, and, yet, at the same time, she had as nearly a
+fiendish delight as it was possible for her ever to entertain, in, as
+she naively put it to herself, "getting even" with the handsome fellow
+who had "pulled the wool over" her own eyes as well as the brighter and
+stronger ones of her young Lady.
+
+Ruth Wakefield was never enlightened as to this little by-play, but she
+reaped the benefits of it in many ways, for it is true that visible
+reminders are necessary to a great many people, and, even the strongest
+minds are affected by the sudden sight of something reminding them of
+some object formerly dear to them; it will give almost anyone a start to
+come, unexpectedly, upon a picture or almost any tangible token of
+someone once dear, no matter what may have happened to take away that
+quality; lovers, by preserving evidence, like withered flowers,
+pictures, songs and poems, often lay up for themselves future agony of
+spirit ... the objects that are so dear to them may turn about and rend
+their inmost souls; full many times, it were better had the love-tokens
+been destroyed in some such way as old Mage did away with the visible
+memories attached to the objects which her eager hands closed upon; this
+secret employment, necessarily long drawn out, as she did not wish to be
+discovered in her labor of love, took up a good deal of the extra time
+she found herself in possession of on account of the presence of
+Estrella in the home, for the girl took up many household duties, gladly
+and naturally, knowing that in work she could, to some extent, forget
+her own sorrow, and wishing to lighten the labors of old Mage who was
+always kind to her.
+
+After the information imparted to Ruth by Father Felix, regarding
+national affairs, she was very thoughtful and very busy, for there were
+very many ways in which she could make preparations to begin the duties
+which she expected to take up as soon as occasion would require them of
+her; she studied into trained nursing and found a sort of school in
+Havana to which she took Estrella and where they both learned many
+essential things pertaining to the calling which they were both trying
+to fit themselves for; in many ways they were both better prepared for
+the work of caring for the sick and wounded than many women would ever
+become, no matter how much they would be trained, for they were both
+earnest and helpful, tender-hearted and serious; in all wars, there are
+women who seek the familiar association with men which the calling of a
+nurse entails, with no better object than just the proximity to
+masculine humanity involved, but there are, also, such women as Ruth
+Wakefield who had no thought in the matter except to help where help of
+her should anywhere be needed ... to succor those who were not to blame
+for the accidents that had befallen them ... who were, indeed, entitled
+to the tenderest consideration on account of the very accidents which
+had laid them on the clean, white cots that are stretched along the
+wards and in the private rooms of the great, shadowy hospitals where
+tender women bend above the beds of pain and minister to those who lie
+there, suffering and weak, both in body and spirit.
+
+On one of these numerous visits to Havana, Ruth met a man who was an old
+friend of her father's who was much interested in her lonely life and
+who came out to her home to consult with her regarding the prospects of
+her being surrounded by the din and pomp of actual warfare; at first, as
+he viewed the situation she was placed in, he felt as Father Felix had
+as to her staying in Cuba, in her immediate future, but listened to her
+patriotic resolve with high enthusiasm, as he was intensely patriotic
+himself and loved to think that she was every inch an American although
+her life had, almost all of it, been spent away from her native land.
+
+Just as this man was leaving her home, one day, for he had been making
+frequent visits there, he turned to look at her as she stood between the
+pillar-like gate-posts at the entrance to the drive that led to her
+residence; the picture she made, standing there in the glow of the
+setting sun, lingered in his memory long after he had ceased to see her
+as he saw her, then; Ruth was very fond of flowers and often wore a rose
+tucked in among the coils of her beautiful, shining hair; that evening,
+her selection among her flowers for this use had been a bunch of English
+violets; the deep blue of the dainty blossoms accentuated the clear
+gray color of her star-like eyes ... her healthy skin reflected the
+sunset after-glow which was beginning to appear in the western sky; her
+small mouth, with its cute corners, puckered up as if, she used to say
+when a child, it had been too large to begin with and had been shirred
+at the corners to make it the desired size, registered each change of
+her inner feelings; her dress was elegant, yet simple, and her poise was
+splendid; there are few earthly women who have sufficient poise of
+manner and of nervous strength; most of them become excited and
+distraught under slight stress of circumstances, but Ruth Wakefield was
+an exception to this very general rule; there were very few things that
+could shake her from her serenity of purpose and intention; one of these
+things was being a witness to any injustice ... an indignity put upon a
+weaker creature by a stronger one, whether the creature be gifted with
+the power to express its feelings in human speech or not; those who knew
+her best, were well aware of her strong regard for the rights of
+so-called "dumb animals" ... her loving sympathy went out to every old
+or poorly cared for horse she saw; she had been heard to say that she
+would dearly love to have a good pasture, with waving grasses and
+running water and sheltering trees where she could gather together all
+the illy-used horses in the world and then just watch them enjoy their
+surroundings; the smaller creatures, also, were her friends ... little
+Tid-i-wats, to whom we have already been introduced, was a feline of
+very uncertain temper and most impulsive and nerve-racking little
+habits, yet to Ruth she could always go and be sure of a loving
+reception no matter to what lengths she had gone, for Tid-i-wats was far
+from being a perfect little cat; she very often reverted to her original
+type and did things that no cat with a civilized ancestry would have
+even thought could _be_ done; but she knew that Ruth would only say:
+
+"She is not feeling very well, today; she is beginning to show her years
+a little; I noticed a white hair only today, on her little neck; she is
+my own old baby-cat, anyway, and I will always take as good care of her
+as I possibly can."
+
+She would watch Ruth, calmly, while she straightened out whatever she,
+her own self, had made it necessary to straighten, and, then, when the
+young woman would, finally, sit down, no matter where Tid-i-wats
+happened to be located at the time, she would very soon land on Ruth's
+lap with no fear of a scolding even; she took advantage of the gentle
+disposition of her care-taker, same as so many humans did.
+
+Ruth's father's friend looked long and earnestly at the tall, straight,
+slender figure standing there at the entrance to her almost palatial
+home and the picture remained in his memory during the balance of his
+earthly life.
+
+While Ruth Wakefield and Estrella were preparing themselves to assist
+their fellow-countrymen in case they should be needed, events were
+shaping themselves so that it seemed likely that Cuba would be the stage
+for the setting of as heroic a play as the world had ever witnessed:
+Commodore Dewey had bottled up the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and
+Naval-Constructor Richmond P. Hobson had executed his daring and
+unheard-of feat although the gallant _Merrimac_ was sunk in Santiago
+harbor.
+
+Soon after the formal declaration of war on April 25, 1898, President
+McKinley sent forth a call for volunteers to enter the United States
+army and navy. Instantly, almost, the ranks were more than filled with
+active, alert, capable men, anxious, each one of them, to do his full
+share of the work that lay before his beloved land.
+
+It was while active preparations for a war carried on in the interests
+of humanity were progressing rapidly that Theodore Roosevelt became
+prominent as representing the highest type of American manhood; he threw
+himself, bodily, into the breach in the interests of his country; there
+was no personal sacrifice which he was unwilling to make ... no task too
+hard for him to attempt. He became, at once, an acknowledged and adored
+leader of the young Americans who crowded around him, loving him like a
+brother, and, at the same time, revering his quick judgment and his
+dauntless courage.
+
+There is no figure in American history more heroic or more admired than
+that of Theodore Roosevelt, mounted on a noble horse, in the uniform of
+a United States Volunteer and wearing a wide campaign hat.
+
+Ruth Wakefield was kept well informed as to what was being done by her
+own people, mainly through the kindness of Father Felix who seldom
+missed an evening's visit with her and her almost constant companion,
+Estrella; the two girls, for they were no more than that in spite of
+what they had passed through, had become the best of understanding
+friends; the younger girl seldom spoke of her dead lover and Ruth found
+that the memory of her husband had been forced into the background of
+her thoughts by the march of passing events.
+
+One evening, Father Felix climbed the narrow pathway to the mansion on
+the hill and found Ruth alone as Estrella, who was her almost constant
+companion, now, had gone to the village on one of her infrequent visits
+to her little friend, Tessa.
+
+The good Priest was glad to find Ruth alone as he had news of great
+importance for her ... news that would lead to great developments in the
+near future; after being assured of their entire privacy, he said:
+
+"We will have work to do, my dear Daughter, before many more months have
+passed by. The American people have endured the sight of the injustice
+and oppression exercised by the Spanish authorities toward the helpless
+Cubans for a long time, now, and are becoming more and more determined
+to break the Spanish rule. You and I must be prepared to assist and
+succor our own dear boys when they begin to smite the enemy of right and
+justice, hip and thigh. My course in this work has been made plain
+before me.... I have applied for the position of Chaplain in the United
+States service and I trust that they will allow me to accompany my
+little flock right into the midst of every battle in which they will be
+engaged. It seems to me that your path in this matter, my Daughter, is,
+also, plain ... you can turn this charming home into a hospital to which
+the sorely wounded or those who have fallen ill from any cause may be
+brought and where they may receive the tender care which they will
+deserve from every loyal heart and hand. I am certain that you will find
+work for Estrella as well as for every member of your family, here, in
+this connection, also you will be ably assisted by many who will flock
+to your standard when they understand what you are doing. I, myself,
+will always assist you in every way in my power and I may be able to
+spare you some uncertainty and, possibly, also, some unpleasantness. My
+Daughter," he ended, "there will be work for us to do that will require
+all our strength and courage.... May God, in His great Wisdom, guide and
+help us."
+
+Ruth clasped her hands and bowed her head as Father Felix prayed for
+God's blessing on whatever enterprise they should be called upon to
+undertake in the great cause in which they were both enlisted.
+
+After the good Priest had disappeared down the narrow path that led to
+the little village of San Domingo, she sat, for a long time, in deep
+revery, reflecting on the peace and prosperity that then covered the
+tropical Island upon which she had lived for so many years and trying to
+imagine what changes were likely to come in the wake of the probable
+conflict of two great nations, for Ruth realized that America was
+meeting a foe worthy of her steel in Spain whose far-famed Armada had
+been made the subject of song and story; she had no doubt of the final
+outcome ... whatever America attempted, that she would accomplish ...
+but how many splendid American men would have to lie upon the bloody
+battle-fields that would spring up all around her was yet an unsolved
+problem; and that, she thought, proudly and devotedly, would be her
+work ... to find those splendid American heroes, and to do for them as
+much as if each one of them had been her own blood brother ... to succor
+the wounded and bury the dead.
+
+This line of thought led her, inevitably, to the grave already lying
+under the moonlight so near to her home, and, upon a sudden and almost
+irresistable impulse, she snatched a wrap from the rack in the hall and
+started down toward the little cemetery, thinking to bid an eternal
+farewell to the grave of the man who had been, if only for a few short
+months, her husband.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Ruth descended the hill with firm, sure steps for she was strong in body
+as well as in spirit; she had reached the gate of the little cemetery
+before the impulse that had prompted her action had had time to lose any
+of its power, but, as she opened the gate and realized the lateness of
+the hour, her natural caution led her to pause for a second and take in
+her surroundings; she at once became conscious of the sound of a low,
+sobbing voice saying:
+
+"Dear God, I came here all alone hoping that You would forgive him for
+the crime that he committed if I came to you in secret beside the grave
+of him whose life he took ... the sin is lying heavily upon his soul and
+I wish to lift it from him by sacrificing my own peace of mind so that
+it may be bestowed upon him, for he suffers grievously from his wound,
+dear God, he suffers very grievously.... I pray that You will put the
+sorrow for his crime upon me instead of him so that I may help him, for
+he is greatly in need of more help than I can give him, being but a
+simple-minded, feeble, little peasant and unfit to carry this heavy
+load."
+
+The supplication ended in a rush of sobs that shook the inner
+consciousness of her who listened to them, for Ruth was tender-hearted
+above all her other instincts; she advanced into the little cemetery,
+then, with far different feelings than the ones that brought her there.
+
+The sounds that she had heard came from the same direction she had meant
+to take to reach the grave of Victorio Colenzo, so she proceeded along
+the little path that she had followed, in secret, more than once before,
+for, with Estrella in her home, she could not visit the last
+resting-place of the body of the man whom she had loved as very young
+and innocent women will, often, love a creature all unworthy of such
+affection, except surreptitiously; so that it was easy for her to wind
+among the simple little head-stones until she came to the grave she
+sought.
+
+The form her eyes could just discern beside the tomb was small and
+slight and cowering down as if, indeed, in earnest supplication; Ruth
+advanced until she was standing very near the silent woman and, not
+wishing to startle and confuse her by a sudden word, she very gently
+touched her bowed head; instantly, the girl sprang up in wild alarm, for
+it had taken all her courage to come there at all; Ruth reassured her as
+quickly as she could by saying, softly:
+
+"Do not fear, whoever you may be; I am but another woman like yourself
+and I wish to help you no matter what it is that is so troubling you; we
+women should assist each other in this world, for women, as it seems to
+me, were put into the world to suffer, mainly, so we ought to try to
+help each other. Tell me what there is that I can do to help you, now."
+
+Tessa, for the reader has, no doubt, guessed that it was she, began to
+sob wildly and clung to the other woman who had come to her so
+strangely; she could not speak, at first, for crying, and, then, she
+could not speak for fear of injuring the man she loved, and, so, she did
+not speak at all, but ran away without one word of explanation, thinking
+in that way she might avoid discovery.
+
+But the incident had shaken Ruth so that the memory of the man whose
+body lay within that narrow grave grew dim and far away; she knew that
+he had been unworthy of her love and must have scouted it in secret many
+times, for, if he had not done so, how could he have made such love to
+poor Estrella as he had while she, his lawful wife, yet lived upon the
+earth? Ruth Wakefield had often said that truth was truth no matter
+where it fell ... she'd even said that she would blame herself when
+blame was hers to bear, and, so, she could not shield the memory of the
+newly dead too far, and, so, she turned away from that low grave and
+never went there again, and, as she slowly climbed the hill that led her
+to her own loved home, Estrella overtook her in the path and, hand in
+hand with her who had been wronged as she, herself, had been, she left
+the memory of the handsome, gay deceiver lying there within the narrow
+grave that hid his fast decaying body from the world of living men and
+women; from that time, she did not suffer, in thinking of him, as she
+had before; there are turning points in every road no matter where it
+leads to, and this was a turn for Ruth in that sad road where she had
+strayed, but only for a short and most unhappy, if, at moments, wildly
+joyous, time.
+
+When Tessa left the grave of Victorio Colenzo, she fled in haste and
+fright; she did not go at once to her own home for she feared that she
+might be followed; she had become a fugitive as truly as Manuello was,
+for, now, she was to him as if she were, indeed, his wife, attending to
+all wants of his that she could satisfy, and, secretly and silently,
+becoming but the shadow of the gay and pretty girl that she had been
+before; her friends, who saw her often, noted this sad change, but did
+not know its cause.
+
+Father Felix watched the girl at times and pitied her, for he had
+learned that she had been devoted to the handsome peasant whom he also
+was assured was guilty of some crime and, since his disappearance, he
+had figured out some things that made him almost certain what the crime
+had been, for the good Priest was much alone and thought more deeply
+about many things than those who have not followed psychic lines of
+reasoning.
+
+One morning, Father Felix went, again, to visit Ruth, and found Estrella
+with her, and he asked the girl about her little friend who had been
+dear to her from early little girlhood; Estrella told him that she had
+not seen her for some time, as, when she'd gone to visit her, she had
+been gone, and Tessa had not come to see her as she'd asked her to, for
+she had left word for her where to come to find her, knowing she could
+trust her, for she'd always been a true and faithful friend to her.
+
+The good Priest pondered for a moment, then he said:
+
+"I wish that you would go, at once, to see your little friend; I think
+that she is at her home at present, and I wish that you would try to
+discover what it is that is troubling her, for she is most unhappy over
+something and I wish that you would help her if you can for she is in
+need of understanding help at this time more than at any time during my
+acquaintance with her. Go, my Daughter, find your little friend and try
+to assist her if you can."
+
+Estrella, having secured the permission of Ruth, followed the advice of
+the good Priest and departed on her errand of love and kindness.
+
+When Father Felix had been assured of their privacy, he turned to his
+companion and said:
+
+"I have information of importance to give you, my Daughter. We are
+drawing nearer and nearer to the goal we seek. Our compatriots are
+growing weary of blockading Havana and other harbors near to us and will
+very soon advance into the interior of Cuba. When that time comes there
+will be great suffering all around us and I think that it will be best
+for you and me to form a sort of secret society with passwords, which,
+while simple in themselves, will convey to us a secret meaning. You and
+I must act as one in this matter.... I am sure of your fealty and you
+can rely upon mine but how many others there are near to us upon whose
+loyalty we can depend I do not know. Estrella is discreet and thoughtful
+for an uneducated and untrained girl, but she would have no idea of what
+course to pursue under complicated or difficult circumstances, so that
+it may be necessary to keep many events secret from her. There are many
+spies already in Cuba and there are those among us who would be willing
+to exchange the lives and property of their best friends for personal
+emolument. I know one young fellow who has, as I believe, already sold
+his birthright of truth and honor for a mess of pottage and there are
+others of his ilk. I rely on you alone in all this village of San
+Domingo ... you, alone, are strong and capable ... you, alone, are
+thoroughly American and devoted to your native land. I rely on you, my
+Daughter, and you may rely on me. Let us now arrange a secret pact
+between us so that, should we be separated, we may be sure of any word
+that each may send the other. If I send to you a message adding to the
+body of it the word _pax_ alone, then I will mean to signify that all is
+well with me and that I do not know of any secret danger threatening
+you, but if to the word _pax_ I add _vobiscum_, then you are to be made
+aware that danger threatens you, while I may, yet, be safe from it, but
+if I say _Pax vobiscus_ then I'll mean that we are both in danger of a
+similar nature; if I send these latter words, you are to use all means
+of safety at your command to seclude yourself from outside notice just
+as much as possible and to try to find me if you can do so without
+exposure to yourself; but if I say just _pax_ then I mean what the word
+implies, and you may go to and from your home with freedom. I will come
+to see you just as often as I can and I will arrange to have the
+officers of our own army and navy visit you and then you will use your
+own good judgment combined with what knowledge they will give to you as
+to how you will proceed, knowing that my spirit will be with you even if
+my body cannot be ... even if I should be separated from this perishable
+body, my Daughter, I think that God would let me come to you to help
+you.... He would know our need and it is my belief He would supply it.
+Let us pray to Him for guidance, now, before I leave you for the night.
+Father in heaven, protect and guide our footsteps while we stay upon
+this mundane sphere of spiritual action. Help us do what we were meant
+to do and teach us how to walk in unknown paths which we are, now, about
+to enter on. May what is just and right be conquerors in conflicts that
+will, very soon, be carried on about us. May the souls of those about to
+leave this world be prepared for the great change from this world to
+another one, and may we, who are Thy humble servants, do the things that
+will be pleasing in Thy sight. Bless us, now, and guide us unto Thee.
+Amen."
+
+When Estrella reached the home of little Tessa, she found her friend
+about to go somewhere but where she would not say ... she seemed so much
+distraught about it that Estrella did not ask the second time where she
+was going; she could see that she had made some preparations for the
+journey, for she had a small bag filled with eatables and a jug of
+home-made vintage in her hands; Estrella plainly saw how distressed she
+was and how wan and weary, too, and, so, she only stayed a very short
+time; but, when she went away, she only went just far enough to be where
+Tessa could not see her ... then she watched her little friend, but only
+with the kindest thoughts of her, and saw her take an unused, winding
+path a little ways, then hasten on without a path at all, so far as she
+could see; she wound among the cacti, fearlessly, as if upon a very
+important errand, and as if she feared that she would be too late to do
+the errand she was bent upon; Estrella watched her for a time, and,
+then, still with the kindest thoughts of Tessa, followed after her, but
+far enough behind her so she could not see her ... she would stoop
+behind a friendly bit of brush whenever little Tessa turned around and
+gazed about her like a startled little bird about to seek its hidden
+nest; so, unobserved, Estrella followed after her, and came, at length,
+to that small clearing where the ruined hut had stood for many years;
+Estrella knew about it, having found it at the same time Manuello had,
+indeed, for they two used to roam the hills together when they were but
+little children ... sometimes Tessa went with them, but, oftener, they
+were alone; and, so, Estrella peered within the ruined hut and saw its
+occupant as he lay there in bitter pain and wan and weary, too, like
+little Tessa was; she saw the other girl creep past the tumble-down old
+door that she had set up at the entrance to the hut to shield its inmate
+from the winds, and, also, to try to keep the fact that he was there at
+all unknown; she saw the little tender-hearted woman kneel beside the
+rude couch on which her restless patient lay and kiss the lips that only
+moaned her name in anguish and despair; she saw her smooth the black and
+silky hair back from the brow of Manuello, and, then, she heard the
+following conversation.
+
+"Tell me, little Tessa," said her patient, eagerly, "are you sure you
+were not seen when you came here, today? I greatly fear that you will
+yet divulge, in some way, my hiding-place. I could not move a step to
+save myself, no matter who came here to find me. It is terrible to be
+like this. I'd rather die than stay here like this for another day.... I
+wish you'd find a gun, somewhere, and bring it to me the next time you
+come and let me end the lives of both of us. You are like a little
+skeleton, yourself.... I wonder what's the matter with you ... are you
+ill or is it only just the weariness and fright that makes you look so?
+If you should fail me, I would surely die ... a wounded rat that cannot
+even run to save itself. Tessa, tell me," he cried out, peevishly, "are
+you sick? You look so pale today it seems to me you are about to faint
+away ... and what would I do, then?"
+
+"I don't believe that I am sick," she said, cheerfully. "I'm sure I
+don't know why I'm pale.... It is very warm today, for one thing ... I
+hurried up the hill ... Estrella came...."
+
+At that name, her patient roused again:
+
+"Estrella! Are you sure she did not follow you? She could gloat about
+me, now, if she were minded to ... what did you bring for me to eat,
+today?" he ended, changing the subject, abruptly. "I'm almost starved to
+death; I wish you'd come a little earlier, tomorrow."
+
+"I will try, dear Manuello, I will try," said little Tessa, gravely. "I
+always try to come as soon as I can come when I'm alone and can evade
+the children."
+
+Manuello tossed a while in silence, then he asked again:
+
+"Are you sure Estrella did not follow you? Look outside and see if there
+is not someone near the hut. I'm afraid ... I'm dreadfully afraid,
+somehow, today. I've lain right here, now, all these weeks, and have
+not been so frightened as I am, somehow, today. Look outside and see!"
+
+And, then, Estrella crept away for she could do no good by staying, and
+she did not wish to harm either one of her old friends on whose distress
+she looked.
+
+Estrella went back to the mansion on the hill, a sadder, it is true, and
+yet also a wiser woman for she'd seen poor little Tessa's secret burden
+and Manuello's sorry plight.
+
+She went to Father Felix, the next day, to advise with him about what
+she had seen; he cautioned her not to mention it to anyone she knew,
+which advice she followed, strictly; it enlightened him to some extent
+and he pitied little Tessa more than ever, for he knew the sort of man
+her patient was ... he knew that he was selfish to the very core of him
+and had no gratitude for anyone who'd helped him; so he pitied little
+Tessa and began, in many little unknown ways, to help her bear the
+burden she'd assumed.
+
+To begin with, when she came to the confessional, as almost everyone who
+lived in San Domingo did, he only asked her questions such as she could
+answer easily ... he did not touch on murder or on lies or on anything
+that might lead on to surprising her sad secret; he knew her for a
+simple-minded, loving, tender little girl and he pitied her and did not
+try to wring from her her secret, knowing that, in all human
+probability, she would go, some day, to the ruined hut and find no
+Manuello there to either curse or bless her: in fact, he looked upon
+this as the most likely of anything that could occur and, when he saw
+poor little Tessa fading with anxiety and dread, he went, one day, to
+see the patient in the deserted hut, and, after that, there was no
+patient there, for Manuello limped away, as he could stand, at last, and
+hid from even little Tessa for he thought she had betrayed him, after
+all, and, so, he cursed her with the balance of his rotten luck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+June 10, 1898, was a memorable day for Cuba, for, on that date, the
+glorious flag of our own much-beloved country was unfurled over Cuban
+soil, upheld and supported by United States troops, for the first time.
+
+Father Felix had kept himself well informed as to military matters, and
+had often consulted with Ruth Wakefield concerning what would actually
+be needed by our armies when they were finally in the field; in
+pursuance of the purpose to which they had both devoted their lives and
+fortunes, these two had established a temporary hospital not far from
+the city of Santiago, as the good Priest had been informed that one of
+the next moves of our forces would be in that vicinity; so that, when
+our starry banner first floated in the breeze at Camp McCalla, Ruth
+stood beside the new-fledged army Chaplain, and watched, through
+tear-dimmed eyes, the emblem of our liberty and freedom as it was
+proudly raised.
+
+That night passed quietly, but, for five successive days and nights
+thereafter, a bitter battle raged in which our blue-clad boys met and
+finally defeated the Spanish hordes that tried to drive them back or
+leave their lifeless bodies lying there beneath the blistering sun.
+
+When Ruth had sailed from Havana she had brought her little household
+with her and established them in temporary quarters near the hospital,
+and, soon, she saw the little white cots filled with sick or wounded
+Americans and Cuban scouts.
+
+Volunteer nurses were immediately in demand as, in many ways, our forces
+were unprepared to meet the enemy; there are no soldiers in the world as
+brave ... as fine ... as capable ... as are our own United States
+Volunteers ... both men and women, and, so, Ruth Wakefield and Estrella,
+anxious to put into practice what they had learned to do, donned the
+clean white uniforms they had become accustomed to in the training they
+had taken in Havana for this very purpose, and, very soon, to the eye of
+a novice, there were two more trained nurses ministering to the many
+wants of the boys who lay there on those narrow cots, weak and suffering
+but triumphant in spite of their pain, for the cause of right had won in
+the first real conflict upon Cuban soil between the Spaniards and the
+Americans assisted by Cuban insurgents, who, mainly, acted as spies and
+scouts, a work to which they were adapted by nature and long practice in
+a country infested by those whose only object in ruling it had been to
+gain what they could, in resources and amusement, from the natives,
+with no thought either for their comfort or advancement along the lines
+of civilized living.
+
+Among the Cuban scouts who had been wounded on that first day of actual
+combat was one who happened to fall under the care of Estrella for he
+had been carried in right after her entry into the work of the hospital;
+this man had been slightly wounded as he was about to give valuable
+information to one of our own officers, and, perhaps for that reason and
+because he had shown himself to be particularly useful, he had received
+even more than the usual attention on the battle-field, for his wound
+had been dressed more carefully than is customary when first aid is
+given in the midst of the fray, so that the attending surgeon had
+declared his condition such that all he needed was tender care, which
+was why his case had been assigned to a volunteer nurse.
+
+Estrella gravely assumed the duty allotted to her, with some misgivings
+as to her own ability, it is true, but with a strong resolve to do the
+best she could; as she bent over her patient, she noticed, first, his
+almost deathly pallor, then a jagged scar that stretched across his
+cheek and had been lately healed ... the edges of it were yet red and
+angry looking; the girl bent over him pityingly, and, then, she started
+back for she had recognized, even in the dim light that pervaded the
+temporary hospital, the features of Manuello; remembering what she had
+seen in the ruined hut, she shrank from contact with her old admirer,
+but, with that memory came the knowledge that he had been wounded while
+in the performance of a service of benefit to her beloved country, and
+she did not falter in carrying out the instructions of the surgeon in
+charge with regard to her patient, thinking that, perhaps, before he had
+recognized her, she might be transferred to some other part of the
+hospital.
+
+Ruth took her place among the ministering nurses with confidence and
+courage, for she was one who immediately altogether forgot almost her
+own identity when asked to help another human being, and, while her
+sympathy with suffering was remarkable, so that she actually suffered
+pain herself when witnessing it in others, yet she had always been able
+to do whatever was required of her in an emergency regardless of any
+bodily ailment that might be troubling her at the time; now, as she saw
+all around her strong men laid low by violence, her spirit rose to the
+occasion and she was, for the time, at least, the very personification
+of patriotic zeal and her love for her country rose to heights almost
+undreamed of even by herself; she moved among the little cots freely,
+lending a hand here and whispering a word of encouragement there; the
+nurses recognized in her a master spirit, at once, and the surgeons
+looked into her steady eyes, and, instantly, allowed her privileges
+seldom granted to anyone outside of their own profession; her very
+presence seemed to give the sufferers courage to bear their pain, for
+the light that shone from her clear, gray eyes was above the things of a
+merely earthly existence and lifted them out of their bodies, to some
+extent, making them impervious to what would have otherwise been
+excruciating anguish; surgeons, at that time, did not recognize the
+mental attitude of their patients, to any great extent, and they
+marveled at the influence of the mistress of the mansion on the hill,
+attributing it, in part, to the evident superiority of the young woman
+to those with whom she had been associated in Cuba.
+
+In passing among the little cots, Ruth, at length, came to the one
+beside which Estrella was standing, anxiously looking into her patient's
+flushed face, for, with returning strength, Manuello's fever had risen;
+Ruth put one hand on the girl's shoulder and drew her away from the cot
+for a moment while she whispered to her:
+
+"Do not weary yourself too much, my Dear, for we must keep our strength
+so as to be able to help others ... you seem distressed ... do you know
+your patient, personally?"
+
+Estrella was only too glad to tell her kind and understanding friend
+just the situation in which she found herself, so that, when the young
+Cuban opened his large, dark eyes and looked about him in astonishment,
+it was upon Ruth's face he gazed instead of on Estrella's whom the
+former had sent into another part of the work of caring for the
+wounded.
+
+"Where am I?" moaned Manuello. "What has happened to me, now?"
+
+"You have been sorely wounded in the service of your country, my brave
+fellow ... you are now in a hospital where you will receive every
+possible care and attention," answered Ruth in a low, yet clear tone of
+voice. "You are in the hands of those who appreciate what you have done
+and greatly desire to assist in your recovery."
+
+Having assured himself that he was among friends, he began to make
+inquiries as to the nature of his wound, wondering how long it would be
+necessary for him to remain as he was then, but Ruth only told him that
+he must not talk and must use every precaution he could to prevent
+increase of the fever that was now high enough to demand the use of the
+handy little thermometer that Ruth, in common with the other amateur
+nurses with whom she had studied, had learned how to operate; she
+promptly thrust this little fever-gauge into his mouth and told him to
+keep it there quietly until she took it away; gazing at her as if she
+were a creature from another world, Manuello lay there quiescent and
+tractable, all his wild nature being centred upon his desire to again be
+the free, strong being he had but recently been.
+
+Old Mage peered into the room where the cots of the wounded soldiers and
+sailors had been placed and caught a glimpse of her dear young lady as
+she stood by the bedside of Manuello; he had just opened his eyes, and,
+as he lay there with his black curls touching the white pillow, he
+reminded the old woman very much of another handsome, dark young fellow
+whom she believed to be lying in his narrow grave in the little
+cemetery ... the narrow grave in which she had buried the wedding-ring
+that had brought so much sorrow to the one whom she loved best in all
+the world: as the old woman looked at the dark face on the pillow she
+noticed the angry scar that disfigured it and thought that it might have
+changed the face she remembered as without a blemish so that she would
+have difficulty in recognizing it; her mind began to travel along the
+line of thought suggested by this possibility and she determined to rid
+Ruth of the necessity of attending to her former husband, at least, if
+her most dire suspicions should prove to be well founded; she at once
+remembered that she, herself, had not seen the corpse of the man
+interred as Victorio Colenzo and she knew very well how earthly death
+will change the appearance of a human being's body ... then she thought
+of what had been told to her as to how the man had died ... altogether
+it seemed to her very possible that the man she had seen in the little
+cemetery on the day of the funeral she had attended with Estrella might
+have been some one closely resembling Manuello, so that, perhaps,
+Estrella's foster brother had been buried in the supposed grave of
+Victorio Colenzo, who, wishing to be free from both entangling alliances
+he had made in San Domingo, had allowed the name under which he had
+entered into them to be placed upon the simple head-stone that marked
+the grave of another man.
+
+As soon as old Mage had arrived at the conclusion above described, she
+acted on it at once by slipping stealthily up to Ruth and whispering to
+her:
+
+"Come away, my Pretty; you are needed; there is someone outside who
+wishes to speak to you at once. I will take your place."
+
+Ruth, thinking the summons important, yielded her place for a moment,
+intending to return within a very few moments, but no sooner had old
+Mage assumed charge of the patient than she began to devise ways and
+means by which she hoped to prolong the stay of her dear young lady, for
+it seemed to her to be too much for her to bear ... to care for her
+recreant husband under all the trying circumstances.
+
+The first thing that the new nurse did would have been severely
+criticized by the head surgeon had his attention not been fully occupied
+in another part of the large room; to begin with, instead of smoothing
+back the dark hair from the man's forehead as it would seem to one
+observing her from the rear she was doing, she very deliberately pulled
+the handful of curls she was clutching, hoping to make him open his eyes
+so that she could continue her scrutiny of him in order to be as certain
+as possible of his suspected identity; this ruse succeeded, for
+Manuello's large, dark brown eyes flew open and were fixed in horror on
+the face bending over him; it was quite a different countenance than the
+one he had last seen beside him, for old Mage never had been a beauty
+and the loss of her teeth had not added to her appearance while the
+ferocity of her glance was accentuated by the multitude of criss-cross
+wrinkles which surrounded the light blue eyes out of which she was
+glaring at him; the words she hissed in his ear added to the confusion
+under which the helpless man was laboring:
+
+"I thought that you were dead and buried out of sight ... you hateful,
+low-lived pup! How dare you be brought into her place, now? If I did
+just right, I do believe I'd choke the life out of you while you can't
+fight back! The girl's here, too ... you must be a devil in human form!
+You ought to be burning in hell!"
+
+The object that had led old Mage to make this attack upon the wounded
+man was about to be accomplished, for, with a wild scream, he vaulted
+over the foot of the little cot and bounded through the open doorway as
+if he were pursued by demons; his temporary nurse did not try to prevent
+his exit which was what she had longed to bring about, although the
+manner of his going startled even her, as she had no idea of the effect
+that her hasty words would have upon the guilty spirit of the man whose
+crimes, it seemed to him, had found him out; the new wound he had that
+day received, was not of a nature to impede his progress for a short
+distance, and he almost instantly disappeared from among the nurses and
+surgeons; his wild expression so impressed all whom he met before he
+reached the outskirts of the hospital grounds that he was again a
+fugitive, hunted, this time, by both friends and enemies.
+
+As Ruth was about to return to her patient, for she could find no
+immediate need of her presence elsewhere, she met an excited nurse who
+told her of having seen an excessively active young man flying out into
+the open, clad only in hospital garb.
+
+Ruth was hurrying to report the circumstances to the head surgeon and to
+arrange to have searching parties sent out to bring back her pseudo
+patient, when, passing the cot where old Mage was still stationed, she
+noted that it was empty; stopping to inquire the reason for this change,
+her old nurse hurriedly related the facts concerning the exodus of the
+young man, while she secretly rejoiced at the success of her strategem,
+for so she chose to denominate the method she had taken of protecting
+her dear young lady from the nearness of the man she had married through
+mistaken confidence.
+
+Estrella, having been sent to consult with her friend concerning some
+matter connected with the welfare of the temporary hospital, came along,
+just then, and was told what had happened.
+
+"Why," she exclaimed, "where has poor Manuello gone? He is not fit to be
+outside alone. I am afraid I was a coward to leave him when he needed
+care. Poor little Tessa would have stayed right with him no matter what
+he said or did. I have not seen her," she mused, "for a long time,
+now ... not since a number of days before we came away from home.... I
+wonder where she is."
+
+Could Estrella have seen her little friend at that moment, she would
+have lost all pity for Manuello and added to that she already had for
+poor Tessa, for she was then suffering from the last encounter she had
+had with the man who had just fled out into the night; although the
+little peasant would have been proud to have been made the wife of the
+man whom she madly loved, yet she resisted the idea of being merely his
+mistress for Father Felix had forcibly impressed upon the minds of the
+girls of his flock the virtue of chastity; the consequence of this
+resistance had been a blow received by herself which had rendered her
+helpless for the time being, as it had made it impossible for her to
+walk for any distance, and a slash across one of Manuello's dusky cheeks
+which she had made with a knife she had happened to have in her hand at
+the time of his attack.
+
+The heart-sick girl was lying on the rude bed she had made for the man
+who had left her without aid, in the deserted hut into which Estrella
+had once peered, while her friend, so far away from her, was bemoaning
+the fate of her ungrateful former lover.
+
+She had carried some food and water into the hovel upon the day of her
+last struggle with Manuello and she could creep about the inside of the
+small building, so that, being hardy and healthy, she had, at that time,
+subsisted upon the supplies she had on hand, for several days; she was
+just beginning to crawl carefully out into the surrounding brush where
+she was glad to find plenty of ripe cactus-fruit and other wild edibles;
+she was very lonely and frightened but she took her condition as a
+punishment for the sins she had committed since she had tried to assist
+Manuello in spite of the fact that she had known him to be a criminal;
+she told her beads, over and over, using the small rosary which she had
+always worn about her neck, and, as she kissed the crucifix attached to
+the beads, she often prayed for the man who was the direct cause of her
+pitiable condition, for she believed it to be her plain duty to forgive,
+even though she could not forget, him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+When Manuello escaped from the temporary hospital near Camp McCalla, he
+directed his eager steps toward the place of his nativity, because, as
+it seemed to him, he would be safer there than he had recently been; it
+seemed to him that if he could reach the deserted hut where he had been
+in concealment before, he could rest and recover while he made plans for
+his future, for he had decided that it would be dangerous for him to
+follow the American army any longer, at least for a time.
+
+In devious ways and through the use of means known only to such as he,
+he managed to reach a point midway between Santiago and Havana in a much
+shorter time than would have seemed possible to one unversed in the ways
+of the wilderness; here he encountered, suddenly and unexpectedly, the
+good Priest whom he had known from childhood, who, also, seemed hurrying
+in the direction of Havana.
+
+The young man kept away from the habitation of men as much as possible
+after that, and, footsore and weary, but happy in the thought that he
+had reached his goal, he arrived, at length, just at sunset, in the
+outskirts of the village of San Domingo; from there he followed the
+winding path up which little Tessa had so often toiled in his service,
+he thought of her but did not regret the blow he had given her; in fact,
+his anger still burned at white heat whenever he remembered how she had
+disfigured his features, forgetting altogether what she had done for
+him, because she had not done everything that he had asked her to do.
+
+At length, he reached the vicinity of the deserted hut and stole up to
+reconnoitre before entering the ruined habitation; he crept up to one of
+the small windows and peered within; the sight that met his vision
+startled him to such an extent that he forgot, for the moment, his
+habitual caution and remained at the window although he had discovered
+that the hut was occupied; the room he looked into was dimly lit by the
+rays of the setting sun which penetrated the dense growth of tropical
+verdure and found their way into the small western aperture that
+answered the purpose of a look-out toward the village; Tessa was lying,
+looking very wan and care-worn, upon the rude bed she had arranged for
+the man who was then staring at her ... in her thin hand was a crucifix
+which Father Felix had just given to her ... the good Priest was
+kneeling upon the rough floor beside the couch and the tears were
+rolling down his cheeks, for the sight before him would have moved far
+less tender hearts than his; the girl began to speak in a low voice and
+Manuello strained his power of hearing to catch the faint words which
+fell from her pale and trembling lips.
+
+"Good Father," she began, speaking as if at confession, "I beseech you
+to have mercy upon your sinful daughter; I have done grievous wrong
+during my short life and I beg you to intercede with the God of truth
+and justice before whose judgment seat I will soon appear. I ask you to
+pray for me, Father Felix, for I am in need of your prayers. I have been
+a wicked girl in some ways, though not in all, for I have resisted a
+very strong desire which was a part of my sinful nature and which I
+believe I have, now, through suffering, gained the victory over."
+
+The girl ceased speaking from sheer weakness, then, and the Priest took
+the crucifix from her shaking hand and attached it to the cord at his
+waist, then he lifted his clasped hands in earnest and humble
+supplication:
+
+"Father Who art in heaven," he prayed, "listen to us who are in Thy
+gracious Hands, both here and hereafter. Help me to guide this suffering
+soul aright and help her to walk where she was meant to walk, whether
+she regains her health and returns to the life she has had, formerly, or
+whether she passes out of this narrow existence and goes into eternity
+before another morning dawns. Look down, dear Father, in mercy on us who
+are Thy humble servants. Amen."
+
+"Father Felix," began the sick girl, "I must confess to you something
+that has lain heavily upon my conscience for many weeks. I am rejoiced
+that you have found me for I will die easier to know that you have the
+secrets that I have been keeping in my heart, being unable to come to
+the refectory and tell you what I must, now, impart to you. A heinous
+crime was committed in San Domingo some months ago, as I believe by one
+whom you and I both know; I have withheld my suspicions from the
+authorities and, in so doing, I feel that I have done wrong, Father. I
+wish to tell you all I know, now, and let you do what you think best ...
+it will relieve my heart of a very heavy load to tell this to you.
+Manuello...."
+
+Before her lips could utter the next word, the door of the hut which had
+been leaning over the opening designed for it as it had long been
+guiltless of hinges, was violently thrust aside and the subject of the
+remarks Tessa was about to make, rudely entered and advanced to the side
+of the couch upon which the girl was lying; the livid scar upon his dark
+face combined with the pallor that had followed the fever he had been
+having, the freshly bandaged wound, the limp that had followed the rough
+dressing of the bullet-punctured leg of the man, combined with the
+fierce determination that characterized each one of his movements,
+altogether made a most unpleasant appearance.
+
+Father Felix quietly rose and stepped between the sufferer on the couch
+and the young Cuban who regarded the Priest with no respect in the
+expression of his countenance, but rather with contempt and lack of
+personal fear; he attempted to shove him aside so that he might again
+look down on the trembling occupant of the rude bed, but found that
+Father Felix was standing firmly on a sturdy pair of legs which had had
+good exercise in tramping about the hills and valleys in pursuit of his
+chosen profession of saving the souls of those who needed his
+ministrations; Manuello glared at him and snarled out:
+
+"Out of my way with your sing-song prayers and your dangling cross! I am
+a desperate man and do not mean to allow even a Priest to balk either my
+escape or my vengeance! Stand aside and let me stop that mouth forever!"
+
+He again tried to shove the Priest aside, when Father Felix hastily
+threw off his robe so that it might not impede his movements and closed
+with the young fellow, grappling with him with arms left bare from the
+shoulder upon which the biceps muscles stood out in great knots that
+came and went and rippled underneath the skin; Manuello was surprised at
+this onslaught for the good Priest's fighting prowess had never, so far,
+been tested in just this way; but familiarity with certain turns and
+twists told in the young villain's favor in spite of the freshness and
+vigor of Father Felix' attack; the poor girl on the floor was unable to
+interfere and watched the two combatants with horrified eyes as they
+struggled all over the rude room, sometimes one and sometimes the other
+seeming about to conquer; neither one of the contestants had a weapon as
+Manuello had come away from the hospital clad only as the other patients
+were; in his wild flight he had snatched an outer garment from among the
+many lying in a heap outside the door through which he had fled, but,
+with this exception, he wore only what had been put upon him by the
+surgeons.
+
+Like two Titans, the two human beings struggled for supremacy, the one
+being actuated only by a desire to serve the right, and the other
+seeming to have been given almost satanic power as he felt that his own
+life and future freedom depended upon adding two more to his victims,
+for the Priest had already heard enough to make him find out more and
+Tessa had been about to confess all she knew to him, so, above
+everything on earth, the furious Cuban wished to slay the Priest and the
+poor girl whose only fault had been her yielding to his selfishness.
+
+Twice, Manuello's fingers almost closed about the good Priest's throat,
+and twice did Father Felix lift the other man bodily from the floor and
+dash him down in a huddled heap in one corner of the room, but neither
+had quite conquered when an unexpected interference ended the conflict
+very suddenly.
+
+Manuello had crowded Father Felix over toward the tumble-down door of
+the hut and was about to push him through the opening, or, at least,
+attempt to do so, when, all at once the young fellow felt his fingers
+lose their strength and his arms fell away from the body of the
+Priest ... he was conscious of a strange, tingling sensation all through
+his shaken nerves; had he been familiar with the action of powerful
+electric currents, he would have described it as a heavy shock of
+electricity but, although he could not have altogether explained his
+sensations, their effect was instantaneous and resulted in the release
+of Father Felix while his assailant dropped prone upon the floor of the
+hut and groveled at his feet in abject terror, for he thought the end of
+his life had come and, in that thought, the murderer became the penitent
+and, with the fear of death before his mind, he began to mumble broken
+bits of half-forgotten prayers and to beg for forgiveness for his sins
+which he knew to be many and grievous.
+
+As the changed attitude of his foe became evident to the good Priest he
+hurried over to the side of the sick girl with assurances of his desire
+to assist her in every possible way and, with the changed conditions
+surrounding him, he again put on the robe of his holy office, and, with
+it, seemed again to be the sedate and quiet leader of the flock he
+strove to lead into green pastures and beside pleasant waters.
+
+Having ministered to Tessa, for the moment, he turned his attention to
+his late antagonist:
+
+"My Son," he said, "you are wounded and spent with the loss of blood;
+your mind, perhaps, has been turned by your misfortunes so that you did
+not realize either your words or your actions. I hope that, from this
+time on, you will fix your mind on better things than thoughts of
+vengeance or of murder. To begin with, I have a favor to ask of you.
+Will you help me remove Tessa, here, from this place to her home? She is
+in need of tender care."
+
+"I will do what you tell me to," meekly answered the recent antagonist
+of the Priest. "I see that I was wrong in imagining you to be my enemy.
+I think that this last wound has made me crazy for the time, as you have
+just said. From this time on I will try to be as I have been before ...
+glad to be guided by your higher wisdom. I humbly ask your pardon for
+what I have done here, tonight."
+
+Manuello bowed his head for his spirit had been broken by the strange
+happening which we have described, and, at once, his hope began to rise
+again, that, after all, Father Felix would do him no real harm, for he
+seemed, again, the kind and loving prelate whom the man had known from
+his youth up.
+
+When some simple preparations had been made, the two men lifted Tessa
+from the rude couch to the stretcher they had improvised, and, in turn,
+lifted it, with its light burden, to their shoulders, when, from time to
+time, they found an open space in the dense underbrush that hid the
+ruined hut from ordinary observation; thus they descended the hill that
+led to the village of San Domingo; having reached the door of the home
+of the girl, in the gathering darkness, they laid the stretcher down and
+Manuello disappeared as Father Felix knocked for admittance.
+
+To say the young fellow was glad to be released from what seemed to him
+to be the custody of the Priest would be to put his feelings lightly,
+for, having cleared the ruined hut, he quickly returned to it and, lying
+on the simple bed Tessa had so lately occupied, he went to sleep,
+apparently, as sweetly as a new-born infant would.
+
+Old Mage wondered, a little, at Estrella's remark concerning Manuello,
+after he had disappeared; but she finally set her mind at rest by
+deciding that, whichever of the dashing Cubans she had ousted from
+Ruth's help, she had done good work, for, as she said to herself, from
+her view-point it was "good riddance to bad rubbage."
+
+The head surgeon made a note of the occurrence and went on about his
+work, for one man more or less, in time of war, cannot be reckoned as in
+civil life.
+
+Ruth Wakefield had no doubt at all as to the identity of her former
+patient; when a pure girl has given herself to be the wife of any man
+she does not, soon, forget his personality, and Ruth knew very well the
+man she'd cared for had not been the one she'd called her husband ...
+that his body lay within its narrow grave she felt assured but what lay
+buried over him old Mage, alone, yet knew; she'd chuckled, many times,
+as to that burial, and it was hard for her to keep her secret as she
+longed for the approval that she felt she merited in this small matter,
+but the thought that Ruth might differ with her as to what she'd done
+had always, so far, sealed her lips.
+
+"There is a time in the affairs of men that, taken at its flood, leads
+on to fortune," has been said by one who, justly, has been called a
+master in the art of putting words together; William Shakespeare did not
+know the actors in this story, but he knew the minds of men as few have
+known them since his time.
+
+Manuello did not know that such a writer as this master of the English
+language had ever existed, yet he acted on the thought in the above
+quotation, when, the morning after the events related in this chapter,
+he again departed from the ruined hut and disappeared, effectually,
+within the fastnesses that only such as he could know about; every inch,
+or so it seemed, of territory surrounding Havana was familiar to the
+Cuban scouts and Manuello had grown up among the cacti and the palms and
+desolation that followed in the wake of Spanish oppression and
+injustice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+July 1, 1898, at sunset, the fair folds of our own stars and stripes
+were gently floating over San Juan hill.
+
+On that day some of the most heroic deeds in American history had been
+performed by those who represent the highest types of American virility.
+
+Roosevelt's Rough Riders had, that day, advanced behind their intrepid
+leader, into the very jaws of death and very many of them never came
+again into the pleasant walks of life they'd known before that fateful
+day ... very many of them lay scattered over the different heights that
+led on to the very top of San Juan hill, inert and helpless human
+tenements that had once held the proud and willing spirits of the men
+who followed Roosevelt with love and daring.
+
+Some of them were picked up and carried to temporary hospitals that had
+sprung up near the scene of active warfare; in one of these shelters for
+the wounded Ruth Wakefield stood, that evening, bending low above a
+little cot on which was stretched a manly form ... the form of one who'd
+ridden with the rest of those who followed him they called, in
+brotherly affection, "Teddy," and who was beside him when his horse was
+shot from under him.
+
+"Nurse," he whispered, through the bandages that bound his head, "Nurse,
+it would have done you good to hear him say 'Forward! Charge the hill!'
+It would have heartened you could you have seen him, when he was
+unhorsed, grab a rifle and fire it as he went on up, on foot."
+
+"You must not talk," said Ruth. "You must rest quietly, now. We won the
+hill," she added, proudly. "We won the hill and I'm as proud as anyone
+could ever be of Roosevelt and of you all who followed after him. I
+sometimes wish," she ended, "I sometimes wish that I had been a man to
+go into the battles instead of only caring for the wounded ... yet I'm
+thankful to be of some assistance to the ones who need the help that I
+can give to them."
+
+"You should have seen," began the man again, "you should have seen our
+Teddy charge that hill! They do not make a man like that except about
+once in a century or so ... they do not make such men as that in every
+age.... I tell you he's a holy terror when it comes to fighting, Nurse!
+He mowed them down ... he made them crawl and creep.... I always knew he
+could do more on horseback than any man that ever lived but I never
+knew, until today, what he could do on foot."
+
+"Our Teddy is a wonder.... I agree with you in everything you say of
+him, but, now," once more she was the nurse in charge, "you must be
+very still ... that is," she ended, with a happy little turn of thought,
+"if you ever want to go where Teddy is, again."
+
+That was enough to silence him and he lay very still and fixed his eyes
+upon her face, and, finally, he slept, and rested from his labors for a
+time; but what he'd said stayed in Ruth's inner consciousness and the
+heart that throbbed within her beat more proudly after that, because she
+was, as was the man his comrades praised, an American; to her that
+title was enough to fill with pride a human heart ... to be a true
+American ... a citizen of the United States of America ... it seemed to
+her meant more than any royal appellation ever could; no crown adorned
+with priceless jewels could replace that name to her; at one time in her
+life, this question had been asked of her:
+
+"What would you do if you must choose between all that you love on earth
+and fealty to some other than your native land, and this one country
+that you call your own?"
+
+"What would I do?" she answered. "I would not renounce my fealty to my
+native land.... I would keep God and my conscience and my country ... no
+one could take them from me ... all the rest I'd leave behind and cleave
+to them."
+
+Ruth Wakefield meant this statement and she proved it later on beyond
+all shadow of a doubt.
+
+When her first patient slept, Ruth went to stand beside another cot for
+she was always privileged to go wherever she might choose; her help in
+many ways, including financial aid, had made this hospital possible and
+she went at will among the other nurses who looked up to her as women
+will to one who is a natural leader of the ones with whom she
+associates.
+
+She came, at length, to a cot that was apart from all the rest because
+its occupant had needed to be isolated for good reasons; he was violent,
+at times, the nurses said ... when his fever rose he soon became
+delirious and they had hard work keeping him under any sort of control;
+he was a native scout, they told her ... he had done good work that day
+upon the side of right, and, so, Ruth went to care for him, for it was
+just as natural for her to take heavy work as it was natural for the
+rest to let her do it.
+
+Soon after she had taken charge of him, he stirred uneasily and mumbled
+in his restless sleep ... he spoke a name she'd hoped to never hear
+again ... the name of him whom she had loved enough to marry....
+
+"Victorio Colenzo," moaned the man, "Victorio Colenzo is dead and I ...
+I am his murderer ... it was my hand that took his life.... I am a
+murderer, good Father Felix.... I am the murderer of the man I hated,
+for he took the girl I loved from me.... I killed him with my own
+machete and he is dead.... I am the murderer of Victorio Colenzo ...
+shrive my soul, good Father Felix, for I am about to go before my
+Maker."
+
+The moaning ceased then, and Ruth bent over him to see if he still
+lived, for she could see his very lips were livid and his eyes seemed
+set and glazed as if with death's own dews; she put her hand upon his
+head and looked into his face with earnest pity in her tender eyes, for
+she was very pitiful and even lenient when faults of anyone except
+herself were to be considered.
+
+"The poor fellow is delirious," she thought. "He does not know what he
+is saying. Odd that he should use that name. Poor fellow ... he will not
+last long, I fear. I wonder if Father Felix could come to him."
+
+With that thought, she turned to go to try to find the Priest, for he
+almost always could be found where there was suffering and need of him,
+but Manuello (for the reader has discovered who her patient was)
+snatched at her hand as she was just about to go away and said to her:
+
+"Please intercede for me, good Angel ... tell them I have never had a
+chance in all my life ... tell them ... intercede...." and, then, his
+weak voice died away in moans, again, "Tessa, please," he said, "don't
+look at me that way!"
+
+Again Ruth leaned above his bed, for in his eyes there was a look that
+seldom comes except when death is near. She felt a gentle hand upon her
+arm and knew that Estrella stood beside her ... she had come to seek
+advice from her superior.
+
+So they stood ... the widow and the sweetheart, and the murderer of the
+man they both had loved, as virgins love, lay there before them.
+
+Suddenly, he roused himself, as with a last and desperate effort, from
+the lethargy of death itself ... he looked upon them standing there
+beside his bed ... the woman he had loved as wild and rough and lawless
+men will always love a woman and the one who seemed to him as if she
+were an angel straight from paradise ... he imagined he had passed from
+life as he had known that word, and was beyond all earthly help; and,
+so, he did not call for human help but cried aloud on God to save his
+deathless soul. It was horrible to hear his human lips cry out to God as
+they were crying then, and Ruth regretted that Estrella stood so near to
+him whom she had called her foster-brother, for she'd whispered
+Manuello's name at once, so she sent her to find Father Felix if she
+could and to bring him there to help this suffering soul.
+
+After the girl had gone away, Ruth stood alone beside the cot and looked
+with great commiseration on the almost senseless clay before her ... on
+the staring eyes and sullen, dark-skinned pallor of the heavily scarred
+face ... on the lips that once wore careless smiles but, now, were
+drawn and pale ... on the broad shoulders and powerful muscled arms. As
+she gazed at him it seemed to her a very pitiful condition under which
+he labored; she wondered why it had to be as it was with this strong,
+untutored man; she wondered why he had to lay his strong, young body on
+the altar of his passions and see it consumed as it had been by hate and
+treachery; and, then, she remembered the service upon which he had just
+been bent ... and her heart yearned over him for that alone; she leaned
+above his face and searched it for a sign of returning strength but
+found none there; his eyes stared into hers, it seemed, and then they
+sought the moving shadows on the canvas overhead.
+
+Ruth raised her head from gazing into Manuello's eyes and seemed to see,
+above the cot on which he lay, another and a different form yet like to
+that she saw inert before her; it was as if a glorified replica of the
+man were floating over him; in many ways it was exactly like the
+Manuello lying there upon that little cot, and, yet, the form was more
+ethereal ... more delicate ... more beautiful than he could ever be and
+live upon the earthly plane where he had found so many things to lead
+him down and seldom found a single thing to lead him higher, or, at
+least, found anything that he could fully understand, for, although
+Father Felix tried to show him how to go to climb to better thoughts, he
+had not seen the steps at all but blundered on along the path he found
+himself upon.
+
+As Ruth began to realize the change that she had seen take place, a rosy
+flush crept over her fair face, she clasped her hands and bowed her head
+in silent prayer:
+
+"Father in heaven," she thought, "look down in mercy on this soul about
+to come before You for Your judgment. Have pity on his faults for they
+were very many ... have mercy on him, for his sins were very heavy in
+his human life. He did not know the way to go, dear Father ... he could
+not see the steps at all. Have pity on him for he will have need of pity
+such as only You can give to him. Amen."
+
+And when she lifted up her face again, good Father Felix stood beside
+her, crucifix in hand. His head was also bowed in silent prayer for he
+had witnessed many earthly deaths and knew, at once, that Manuello, as
+he had been known in human life, had passed beyond all human judgment
+and gone on to his reward or punishment in another world where
+everything that he had done upon the earth would be accounted for by him
+and him alone; the good Priest knew, however, that God is good as well
+as just and he remembered Manuello's ignorance and superstition, too,
+and hoped that, after he'd been purged of earthly sins by deep
+repentance, he would come into the light that is God's Smile and shines
+for all who seek it honestly, no matter what their sins on earth have
+been, but only after long and terrible remorse for harm that they have
+done while in the body that God gave them to use and not abuse.
+
+The road that leads into the light that is God's Smile is often hedged
+about by thorns and bitter herbs instead of delicate and fragrant
+flowers; sometimes poisonous reptiles lurk along the way and strive to
+strike their fangs within the heart of him who toils there; sometimes,
+human passions guide a strong man into devious and sinful acts as
+Manuello had been guided, more than once; he'd yielded to them just
+because he had not learned the way to handle them and they had mastered
+him and made of him their slave instead of being what he ordered them to
+be; he'd thrown the remnant of his human life into the balance in the
+cause he really loved ... the cause of freedom for his native land.
+
+And Ruth and Father Felix thought of him as of a patriot only as they
+stood beside the cot on which his lifeless body lay; they covered up his
+face as gently as if they had not known of any sin committed by the
+hands now lying still and cold and helpless ... they closed his staring
+eyes as softly as they would have closed the eyes of any human being who
+will read these words had he or she been left for them to care for when
+the soul had left its earthly tenement; disembodied Spirits often linger
+near to such as these who stood beside that cot, for they know that
+they are like to them in very many ways, though yet abiding in a human
+frame ... they know that such as Ruth and Father Felix feel the same,
+sweet, almost holy joy that comes to those who meet and make welcome the
+ones who leave the earth-plane, newly dead; though death, I trust, is
+only just the change that frees a soul from earthly burdens and releases
+it from earthly darkness, so that it may climb, when it is purged of
+earthly sins, into the light that is the Smile of God and shines for all
+who seek it earnestly.
+
+I do not think that there can be an everlasting hell except for those
+who wish to dwell in darkness. I do not think there can be perpetual
+punishment except for those who do not wish to climb beyond it. Ruth and
+Father Felix felt that this was so, although the good Priest tried to
+think far otherwise, and, yet, deep down within his inner consciousness,
+he felt that God, although He is so just, yet pities those who err and
+welcomes all who wish to put their sins behind them in the path they
+find themselves upon, no matter whether they may find that path upon the
+earthly plane or on a higher one. They turned away from that white cot
+with almost God-like pity in their inmost hearts for him who lay there,
+or for him who had just left his body lying there upon that little cot.
+
+Ruth sought Estrella so that she might not, again, behold the face of
+him, who, for the love of her, had done a fearful crime; she wished to
+save the girl for she had been as innocent of wrong as she, herself, had
+been; both had been led away by human passion, it is true, but led
+within the bounds of human law, and, so, according to that human law,
+neither one was culpable ... the man, alone, had sinned, and whether it
+had been because he had been stronger, every way, than were the women in
+the case, we cannot judge. 'Tis God alone must judge us all, and may He
+guide us all, at last, into the light that is His holy Smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+When Ruth had left the cot where Manuello died, she, first, found
+Estrella and told her what had happened after she had gone, and, then,
+as she had liberty to go where she desired, she started out, just as the
+dusk was falling, to drive along an unknown road, which as she thought
+must lead away from the battle-field; she felt secure for armed men of
+her own race and nation were patrolling all the roads surrounding the
+hospital; the freshness of the coming night appealed to her and, under
+its enticing influence, she went much farther than she meant to do; her
+horses often shied at little heaps that seemed to take on most fantastic
+shapes with the increasing darkness.
+
+She knew full well of what these little heaps had been made up, and,
+yet, surrounded as she was by horror, she did not feel afraid, for she
+was lifted up by patriotic fervor and a great desire to help where help
+of her was needed as were so many of the Red Cross nurses whom she met;
+splendid women volunteered their services as nurses during the progress
+of the Spanish-American war, and wore, with pride and reverence, the
+brilliant cross that indicated what the calling they had chosen was;
+Ruth Wakefield served her country with her might and wore her uniform as
+proudly and conscientiously as any General could; she drove along that
+lonely, unknown road as quietly and fearlessly as if her horses trotted
+over the finest boulevard in some populous city of her own United States
+and firmly held within her strong and steady hands the lines that guided
+the high-lifed team she had secured for her own use since coming to take
+charge of the hospital which she had endowed with her own funds.
+
+Suddenly and without warning, her team was startled by a man who rose to
+his full height and stood erect and tall beside the road as if he'd
+risen from the heaps of dead that lay beside the way; the horses soon
+became unmanageable and overturned the vehicle, so that Ruth suddenly
+found herself thrown against a slight embankment lining the road, while
+her frightened team turned back toward the hospital; her first thought
+was of them, but, remembering that, only a few miles back, she had
+passed one of the patrols, she hoped the team would be secured and taken
+into safety; then, shudderingly, she realized that she was all alone in
+a strange and hostile neighborhood, and, acting on a sudden impulse, she
+hastily climbed over the embankment as she thought she heard a noise
+approaching on the road; she turned and started back but kept herself
+concealed as much as possible behind the friendly embankment.
+
+As she proceeded she began to feel a sort of faintness, almost amounting
+to nausea, creeping over her and dreaded the long walk to the hospital,
+but decided to go on until she saw an armed man dressed in the uniform
+of the United States army; she wondered, at first, why she felt faint
+and almost sick, and, then, she realized that the offensive odors that
+assailed her sensitive olfactory nerves were those that rise when
+material bodies have been deprived of the higher life that gave them
+animation ... that the horrors of a bloody battle-field surrounded her,
+and, as she advanced slowly and with dreadful anticipation ... as she
+even stumbled over more than one unconscious form, that, only a few
+short hours before, had been as full of bounding life as she was then,
+she thought of what the suffering must be of those who lay among the
+dead, perhaps for weary, pain-filled hours, alive yet helpless; the
+thought was a terrific one for any tender-hearted woman to entertain,
+and Ruth had always been particularly thoughtful of the comfort of
+anyone who happened to be near to her, and, so, she soon became enthused
+with the idea that she might search among the heaps of dead and find,
+maybe, someone who lived and might, if he were rescued, yet be happy in
+the world she lived in, and, so, she softly called to see if anyone
+could hear her voice and guide her to the object of her search:
+
+"Are any here who are in need of earthly help?" she asked. "If any here
+can hear my voice, pray answer me and tell me where to come to find
+you."
+
+She waited for an answer but none came, at first; and then it seemed to
+her as if she heard a far-off whisper far away ... she listened
+breathlessly ... it came again and, then, she followed it until she
+found the one from whom the whisper came.
+
+He lay among a heap of bodies tossed about as if they had found death
+together; one whose body lay across his own, Ruth lifted, though she
+shuddered while she did it, for the stark, stiff form was that of one
+who'd, only lately, been as full of life as she was then; she laid it
+softly down and sought the one whose whisper she had heard; her hand
+crept up, along a rough and blood-soaked uniform, until it found a face
+and found it warm with sentient life; she was electrified by joy at
+finding one who lived among the dead, and hastened, then, to separate
+him from the other bodies lying all around him; it was as if they'd
+followed after him ... as if he'd been a leader of the rest ... for he
+was well in front of all of them and yet they were so near that, when
+they fell, they fell together, all around the one whose life she sought
+to save.
+
+She was intent on saving life and did not shrink although her gentle
+hand found many bloody wounds in searching for the one from which his
+life-blood flowed full fast; she found the place, at last ... a deep
+flesh-wound that touched an artery in his right arm ... she had a silken
+scarf about her throat, and, wrapping this about the arm above the
+wound, she made a tourniquet by using a small surgical instrument which
+she always carried for that purpose in the pocket of her nurse's apron
+which she still wore; this stopped the flow of blood at once, and, as
+the brachial artery was untouched, the man gained strength enough to
+whisper:
+
+"Tender Heart ... I'm going to name you right away. Tender Heart, how
+did you happen here ... at night ... alone?"
+
+"I think I came to find you," answered Ruth. "I thought my horses ran
+away and dumped me on the ground, but, now, I think I came here just to
+find you and to bind that poor arm. Now I'll go to bring assistance to
+you just as soon as I can do so."
+
+"Tender Heart," he whispered, for his voice was growing fainter, "if I
+should not be here when you come again, good-bye.... God bless and keep
+you safe from harm."
+
+She knew the meaning of the words and almost flew along, although she
+often stumbled as she went among the bodies lying there upon the
+blood-soaked ground; she reached the hospital at last ... the time
+seemed long to her ... and, there, in front of it, stood her two
+frightened horses, looking all around as if in search of her; she
+soothed them with her reassuring voice, and then she found a vehicle
+adapted to the use she wished to put it to, and two assistants from the
+hospital staff; thus equipped, she took the lines again and drove along
+the road again but with a different object than the one she'd had
+before; turning off the road, she found the object of her search and the
+assistants lifted him upon the stretcher they had brought and, very
+soon, the man lay, white and spent with loss of blood, but conscious, in
+a little cot, and Ruth, forgetting her own needs, stood there beside it.
+
+"Tender Heart," said her new patient, after he had been refreshed and
+bandaged thoroughly, "Tender Heart, I'm very grateful to you. Let me
+introduce myself to you ... your name, you see, I know. I am one of the
+five men who answered Roosevelt when he asked for volunteers to follow
+him to gain the very top of all the ridges that cropped up about San
+Juan hill." He smiled, "I think you know me, now, as I know you. We're
+both Americans.... I know that, too ... we both love Teddy.... I could
+see your eyes flash at the mention of his name. He is a man among men. I
+wish you could have heard him when he said 'I did not think you would
+refuse to follow where I would lead.' I stood beside his horse as he
+said those sad words ... the others followed, then. They followed Teddy
+up that hill ... they took it, too. We won the day. The Spaniards fled
+before us. You know me, now," he ended, whimsically, "just as well as I
+know you."
+
+"Yes," said Ruth, "I know you, now, and you know me ... we're both
+Americans and both of us love Teddy and are proud of him and what he did
+this day. And, now, you'd better go to sleep and rest up for we still
+have work to do ... the Spaniard is not conquered, yet. They'll need us
+both and so we must do all we can to keep our strength. I'm going, now.
+Good-bye until tomorrow."
+
+"Goodnight, Tender Heart," he said. "Goodnight."
+
+Ruth went, then, to the little cottage where she found old Mage and
+Tid-i-wats awaiting her; Estrella stayed on duty in the hospital where
+she had learned to do her work with neatness and dispatch.
+
+Ruth always told old Mage the happenings of the day as they were seated
+at their evening meal; her old nurse loved to listen to her animated
+account of every little thing that she remembered that she'd seen or
+heard about; she had an unusual memory of small details and a most
+graphic power of description; these she employed to interest and amuse
+her old nurse who had been alone with little Tid-i-wats, almost all day;
+in recounting recent events she passed as lightly as possible over the
+occurrences of the battle-field where she had found and rescued one who
+had been left as dead among the lifeless bodies of the slain; she did
+not wish to shock old Mage too much and, somehow, she did not wish to
+speak of him she'd rescued ... somehow, she feared that her auditor, who
+was always eager for romantic episodes would, maybe, choose to enter
+into rhapsodies concerning the possibilities of her own future if she
+talked too much about the handsome stranger, for remembering how he'd
+looked resting, as she'd seen him last, upon the little cot, his
+dark-blue eyes regarding her with whimsical tenacity, she freely
+acknowledged to herself that he was handsome and distinguished in
+appearance; so she changed the subject when old Mage began to question
+her too closely about him, and, in the changing of the subject, the rosy
+flush that was so much a part of her expression, crept over her fair
+face and lighted up her deep gray eyes until her countenance was
+glorified, as if her inner consciousness shone through her delicate and
+expressive features; old Mage observed this blush and speculated on its
+cause and wondered whether Ruth had found another man more worthy of
+affection than the one she hoped she had almost forgotten.
+
+When Ruth returned, the next day, to the hospital, she went among the
+little cots until she came to that one where he lay ... the man she'd
+helped to rescue from a slow and very painful death; she found him lying
+wide awake and very thoughtful:
+
+"Tender Heart," he said, "Tender Heart, you've come to me, again; I've
+longed for you and now you're here beside me."
+
+She rested one of her soft hands upon the cot and his hand searched for
+hers and found it; then their fingers intertwined and clung together for
+a moment only, but the memory of that hand-clasp lingered with them
+forever after; it was as if their very souls had intermingled in that
+clasping of their hands ... it was as if their spirits swung, together,
+out ... far out ... beyond the things of earth ... and, then, still
+farther out and on and up into eternal peace and lasting joy and
+gladness ... it was as if they had been translated into disembodied
+spirits while they still remained on earth ... as if a higher and a
+holier love than any earthly love can ever be had sought them out and
+found them there within that shadowy hospital ... it was as if they had
+gone on into the astral world and left their human bodies where they
+seemed to be themselves ... as if they had been separated from the
+material surroundings that seemed to be about them.
+
+Ruth blushed until the rosy flush crept up to her brown hair that seemed
+to frame her face, and looked at the soft fingers that his hand had held
+and then she smoothed his pillow with them as she said:
+
+"I'm very glad to find that you are better than you were last night. I
+surely hope that you'll recover very rapidly. I'm told that men like
+you will soon again be needed. It is reported that another battle will
+be fought not very far from here."
+
+"I surely hope," he said and said it very earnestly, "I surely hope that
+I'll be able to take my part in whatever engagement is entered into by
+our troops, and if, perchance, I should be left again upon a
+battle-field, I trust that you will come and find me, Tender Heart, I
+trust that you will find me and, if it pleases you, I hope you'll keep
+me, Tender Heart."
+
+She blushed again at that and simply said:
+
+"Now you must go to sleep and rest and gain what strength you can, for
+men like you," she ended, archly, "for men like you are almost always
+needed very badly."
+
+Ruth Wakefield was no flirt and never had been one; she was quickwitted
+and she had a wide command of language, and she smiled as she went on
+upon her rounds among the little cots when she remembered that neither
+of them really knew the other's name; she liked the name he'd given to
+her ... she liked the way he said it ... she liked the fine expression
+of his speaking countenance ... she liked his eyes ... she liked his
+manly way of meeting whatever came to him with courage and with cheerful
+readiness to serve the country they both loved ... her heart went out to
+him in very many ways, and, then, she looked again at those soft fingers
+that his hand had held ... she seemed to feel again the subtle,
+unexplainable, electric thrill that crept through all her being at his
+touch ... that seemed to answer to the look within his eyes ... the
+accent on his tongue, and, then, she blushed again and went about her
+work within that shadowy hospital where many strong men lay in bitter
+pain with renewed courage and with a new and hither-to unknown
+tenderness.
+
+She stood, at length, beside a cot whereon lay one whose face was hidden
+while surgeons dressed a gaping wound he had received upon his head;
+Ruth stopped and gave her scissors that she always carried in the pocket
+of her apron to the one who needed them for use in cutting away the dark
+hair that grew along the edges of the wound; it clung in tiny ringlets
+and was black as night and very soft and thick.... Ruth could not help
+remembering, that her hands had often strayed among such soft and dark
+and clinging ringlets, but she shuddered as she thought of them and of
+Estrella who had deemed herself to be the only woman Victorio Colenzo
+had ever loved, and, then, she wondered if all men were like to that one
+she had married thinking him to be as he professed to be ... judging him
+to be as truthful as she was ... she wondered if the man she had just
+left would be like that under similar circumstances ... he was ready in
+his hints at tenderness ... was he, too, perhaps, a gay deceiver?
+
+While her thoughts were rambling on in this way, her eyes were idly
+looking at the man who lay upon his face and writhed under the stitches
+that the surgeons took to close the gaping wound upon his head; he
+turned his face an instant toward her and she recognized him as a
+Spanish officer she'd seen in San Domingo under most distressing
+circumstances; she had gone, as she had often done before, to minister
+to the needs of those who were among the poorer classes in the village,
+one day, and found before a hovel a most richly caparisoned horse held
+by an orderly; inside, there knelt upon the floor a young and pretty
+peasant girl; she was imploring this same officer who lay upon that
+little cot not to make her go with him to be his helpless slave; Ruth
+rescued her and told the man to go his way in no uncertain language;
+now, he lay there dressed as if he were an American soldier; she
+recognized him perfectly for his face had often haunted her, it was so
+sinister and devilish.
+
+She sought out Father Felix, then, and told him what she had discovered,
+and he took what steps were necessary in the matter, for he who'd named
+Ruth Tender Heart had named her very well indeed; it seemed to her she
+could not bear to turn this Spanish spy over to the proper authorities,
+and, yet, she knew it was her duty to do that very thing, so the good
+Priest helped her to do her duty as he'd promised her he would, and,
+after that, there was a wall at sunrise and a platoon of armed men, and,
+then, that Spanish spy soon disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+We intimated when we first began this tale that Father Felix was a man
+to be admired, not only for his strong religious zeal, but for his great
+virility and patriotic fervor.
+
+Never had he shown these qualities more fully than during the naval
+battle of Santiago which engagement took place shortly after the events
+narrated in the last chapter; there was work to do on land as well as on
+the water at that crucial time; more than 18,000 helpless persons ...
+men, women and children ... marched out of the beleagued city seeking
+safety in the open country surrounding it; among these were many wealthy
+women of the higher class whose delicate silken garments were bedraggled
+and torn by the hardships of the journey which it was necessary to make
+on foot over muddy roads and through barbed wires which had been
+stretched irregularly all around Santiago and its vicinity by the
+Spanish soldiery for the purpose of turning back the invading Americans
+who were advancing upon them.
+
+Among these women there was one who reached the hospital over which Ruth
+Wakefield presided; she was bespattered and weary and sick at heart,
+but there was a light in her dark eyes and a steadiness in her firm hand
+that appealed to Ruth at once and made her single this one woman from
+among all who came to her that day for help; as soon as she had changed
+her apparel and washed the grime of travel from her person, she asked to
+be allowed to assist the others who were at work among the little cots
+that were now filled with suffering humanity; she took her place so
+quietly that it seemed to those among whom she moved that she had almost
+always been right there and would always continue to be there; Estrella
+liked her from the first of their acquaintance and the older woman found
+the girl so pleasing that whenever she could do so, she gave her hand a
+little squeeze or patted her upon her shoulder to make her know that
+they two were congenial and going on, together, toward the same loved
+goal; this silent association became at once a bond between these two
+who, in their nurse's uniforms, looked enough alike to be twin
+sisters ... they had the same dark eyes and sensitive and drooping
+lips ... they had the same fair skins, although Estrella had been tanned
+by more outside exposure than the other had ... they moved in the same
+way and both were tall and straight and lithe and quick; Ruth noticed
+them together and at once began to wonder why they looked so much
+alike ... then she thought of what Estrella'd told her as to what she
+knew of her own family, and, immediately, Ruth began to speculate and
+piece together little circumstances and then she soon began to hope that
+poor Estrella, maybe, might, in this way, find her own people; so she
+asked some kindly questions of the woman who had come to them that day,
+and she found that she had had a little sister, long ago ... a little
+sister who had disappeared and whom they'd mourned as dead for many
+years; Ruth told her all she knew about the girl ... all except her
+intimate association with the man whom, she, herself, had married; she
+did not feel that she could speak of him to this dark stranger ...
+anyway, it would not matter, now, and if Estrella wished to speak about
+it later on, then she could do so; they called the girl, then, and found
+she had a little dainty cross of gold that she had always worn about her
+neck.... Manuello's mother had preserved it for her while she was an
+infant thinking it might prove the child's identity, so that the ones
+who'd cared for her might be profited thereby, and, since she knew about
+it, she, herself, had held it sacred as the only link that bound her to
+her unknown family ... and so it proved, indeed, the link that proved
+her as the sister of the lady who had come to them that day from the
+beleaguered city of Santiago.
+
+Estrella's blood, it seemed, was Spanish ... she had descended from the
+ones who knew the roses of Castile ... she'd always seemed far
+different from the peasants among whom she'd lived until she met Ruth
+Wakefield who recognized in her a higher strain ... a higher nature ...
+than she found in any of the peasants whom she met in San Domingo; old
+Mage, even, looked upon Estrella differently than on the other servants
+whom she always treated with great condescension, for she felt herself
+above the most of them as she was always nearer to her dear young lady
+than any of them were; Ruth trusted her with Tid-i-wats, for one thing,
+which separated her from all the rest, for Tid-i-wats, was most abrupt
+in very many ways, and, sometimes, even went so far as to just sink her
+long, sharp claws right through whatever garments anybody wore, so that
+they found and often even penetrated the skin beneath the garments; she
+would do this deed in such a loving way that many who were sadly
+scratched by her would try to smile and take this punishment as if it
+were but joy and gladness ... old Mage squirmed sometimes, 'tis true,
+beneath this discipline that Tid-i-wats gave very freely, but she never
+put her down or turned against her,--only saying:
+
+"Tid-i-wats! Good land! Your blessed little claws are very sharp
+indeed," and, then, she'd often turn to Ruth and add, "I tell you
+Tid-i-wats is just as young and spry as she ever was ... no one would
+ever think how old she is if he could feel her claws."
+
+When Estrella found that she was not alone, but had a family, and a
+loving, wealthy sister, old Mage was very glad indeed ... she'd found
+the girl a little in her way for many reasons; Ruth deferred to her a
+little, pitying her so much, and old Mage knew that if Ruth pitied
+anybody very much she might, in time, begin to love the person whom she
+put her tender pity on, and, then, to the old nurse, Estrella always
+brought up the memory of the man who had deceived her ... made her think
+him to be far better than he'd ever been ... and, so, altogether,
+Estrella's good fortune pleased old Mage in very many pleasant ways.
+
+To say that Ruth was glad to have Estrella find her people was to put
+the case too lightly altogether; she was far too unselfish not to
+rejoice in her good fortune even though her going might mean great human
+loneliness for her: she had in her own inner consciousness a kind of
+spiritual and lasting strength on which she always leaned when outside
+companionship failed her in any way ... she never was alone although she
+often seemed to be so ... in fact, Ruth Wakefield often found herself to
+be alone among a crowd of human beings ... it seemed to her their many
+diverse thoughts disturbed the peace of mind she always longed to
+have ... her pity was so great ... her sympathy so broad ... and sorrows
+and sore trials are so common to the entire race of men and women ...
+that she seldom found much joy among the people whom she met; she gave
+most liberally to all she came in contact with ... she gave
+encouragement and comfort and sympathy and help ... but seldom did she
+find a human being who could give her anything at all for any length of
+time, at least:
+
+"They come and they go," she often sadly said. "It seems to me that
+there is nothing steadfast in this world except the God on whom I always
+lean when all else fails me.... I wish I _could_ find something strong
+enough to tie my faith to ... I _wish_ I could ... it would be wonderful
+to know that I could always find good, solid ground beneath my human
+feet ... it would be wonderful to feel that nothing mattered between
+another human being and myself ... to feel that nothing, good or bad,
+could ever really change our feelings toward each other ... but I'd have
+to know for sure that it was so ..." she'd add, "I'd have to know for
+sure, I'd have to try it out somehow ... so many things have slipped
+away from me ... so very many things ... I'd have to know for sure,
+somehow, before I'd dare to trust too much."
+
+While these personal matters were taking the attention of some of those
+within the shadowy hospital, Father Felix was undergoing an altogether
+different experience.
+
+The good Priest had, more than once, covered the entire eight miles of
+entrenchments around Santiago on foot and with a heavy pack containing
+supplies on his broad back; during the time that elapsed between the
+naval battle of Santiago and the surrender of the city on Sunday, July
+17, 1898, he had marched with his little flock of soldiers over many
+stony trails and through many miry passes, and, while the engagement
+itself was in progress, he had performed many heroic deeds and, more
+than once, he had fervently thanked God for his sturdy strength of arm
+and limb because he was thereby enabled to give material as well as
+spiritual aid to those who came within the reach of his hands; had
+anyone been watching a certain shady spot near Santiago on July 3, 1898,
+he might have witnessed a peculiar scene.
+
+A rather short thick-set man, dressed as an army Chaplain and wearing a
+crucifix attached to a strong chain around his neck, was bending over
+one who lay there in the shade; he seemed to be examining the man to see
+if life remained in his body, and, yet, he always held the crucifix
+before the face of him who lay there as if he wished him to behold it,
+in case his earthly eyes should evermore see anything; he tried in every
+way he could to gain some recognition of his holy office from the man
+over whose earthly tenement he was then bending, but, as he did not
+succeed in this, he gently laid the crucifix upon the apparently
+pulseless breast, and went his way to find, perhaps, another one to whom
+he might administer the final consolation of the church whose dogmas he
+believed in.
+
+The man he'd left behind him stirred uneasily, and, as he writhed and
+twisted there, the crucifix slid off his breast and fell upon the
+ground; it lay where it had fallen until Father Felix came again and
+brought with him another sufferer; he looked upon the breast of his
+first charge and did not see his crucifix ... it lay beneath the body of
+the one he'd left it with; he gently said:
+
+"I left my crucifix with you, my Friend ... I thought it might be a
+consolation to you if you came to life again at all. I do not see the
+crucifix ... could anyone have taken it during my absence, I wonder?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know anything about your crucifix, good Sir," the man
+replied in a weak voice. "I have other things to fix my mind on than
+anything like that. For one thing, I am wounded and I need a surgeon
+more than I do Priests or crosses."
+
+"I'll supply that need as far as I am able," Father Felix said. "I know
+I am an amateur and yet I have set broken limbs and tied up arteries and
+sewed up wounds full many times because there was no one better near
+enough to do it. Where are you hurt, my Friend?"
+
+"I am not hurt at all, you blundering old fool, you ..." the man began.
+"I'm dead and buried ... killed completely ... that is all ... and I
+don't want any old woman's work. Go get a surgeon for me ... quick! I'm
+losing lots of blood ... I need a surgeon, I tell you ... go get me
+one!"
+
+Father Felix did not say a word in answer to this tirade for he had
+heard full many such remarks since he had been at work among the
+soldiers, and, so, he bound the wounds of the second sufferer he'd
+brought before he stopped the flow of blood from his first charge, for,
+well he knew the loss of some good red blood might make it easier for
+him to help the man ... he was too full of life and anger ... too full
+of unrepented viciousness ... for the good Priest to help him very much,
+and, so, he let him lay there in the shade and curse and fume and rage
+until he worked his evil temper off a little; then he gently said to
+him:
+
+"Now, if you think that I can help you any, I will do all I can for you,
+Friend, but if you'd rather lie there on the ground and take the name of
+God in vain, why, I must let you do so. There is no one within hail
+except myself, who knows a thing about surgery, unless this man, here,
+does; I do not know about that part but he is wounded, too, so that I
+guess I am your only hope here on the earth at present. May I see your
+hurt and maybe bind it up and make your suffering less than it is, now?"
+
+Sheepishly, the man looked up at him, and moved a little so the crucifix
+became exposed; Father Felix quickly picked it up and put the chain
+around his neck again, and then he added to the things that he had said
+before:
+
+"I'm sure I'm very glad I found my crucifix ... it is of value to me for
+it has been the means of consolation to a great many sufferers from this
+sad war; it seems to help so many to behold the sufferings of One Who
+gave His precious life to save the lost and suffering souls who wander
+on the earth. He loved you, Sir, and, in His Name, I love you, too, and
+wish to help you, though you flout my work in your behalf. I am an
+amateur, but I can bind the only wound I see about you, Sir. Shall I do
+it, Sir, or not? I'd like to do the work the very best I could, but, if
+you say me nay, I'll leave it as it is."
+
+The man grinned like a bashful boy, but he bowed his head in assent and
+Father Felix went to work and bound his wound and left him lying there
+beside the other sufferer and went to find another man to help; his
+stocky legs and muscular arms came in quite handily, that time, for,
+when he came back to the shady spot, he bore one on his shoulder who
+looked and seemed as if already dead and gone beyond the things of earth
+but Father Felix laid him gently down and knelt beside him while he
+gently laid his recovered crucifix upon his almost pulseless breast; the
+first man watched the operation silently, and, then, he moved a little
+farther from the deepest of the shade and said:
+
+"Better bring him over here. It's better in the shade. I'll make a
+little more room here beside me and maybe I can help some in the
+dressing of his wounds."
+
+"I thank you, Sir," the Priest replied. "I surely thank you kindly, but
+this man has gone, I fear, beyond our earthly aid; and, yet, I could not
+bear to leave him lying out there in the sun; the heat is terrible out
+there and flies and insects gather round and many lying out there suffer
+from their stings. I'll leave my crucifix, here, on his breast, and, if
+he moves or speaks, will you please tell him I will be right back?"
+
+And then good Father Felix made another solemn trip to that sad
+battle-field and brought another man into the shade; and he whom he had
+brought there, just before, lay silently ... the silent crucifix upon
+his breast. The priest leaned down to listen for his breathing, then,
+and raised his head with joy depicted on his countenance.
+
+"He lives!" he cried aloud. "This poor fellow is alive! Perhaps it may
+be possible for us to bring him into consciousness again. Now, Sir," he
+addressed the man he had first brought into the friendly shade, "maybe
+you can help me. Take one of his hands between your own and rub it just
+as hard as you can rub it, Sir; that's right ... now, take the other one
+and do the same with it. Your strong vitality will maybe help his
+weakness, Sir. We two together may be instruments in God's Hands to
+bring him back to earthly life again."
+
+He put some drops of cordial on his tongue and chafed his limbs and
+turned him over many times until he saw some signs of returning
+consciousness and then he raised him up and rested his head upon his
+helper's breast and held the crucifix before his face so he would see it
+if his eyes would open; and his helper held the hands of him who seemed
+about to die and gazed with eagerness into his countenance.
+
+The good Priest saw this look upon his helper's face and joyed to see it
+there instead of the malevolent expression that had rested on his rather
+handsome features only a short time before.
+
+At length, the sufferer resting on the other's breast opened his wide
+eyes and gazed upon the crucifix and motioned that it be brought nearer
+to his dying lips; he kissed it, then, devoutly, and his deathless
+spirit passed to Him Who gave it life at first.
+
+Father Felix gently laid his body down upon the ground and placed the
+crucifix upon his cold, still breast, and, then, he said to him who
+watched it all in silence:
+
+"You see, Sir, some are happier to have the crucifix to kiss before they
+go to meet their Maker; I did not know that you felt as you said you did
+about it. I beg your pardon, Sir ... I humbly beg your pardon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+On July 17, 1898, United States troops marched into and took possession
+of the city of Santiago, thereby completing the assurance of
+independence to Cuba.
+
+On that auspicious day Ruth Wakefield closed her temporary hospital and
+turned over to its new owner the little cottage which she had built to
+shelter her small family during her stay near Santiago; with tears of
+joy as well as sorrow, she had said good-bye to Estrella and her
+new-found relatives who were about to return to the home of the latter;
+Father Felix had decided to return to his little flock at San Domingo as
+he felt that his work with the army was finished, so that, in his
+company and with old Mage and Tid-i-wats safely ensconced near to her,
+she sailed upon the first steamer going toward Havana after there was no
+longer need of her help among the American soldiers.
+
+It was with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow that she left the scene
+of her recent activities ... she was carrying with her many sad memories
+of heroism and of suffering borne with patriotic patience ... her heart
+was heavy when she reflected upon the horrors she had witnessed, but
+her spirit was loyal to the sacred cause for which so many splendid
+lives had been sacrificed ... she could see, with prophetic vision, a
+happy and prosperous race of people taking the place of the down-trodden
+and pitiful company of cowering peasants with which she had been all too
+familiar ... it seemed to her that she could see the smiling faces of
+many happy children crowding along the narrow streets of the small
+villages of Cuba ... it seemed to her that she could almost hear old men
+relating the long-past horrors that had been common under the iron heel
+of the Spanish oppressor ... relating these remembered facts to those
+who shook their heads, half doubtingly, as they listened to them.
+
+Ruth herself, was looking forward with bright anticipation to her return
+to her own beloved home ... dear to her, not only because of its
+intrinsic attractiveness, but also because of the precious memories it
+held of her parents whom she constantly mourned for and kept alive
+within her loving heart; for so it is, as I believe, that those who are
+beyond the earth yet live among us who are yet in human form; I think
+that those who are made welcome in the hearts of men and women continue,
+often, their stay within the circle of humanity; so long as mortals
+remember and long for them, so long will they care to wander among the
+hills and mountains and along the pleasant valleys and by the oceans
+and the rivers of the earth; if they should be forgotten by all
+humanity, it does not seem to me that they would often wish to look upon
+the moonlight or the sunlight of our world; if nowhere in our world
+their spirits could find a resting-place, it seems to me they would not
+care to stray among mortal men and women.
+
+Freed souls, as I believe, are not compelled to associate with those who
+are uncongenial to them; they do not have to yield their finest taste
+and dearest wishes, as so many mortals do, to what is far beneath
+them ... far beneath their inner consciousness of right and wrong. They
+do not, as I hope, just because they made some sad mistake, go on
+suffering for dreary years, as many women have, because they saw no way
+of sure release except through death itself.
+
+It is a pitiful but well-established fact that many wives and mothers
+have borne long years of martyrdom because, in their first youth, they
+made unfortunate matrimonial alliances.
+
+There are so very many ways to put on binding-chains in human life;
+there are so many changes common to most mortals, steadfastness and
+truth are such rare qualities, that I sometimes wonder how men and women
+manage even as well as they do.
+
+Sometimes, we criticize our fellow-men and fellow-women pretty harshly,
+but, then, perhaps, we only see one side, and if we could look down from
+some great height, perhaps we, then, would marvel that they do as well
+as they do, now, with human life.
+
+There have been those who honestly expected that, when they would leave
+their earthly tenements, they would go to sleep, when they had gone
+across the unknown river that they knew as death's cold stream, and,
+maybe, sleep a thousand years or so; they must have dreaded that last,
+long sleep, especially if they, as might have happened, had never been
+very sound or very quiet sleepers ... if they had always seemed to be on
+guard and wakened at the slightest unfamiliar sound ... the thought that
+they would just lie silently within the narrow grave they must have
+known it was intended they should be put in must have been a most
+unpleasant one; they must have edged around it all they could and seldom
+mentioned it to anyone around them, and, yet, that horrid thought ...
+that last, long sleep ... must have, often, been present in their waking
+thoughts, and must have, even, sometimes, haunted them in their dreams.
+
+But I believe that we go right on living when we leave the earth-plane;
+I believe that most of us will be wide awake and conscious from the very
+start of that larger life that we will, then, begin to live. I hope that
+we will find that we do not have to sleep at all unless we choose to do
+so.
+
+Ruth Wakefield kept the memories of her parents in her heart and so she
+always had them with her where she went, and, now, that she was going
+back where they and she had spent so very many happy years together, it
+was natural that she should think of them even more than common; a
+feeling of deep sadness stole across her mind whenever she reflected on
+her parents and their home, somehow; she could not account for this at
+all ... she could not satisfy herself that she had any real reason for
+this feeling of sadness ... but it would creep over her in spite of her
+efforts to banish it from her mind; old Mage felt this and tried to
+cheer her dear young lady up ... little Tid-i-wats felt it and rubbed
+against her lovingly and purred her little happy song of comfort and
+content ... and, yet, Ruth Wakefield dreaded, while she longed for, her
+own home, and, as the vessel they were on drew near to Havana, this
+feeling of unaccountable sadness deepened with the girl ... she drew her
+breath in sharply and a deep and heart-felt sigh broke from her lips as
+they reached the landing-place and left the wild and treacherous waters
+far behind them.
+
+Father Felix wondered if this evident sadness and dread were due, in
+part, to the experiences through which they had both passed, and also,
+the thought of the man whom Ruth had married surreptitiously would often
+cross the mind of the good Priest, for he knew well she often must
+remember him and his dashing, dark and manly beauty; old Mage almost
+cursed him in her fierce old heart when she noticed that Ruth was sad
+although she'd always been so glad to come back home.
+
+"It's that fellow's fault!" she grumbled to herself. "It's all his
+fault ... I hope he's good and dead by this time! I'm sure I'd help to
+make him so, most willingly! What did he want to come into her young
+life and almost ruin it for? The low-lived pup!"
+
+They started out, as dusk was falling, the day they reached Havana, to
+go to San Domingo, and, then, home; Father Felix went with them as far
+as his refectory, and there he bade them a cheerful good-bye and said
+he'd come up, soon, and see them in their home again.
+
+Ruth, somehow, feared to say good-bye to the good Priest and kept his
+hand in hers much longer than was her wont with any man ... he was a
+bulwark for anyone who clung to him for strength ... his was a nature
+strong and good and clean and kind.... Ruth felt this more than usually,
+that evening, and dreaded to go on without him; he noticed this strange
+mood in her and said with cheery acquiescence:
+
+"Perhaps I'd better go on up the hill with you, my Daughter. I can as
+well as not. No one awaits me except my little choir-boys and they have
+managed a long time without me. If you will wait a moment while I look
+about a bit, I'll just go on up with you and see you nicely settled in
+your own old place and then I'll come back here and settle down
+myself."
+
+Suiting his actions to his words, the good Priest looked around and
+climbed the hill with Ruth and her small retinue; the path seemed so
+familiar with the shadows falling all around it, that she laughed and
+said to Father Felix:
+
+"I am a coward, after all ... afraid of friendly wind-mills like Don
+Quixote ... having had to do so much with Spaniards may have made me
+like them in some degree at least.... I wonder if Cervantes was afraid,
+himself, of things that no one ought to be afraid of! I wonder if Sancho
+Panza was afraid, too ... was Rozinante...."
+
+And, then, she stopped, for they had reached what had been, once, the
+outer gate of her palatial residence; there was no gate there ... there
+was no residence ... there was no life there ... it was the tomb of hope
+and home for her; the dwelling had been razed completely ... in its
+stead were only smouldering ruins ... all her precious memories ... her
+visible and tangible reminders of her parents ... had been swept
+away ... she had paid an awful price for helping those who needed help
+from her.
+
+Father Felix stood beside her with his hand upon her shoulder ... he
+could not say a word of consolation or of any sort of help ... he was
+dumbfounded by it all; old Mage sunk down upon the ground and wept, and
+Tid-i-wats came close to Ruth and rubbed against her garments; stooping,
+then, she picked her little pet up and held her closely clasped within
+her sheltering arms; then she went to her old nurse and said to her:
+
+"Do not despair, my dear old Friend. God will provide for us, some way.
+This is a dreadful thing, but we must make the very best of it that we
+can possibly. I will try to think of some way whereby we may be
+sheltered for this one night that is before us and then I hope to find
+some way to rebuild a portion of the residence we used to have here on
+this blessed spot. Let's bear this, dear old Friend. Let's think we gave
+our home to save this country for the people who inhabit it and may
+their homes be just as full of peace and comfort and joy and gladness as
+this one that is gone has been for all who came beneath its friendly
+roof."
+
+The Father Felix stood beside her and said:
+
+"My Daughter, come with me; I'll house you all for this one night at
+least; I'll find a way tomorrow, somehow, for you, so that you may go on
+in the path that you were meant to walk in. My Daughter, let us pray for
+guidance in this unexpected sorrow. Let us pray."
+
+They knelt there underneath the friendly stars and the good Priest
+prayed, earnestly:
+
+"Dear, kind and loving Father," then he said, "look down upon us as we
+kneel before Thee, here; direct us with Thy holy Wisdom, for we falter
+and are cast down with the burden of this day. Direct the feet of her
+who has been sorely stricken, here, tonight; direct her feet so that she
+may go on upon the path that Thou hast pointed out to her. Help her to
+go on with courage and devotion to the cause for which she has made this
+great and almost overpowering sacrifice. Help her to show in all her
+acts, henceforth, the same sweet resignation to Thy Will that she has
+shown so far. And help me, Father, help Thy humble servant who is but
+feeble and who often fails in doing all he should for Thee and for Thy
+children, help Thy humble and most unworthy servant to stand as if he
+were a pillar, so that she may lean upon him if her courage falters, or
+if she should stumble or grow weak in walking in the path that she was
+meant by Thee to walk upon. Look down in mercy on Thy servants as we
+kneel before Thee here. Amen."
+
+Tid-i-wats endured this, patiently, until he went beyond the common run
+of prayers for him when they had been together, then she squirmed and
+twisted in Ruth's arms, and, finally, escaped her altogether; then old
+Mage corraled her and the two of them had quite a little conversation on
+the side:
+
+"You naughty little thing! You must behave yourself and be a nice little
+lady. Can't you see what's happened to us without making us a lot of
+trouble, too?"
+
+And Tid-i-wats said, plainly:
+
+"I'll do just as I please, you mean old thing you! Don't you _dare_ to
+hold me when I want to get away! I'll show you what my claws will do to
+you, old Mage! You let me go this minute!"
+
+Then she used some language only known to cats and those who know the
+devious ways of little petted cats.
+
+Then Ruth turned to her and whispered:
+
+"Little Dadditts! Little Tid-i-wats! Be a nice lady, now ... be a very
+nice little lady, now. Dadditts ... little bit of Dadditts...."
+
+Then she held her close and tried to comfort her and gain some comfort
+for herself, but her tears would come to think how happy they had always
+or most always been in that fine home which seemed so much a part of
+life to Ruth that, now that it was gone from her, life seemed a sordid
+and a sorry thing.
+
+But she went with Father Felix, quietly, to the refectory and there they
+all found comfort and refreshment, for the good Priest always had
+prepared himself to entertain some unexpected guests, and, with
+returning security and peace, his parishioners had brought some supplies
+to welcome him on his return; so they fared quite well considering what
+had met them when they reached the place where Ruth had thought to find
+rest from her arduous toil; instead, she had to meet renewed unrest and
+many problems to be solved in her near future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+When Ruth Wakefield awoke the next morning after her arrival in the
+village of San Domingo, she became conscious of her surroundings with a
+sudden start; at first, she scarcely realized just where she was, for
+her long trip on the boat following her strenuous and nerve-wracking
+labor of the past few weeks, had left her very weary in mind as well as
+in body, so that her sleep had been profound and restful; she looked
+about her wonderingly and did not recognize anything near to her except
+little Tid-i-wats who was cuddled up in a little soft round ball right
+beside her pillow; then, from the adjoining room, she began to hear old
+Mage, who was, evidently, making her customary strenuous efforts to
+continue her slumbers.
+
+Gradually, Ruth remembered the desolation to which she had returned,
+and, hastily dressing, she left the refectory intending to go at once to
+the spot where her much-loved home had been, and ascertain, under the
+light of day, the extent of her loss, also, she wished to make some
+plans, while she could do so quietly and unobserved, as to the future of
+her little family, who, as it seemed, was now without a roof to shelter
+them.
+
+She slowly and cautiously ascended the hill; the pathway was almost
+obliterated by the growth of the wild things that had been allowed to
+run riot over it and she followed it more by instinct than anything
+else; as she gained the point from which the proud edifice she had so
+loved used to become visible to anyone approaching it, the fact that no
+buildings of any kind were in sight pressed upon her inner
+consciousness, and it was only with great effort that she proceeded at
+all; somehow, she had hoped, she now found, that the hasty survey they
+had made the night before might have been overdrawn in some respects and
+the corroboration of her worst fears was hard for her to bear; but she
+had become accustomed, from long endurance, to meet whatever came with
+calmness and courage; so she straightened her slim, tall figure to its
+full height, and advanced with the air of a soldier marching forth to
+meet the foe.
+
+She had passed the spot where the entrance gates had been; the pillars
+on either side of the entrance were almost entirely demolished and there
+was nothing to be seen of the gates themselves; all along the driveway
+debris was piled in disordered heaps; evidently, no one had been here,
+or so it seemed at a first glance, anyway, for some time; vegetation had
+even partially covered a part of the ruins of the dwelling itself; with
+repeated gasps of horror, she ran from what had been the front entrance
+to her home to first one side and then the other; finally, she sat down,
+disconsolately, like Niobe, amid the ruins of her former happiness; she
+knew that she was where her library had been; here she had found her
+most satisfying, lasting happiness, surrounded as she had been by the
+books she had loved; she could see the half-burned remains of many of
+her favorites lying all around her; thinking to save some portion of one
+of these, she picked it up, fondly, and laid it in her lap, while she
+bent over it searching for some word of comfort or some sustaining
+sentence; it seemed to her that some of the authors she had so dearly
+loved and almost reverenced, would surely come to her aid in this dire
+calamity ... it almost seemed to her as if one or more of them would
+actually speak to her in such a way as to impress her mind with their
+fine thoughts.
+
+Suddenly, she became conscious of the nearness of some human being;
+looking up, surprised and even alarmed, she beheld the man whose life
+she had been instrumental in saving after the battle of San Juan Hill.
+
+"Tender Heart," he said, softly, "Tender Heart, what have we here? Why
+are you so sad? You came to me in grievous trouble and I, it seems, have
+found you under similar circumstances. Tender Heart," he pleaded,
+"Tender Heart, let me help you as you helped me if I can do so."
+
+She turned and looked into his eyes ... she rose to her feet and took
+one hesitating step toward him ... she stretched out both her hands,
+and, somehow, then, she felt his strong arms fold themselves around her
+yielding form ... she felt his heart beat very near to hers ... she felt
+his lips against her hair ... and, then, she turned her face from his
+broad shoulder where it had found a resting-place, and, as her lips met
+his, it seemed to her that, after all, she had come home; a feeling of
+deep security and sweet peace crept over her:
+
+"Tender Heart," he murmured very near to her small, shell-like ear, for
+she had, once more, put her head against his shoulder, "Tender Heart,
+you do not know my name.... I am, to you, but one of those five men who
+volunteered, at once, to follow Teddy up San Juan Hill.... I am, to you,
+but only him you rescued from almost certain death upon that bloody
+battle-field. Are you sure you are not making a mistake, sweet, trusting
+Tender Heart, to grant me this great privilege, knowing as little of me
+as you do?"
+
+He waited for her answer, for some time, but, then, he waited willingly
+indeed, for her soft nearness was enough to make him very happy; when
+her answer came she spoke in such low tones he had to listen very
+closely ... he had to put his arms about her a little closer than they
+had been yet ... he had to lift her from the ground and bring her soft,
+red mouth upon a level with his head, indeed ... and then, he heard her
+say:
+
+"I know you just as well as you know me. We do not know each other's
+names ... we do not need to know them ... now ... I only know I love
+you, Dear ... and, now, I know that you love me."
+
+And, then, he set her feet upon the ground again and looked down into
+her clear, gray eyes, and found within their shining depths the very
+things he wanted most to know; and she looked up and saw a man who was a
+man indeed ... a man on whom she knew that she could lean ... a man whom
+she would love to walk beside ... a man of whom she could be always
+proud.
+
+Standing there, they gazed into each other's eyes and read their future
+in them ... read the happiness that they might know together on the
+earth, and, then, they saw beyond the chance and change that seem to to
+govern earthly things, and saw themselves together in some higher,
+better sphere. They plainly saw, there, in each other's eyes, the
+promise of another, more etherial world, where they might spend long
+ages of eternal joy and gladness in each other's company.
+
+Father Felix found them so, for he had followed Ruth to see if he could
+help her meet the problems that confronted her; the good Priest
+hesitated for only a moment before he said:
+
+"My Daughter, I trust that you have found true happiness. Sir, I do not
+know you very well, but I can give you most profound assurance that you
+have found a jewel among women; if she has any faults I have not found
+them, yet, and I have spent full many happy hours in her society; my
+work is to find faults, if so be I can trace them out; I am a hunter,
+and a most successful one, of human frailties, and, when I give you my
+most profound assurance that I have not found a fault in this one woman,
+the statement is worthy of respect.
+
+"Your coming at this time is most propitious, for I was almost at my
+wit's end as to how to help her bear the direful calamity that has just
+come upon her. She has not remembered half she's lost, and, now that she
+has found you, Sir, I trust that she will nevermore remember much of it,
+but that she will go on, with you beside her, leaving far behind her in
+her earthly path sad memories of happy days that nevermore can come to
+her."
+
+The man, then, gave to Father Felix his right hand and kept his left arm
+round Ruth's slender waist:
+
+"I do not doubt your word," he answered the good Priest. "I feel that
+every single word of what you've said is strictly true, and, yet, I have
+some fault to find with this young lady, here; she came away and did
+not leave a message behind for me, and I have had a weary, most
+disheartening time since she departed. I came to San Domingo, I traced
+her that far, easily, and, then, I found a little girl named Tessa
+something, who said she knew the very place to find her in ... she said
+she knew she'd go where, once, the mansion on the hill had stood ...
+and, so, I came straight here, and, so, I've found her. Tender Heart,"
+he asked, "have you told the good Priest how we met?"
+
+Then Ruth blushed her pretty, fleeting, characteristic little blush, and
+said:
+
+"Father Felix knows me even better than I know myself, for he has told
+me many times what I would do before I did it. Father Felix knows me
+better, even, that _you_ do," then she turned to Father Felix, laughing
+like a happy little child, and added, "He don't even know my name and I
+have no idea what _his_ is; he calls me Tender Heart because I am so
+easily misled by tenderness and I call him ... why, I have never called
+him anything at all."
+
+"Yes, you have!" he interrupted, eagerly. "You called me 'Dear' just
+now ... so she is Tender Heart and I am Dear and that's enough, I think,
+don't you?"
+
+The good Priest smiled upon them almost condescendingly, for he was far
+above such little human twists and turns, or so he seemed to be at
+least, and so he was in very truth, for he had had his romance ... he
+had seen the grave close over the bright curls of one he dearly loved
+who loved him just as dearly as he did her; it was after that that he
+had taken up the work he did so well; he left his human happiness behind
+him in that narrow grave and looked beyond it to a higher, better kind
+of happiness; Ruth knew a little of this romantic sorrow for the good
+Priest had imparted it to her, and, so, her tender eyes filled up with
+sudden tears and her low, sweet voice trembled into even softer cadences
+than usual as she said:
+
+"Dear Father Felix, you are more to me than any loving brother that a
+woman ever had ... you are the only one who ever understood my human
+sorrow and I think that you will fully understand my human happiness. I
+wish with all my heart that you could be as happy as we are," her fair
+face flushed again, "for you deserve far more of happiness than I do ...
+as for him," she added, archly, "as for him ... do not be too sure of
+perfect human happiness for him.... I am but a mere child in very many
+ways.... I have so very much to learn.... I'm sure I'll always do the
+very best I can, but whether that will be the very best that could be
+done, of course I do not know."
+
+"I'll risk it, anyway, and I will risk it gladly, joyfully," the man
+averred. "I'd go again upon that bloody battle-field if you'd be sure
+to find me, Tender Heart," he ended, "if only in that way we two were
+meant to meet."
+
+When Ruth went back to the refectory she found old Mage and Tid-i-wats
+as lively as two crickets and as cheery as could be ... she introduced
+the man whose life she'd saved, or so it seemed, to them, and each of
+them acknowledged the introduction in her own peculiar way; old Mage
+stared at the man and sized him up most shrewdly, and, then, she gave
+her verdict very plainly by her manner of addressing him:
+
+"I'm glad to see you, Sir," she said. "I'm surely very glad to see you
+for I've often heard my dear young lady speak of you; I hope you'll stay
+around here near to us for we will have another home to build and
+Tid-i-wats and I are not much help to her.... I'm growing to be an old
+woman, now, and Tid-i-wats is so peculiar that she never is much help to
+anyone."
+
+And, then, the little cat came close to him and smelled his hands and
+rubbed against his legs, and, finally, when he sat down, she jumped up
+in his lap and settled down and twisted round and licked herself and
+washed her face and made herself entirely at home; and then she looked
+up at old Mage and Ruth and whispered to them that she liked him very
+well indeed, and, so, he was adopted into that small family.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+An author who has been considered by very many people to be a most
+successful writer, one whose words have set before very many eyes vivid
+pictures of individual characteristics and national events as well,
+whose Indians are known all over the world, and whose historical novels
+will be eagerly perused as long as there are American eyes to read the
+pages of any book at all, used to make a sort of summary of the
+principal events in the lives of his very interesting characters: it
+always seemed to me that there was something very wholesome and
+satisfying in the way he finished up his books, and, so, I'd like to
+relate just a little more about the people I have tried to picture in
+this little book of mine.
+
+Ruth Wakefield found her earthly mate when she found him whose life she
+helped to save upon the battle-field at night, and spent full many happy
+years in his society; they built a modern home upon the site of the
+mansion on the hill and did much good among the peasants living near to
+them; the man became the author of very many books, and Ruth assisted
+him in very many ways.
+
+Old Mage and little Tid-i-wats lived out the span of earthly life
+allotted to each one of them, beneath the tender eye and ready hand of
+her who loved them both, and, when the time that had been set for them
+to leave this world behind them, came, Ruth Wakefield staid beside them
+to the very last, and ministered to them as no one else would ever do.
+
+The man she'd found had named her well when he said "Tender Heart!" to
+her, that night upon the battle-field.
+
+Her heart was very tender, always, except with reference to herself; she
+often did upbraid herself and never gave herself much credit; she often
+mourned, in secret, over her few brief memories of the wild, impulsive,
+almost insane, so-called love of him she'd married in her untried youth;
+she often said:
+
+"Poor Boy! Poor, lost and misled Boy! I ought to have treated him far
+differently than I did; his earthly path crossed mine for some good
+reason, I presume; and I did not do all the things I might have done,
+when I was near enough to help him, for him ... yet ..." she always
+ended, "I did the very best I could do for him, it seemed to me, at the
+time I had the opportunity, and I always meant and prayed to do just
+right. I went wrong, somehow ... or he had gone too far along a certain
+road before I ever met him for me to turn him back ... anyway, I pity
+him with all my heart and hope that he is happy where he's gone.... I
+hope he's found the very place he belongs in.... I know I always think
+of him with tender pity and no resentment, although, according to the
+standards of the world, he did me grievous wrong. Poor lost and misled
+Boy! He often looked so sad and desperate ... I wish I had done better
+by him while I had the chance."
+
+Her tender heart was uppermost in almost all she did except when she was
+doing for herself, and, then, she'd say:
+
+"My tastes are very simple ... I do not need very much of this world's
+goods ... it takes so very little happiness to make me almost wild with
+joy.... I've had to look on sorrow often, and, when I come to Joy, I
+bask in it as if it were God's holy sunshine."
+
+But, if it should be that old Mage or Tid-i-wats or anyone of all of
+those who were dependent on her, from time to time, for she, somehow
+always seemed to accumulate those who needed her help round her, why,
+then it was quite different to Tender Heart ... then, she'd say and say
+with vigor:
+
+"Of _course_ I can arrange to have it that way! Why, certainly, if that
+would bring happiness, I'll fix it right away."
+
+And sure enough she would arrange it, no matter what it meant for her of
+loneliness or labor ... no matter if she had to go along a lonely road
+that had been full of peace and happiness for her before the one who
+left her lonely had come into her daily life and made it hard for her,
+in that way, while the days were going by, yet made a grievous change
+again, in going; she set her teeth and did the things she had to do to
+make the other person happy, or to do the things he said would make him
+happy, then she turned her face toward her own life, cheerfully,
+although her hours were often very sad and lonely.
+
+But this was all before she met the man whose life she'd helped to save
+upon that battle-field ... all before she'd lost her cherished home and
+built another one. From that time on unto the end of earthly life for
+her, she found sweet satisfaction and content, for she had found a
+steadfast love to lean upon, a strong and true and virile human being,
+whose tastes were similar to hers, who loved his native land, America,
+with all his heart, as she did, too.
+
+It heartens all humanity to meet a happy pair who are congenial.
+
+It gives all other human beings courage to go on upon the path that has
+been set for them to go upon, to know that there is happiness if only
+they could find the way to reach it.
+
+Estrella soon forgot the handsome lover over whom she mourned so
+bitterly; the memory of him soon became a wild, sweet dream, and had she
+met him as he was in San Domingo, after she had found her proper place
+in life, it is probable that she would have turned away from him; life's
+contrasts have so much to do with early love that it is often difficult
+to know what love is really like; Estrella, when she was an unknown
+waif, was differently placed than she was later on. Victorio Colenzo
+would not have seemed the same to her that he did when she was but an
+unknown, simple girl; education made a change in her ... her sister
+looked to that. She grew to be a splendid woman, in very many ways, and
+married one who was her peer.
+
+Poor little Tessa seems the most forlorn of all the characters in this
+book. She tried so hard and failed so utterly in almost all she ever
+did. But Father Felix watched her tenderly, and helped her on, and,
+finally, one day, he married her to one who loved her truly in his own
+rude way, to one who was a sturdy peasant like herself, who had no
+romance in him, but who was true to her, and kind, as kindness goes
+among his sort of people; he provided for her and their children; she
+had many more necessities and even luxuries than most of those who were
+associated with her. She, sometimes, dreamed of Manuello; she never knew
+how his life ended.
+
+Ruth Wakefield looked her up, from time to time, but did not tell her
+very much about the Spanish-American war or those who entered into it;
+she knew she could not really understand much more than would the
+helpless baby at her ample breast, for Tessa did not stay the slim,
+small person that she was at first; she grew to be as wide, almost, as
+she was tall, and seemed to be quite happy as she was. She always limped
+a little from the blow that Manuello gave to her; the deep, sad scar he
+left upon her gentle heart could not be seen, and it, somehow, grew over
+as her flesh and family increased.
+
+Estrella always remembered her and sent her many costly and curious
+things which were her constant delight. She loved to display these
+mementoes of her girlhood's friend; her children, and her heavy husband,
+too, were, always proud of them.
+
+It seems to me that, when such souls as animated little Tessa's form
+leave this world behind them for all time, it must be that they find
+some soft, warm places, where they can sit at ease and watch dear little
+children play, and, maybe, join them in their play, and dream of happy
+hours, and forget all the trials of their lives upon the earth.
+
+The course of human life will, sometimes, like a placid river, flow
+along for many years without a single change that is any more disturbing
+than a little, gentle ripple or an easy turn; then, all at once, like
+the water, that has been so clear and still, when it has reached the
+rapids and becomes a raging, turbid torrent, so human life may,
+suddenly, be stirred to its very depths; something may transpire that
+will call for the most sublime courage and the most strenuous endeavor,
+combined with the most harrowing self-sacrifice.
+
+Like a stroke of lightning out of a calm summer sky, more than one great
+event in our national history has thrust itself upon our startled
+consciousness. At these times, leaders have appeared who have taken
+their places at the head of affairs as naturally and as calmly as if
+they had been, always, guiding those who followed after them, although,
+perhaps, before the time that they were needed, they were,
+comparatively, unknown. And so, it seems to me, it will be always. There
+is a Plan, an infinite, a just, a universal Plan, to which all things,
+mundane or otherwise, must, in the end, conform. To keep ourselves
+informed as to the part that we were meant to take in this great Plan,
+it seems to me, should be our constant study and our constant strong
+desire.
+
+The light of truth and understanding, that is God's Smile, looks up into
+our faces from the heart of every flower, whether bathed in moonlight,
+or shining underneath the sun; the simplest soul or the grandest
+intellect, alike, may bask beneath this light and feel its healing
+power.
+
+I love, above all else, the God of truth and right and justice, Who
+rules all worlds and watches over everything that lives and moves and
+has its being in His whole universe.
+
+It seems to me that there is implanted, although it may be completely
+covered up, at times, in the nature of every human being, a reverence
+and a most affectionate regard, that rests upon implicit faith, for Him
+Who gave to us, at the very beginning of of our human lives, an
+infallible guide ... conscience, or inner consciousness of right and
+wrong ... which, if always heeded, will show us where to go and what to
+do, no matter what vicissitudes, disappointments or sorrows we may meet.
+
+And, next to God, it seems to me, it is both natural and right to love
+the land of one's nativity.
+
+I know I hold in my regard, above all personal advantages, above all
+temporal happiness or praise, America ... the great United States ...
+_that one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was
+free_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An American, by Belle W. Gue
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