"I could stand it no longer, and so I decided to pay you a visit. Wherever I turn, there is turmoil. It is enough to make a man insane. You may ask Bernardo if it is not."
Don Alejandro glanced at the deaf and dumb native and grinned. Bernardo grinned back as a matter of course, not knowing it was no manner in which to act in the presence of a don.
"You have something else to tell me?" Don Alejandro asked his son, looking at him searchingly.
"By the saints! Now it comes! I had hoped to avoid it, father and sir."
"I paid a visit to the Pulido _hacienda_, and spoke with Don Carlos and his wife, also the Señorita Lolita."
"She is as lovely as any girl of my acquaintance," Don Diego said. "I spoke to Don Carlos of the matter of marriage, and he appeared to be delighted."
"But the marriage cannot take place, I fear."
"How is this? There is some shadow concerning the _señorita_?"
"Not to my knowledge. She appears to be a sweet and innocent maiden, father and sir. I had them come to Reina de Los Angeles and spend a couple of days at my house. I had it arranged so that she could see the furnishings, and learn of my wealth."
"How is this? Refuses to wed with a Vega? Refuses to become allied to the most powerful family in the country, with the best blood in the land?"
"She intimated, father and sir, that I am not the sort of man for her. She is prone to foolishness, I believe. She would have me play a guitar under her window, perhaps, and make eyes, and hold hands when her _dueña_ is not looking, and all that silliness."
"By the saints! Are you a Vega?" Don Alejandro cried. "Would not any worthy man want a chance like that? Would not any _caballero_ delight to serenade his love on a moonlight night? The little things you term silly are the very essence of love. I doubt not the _señorita_ was displeased with you."
"But I did not see that such things were necessary," Don Diego said.
"Did you go to the _señorita_ in a cold-blooded manner and suggest that you wed and have it done with? Had you the idea, young sir, that you were purchasing a horse or a bull? By the saints! And so there is no chance for you to wed the girl? She has the best blood by far, next to our own."
"Don Carlos bade me have hope," Diego replied. "He took her back to the _hacienda_, and suggested that perhaps when she had been there a time and had reflected she might change her mind."