So much the better, since he is the pivot
upon which this great affair revolves. You see what must be done?"
"Certainly."
"Come! We will see my friend Anibal at once."
But Mrs. Cortlandt checked him, saying, quietly:
"That is all right as far as it goes, but you forget the other
young man."
Garavel paused in his heavy strides across the room.
"Eh? How so? Gertrudis will not marry this Anthony."
"Perhaps she loves him."
"Love is a fancy, a something seen through a distant haze, an
illusion which vanishes with the sun. In a month, a year, she will
have forgotten; but with me it is different. This is my life's
climax; there will be no other. I am a Garavel; I have looked into
the future and I cannot turn back. I think also of Panama herself.
There are great issues at stake."
"But how will you handle Anthony?"
Garavel looked at her blankly. "He is in my way. He is ended! Is
not that all?"
"I am glad you are practical; so many of you Latin-Americans are
absurdly romantic."
"And why should I not be practical? I am a business man. I love
but two things, madame--no, three: my daughter, my success, and--
my country. By this course I will serve all three."
"Since you take this view of it, I am sure that with Ramon's help
we can dissuade Don Anibal from his course.
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