cap of
knitted silk with a tassel of the same depending from its pointed crown
lay on a chair near him, and completed a costume which, whilst it
undoubtedly set off his very fine figure to advantage, struck me as
being of a somewhat theatrical character. Don Manuel greeted him in
Spanish with effusion, and yet with--I thought;--a faint suspicion of
uneasiness, on our entrance, and then introduced him to Smellie and me
in English, as Senor Garcia Madera. He bowed stiffly in acknowledgment,
murmured something to the effect that he "no speak Inglese," and then
rather rudely turned his back upon us, and addressing Dona Antonia in
Spanish, evidently laid himself out to play the agreeable to her.

I think we all--except Senor Madera,--felt slightly uncomfortable at
dinner and for the remainder of that evening. Don Manuel indeed strove
with all his might to promote and encourage general conversation, but
his behaviour lacked that graceful ease which usually characterised it,
his manner was constrained; he was obviously making an effort to
dissipate the slight suggestion of discord which obstinately asserted
itself in the social atmosphere, and I could see that he was a little
ruffled at finding his efforts unsuccessful. As for Antonia, it was
easy to see that the new guest was to her an unwelcome one, and his
persevering attentions distasteful to her; yet, either because he _was_
a guest or for some other cogent reason, she evidently did her best to
be agreeable and conciliatory to the man, casting, however, slight
furtive deprecatory glances in Smellie's direction, from time to time,
as she did so.

Senor Madera--who was evidently a seaman and not improbably the master
of a slaver--remained the guest of Don Manuel for the night, sleeping
under his roof, and taking his departure very early next morning, before
either Smellie or I had turned out, in fact. On our making our
appearance Don Manuel referred to his late visitor, explaining that he
commanded a ship which traded regularly to the river, and was one of the
few individuals through whom he maintained communication with his native
country. He apologised very gracefully for his acquaintance's brusque
behaviour of the night before, which, whilst deprecating, he explained
by attributing it to a feeling of jealousy, Madera having, it would
appear, exhibited a decided disposition to pay serious attention to Dona
Antonia during his last two or three visits. And--Don Man