He is just as proud as you or as his
father. When he heard of your daughter's engagement to our friend
Anthony--"
"Ah! Now I see it all." His face darkened. "So, this is my reward
for heeding your advice in regard to Gertrudis. She should have
wed Ramon, as was intended, then I would have had a lever with
which to lift his father from my path. Very well, then, there is
no engagement with this Anthony. It may not be too late even yet
to capture Ramon."
"The city is already talking about Gertrudis and Kirk."
"No word has been spoken, no promise given. There is not even an
understanding. It is merely an old custom that has caused this
report. He seemed a pleasant fellow, she had dreams, so--I
yielded. But do you suppose I would allow my great ambition to be
thwarted by the whim of a girl--to be upset by a stranger's smile?
Bah! At their age I loved a dozen. I could not survive without
them." He snapped his fingers. "You see now the truth of what I
told you when we first spoke of my daughter. It is the older heads
that must govern, always. I should have foreseen this effect, but
Ramon was offended, and he said too little. Now, I admire his
spirit; he is desperate; he will fight; he is no parrot to sit by
and see his cage robbed.
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