第11章 CHAPTER II(4)

Perhaps I do not comprehend the American mother;I have--who knows?--perhaps offended in some point of etiquette,omitted some ceremony that was her due.But when you told me,Mamie,that it was not necessary to speak to HER first,that it was not the American fashion--"Mamie started,and blushed slightly.

"Yes,"she said hurriedly,"certainly;but ma has been quite queer of late,and she may think--you know--that since--since there has been so much property to dispose of,she ought to have been consulted.""Then let us consult her at once,dear child!And as to the property,in Heaven's name,let her dispose of it as she will.

Saints forbid that an Alvarado should ever interfere.And what is it to us,my little one?Enough that Dona Mameta Alvarado will never have less state than the richest bride that ever came to Los Gatos."Mamie had not forgotten that,scarcely a month ago,even had she loved the man before her no more than she did at present,she would still have been thrilled with delight at these words!Even now she was moved--conscious as she had become that the "state"of a bride of the Alvarados was not all she had imagined,and that the bare adobe court of Los Gatos was open to the sky and the free criticism of Sacramento capitalists!

"Yes,dear,"she murmured with a half childlike pleasure,that lit up her face and eyes so innocently that it stopped any minute investigation into its origin and real meaning."Yes,dear;but we need not have a fuss made about it at present,and perhaps put ma against us.She wouldn't hear of our marrying now;and she might forbid our engagement.""But you are going away.""I should have to go to New York or Europe FIRST,you know,"she answered,naively,"even if it were all settled.I should have to get things!One couldn't be decent here."With the recollection of the pink cotton gown,in which she had first pledged her troth to him,before his eyes,he said,"But you are charming now.You cannot be more so to me.If I am satisfied,little one,with you as you are,let us go together,and then you can get dresses to please others."She had not expected this importunity.Really,if it came to this,she might have engaged herself to some one like Slinn;he at least would have understood her.He was much cleverer,and certainly more of a man of the world.When Slinn had treated her like a child,it was with the humorous tolerance of an admiring superior,and not the didactic impulse of a guardian.She did not say this,nor did her pretty eyes indicate it,as in the instance of her brief anger with Slinn.She only said gently,--"I should have thought you,of all men,would have been particular about your wife doing the proper thing.But never mind!Don't let us talk any more about it.Perhaps as it seems such a great thing to you,and so much trouble,there may be no necessity for it at all."I do not think that the young lady deliberately planned this charmingly illogical deduction from Don Caesar's speech,or that she calculated its effect upon him;but it was part of her nature to say it,and profit by it.Under the unjust lash of it,his pride gave way.