English gentleman that I have heard
of since my childhood and still longed to meet."
Harry, much bewildered, and far from clear as to the manners of the
Cuban gentlemen, strenuously disclaimed the thought of plagiarism.
"Your national seriousness of bearing best becomes you, Senor," said the
lady. "See!" marking a line with her dainty, slippered foot, "thus far
it shall be common ground; there, at my window-sill, begins the
scientific frontier. If you choose, you may drive me to my forts; but
if, on the other hand, we are to be real English friends, I may join you
here when I am not too sad; or, when I am yet more graciously inclined,
you may draw your chair beside the window and teach me English customs,
while I work. You will find me an apt scholar, for my heart is in the
task." She laid her hand lightly upon Harry's arm, and looked into his
eyes. "Do you know," said she, "I am emboldened to believe that I have
already caught something of your English aplomb? Do you not perceive a
change, Senor? Slight, perhaps, but still a change? Is my deportment not
more open, more free, more like that of the dear 'British Miss,' than
when you saw me first?" She gave a radiant smile; withdrew her hand from
Harry's arm; and before the young man could formulate in words the
eloquent emotions that ran riot through his brain--with an "Adios,
Senor: good-night, my English friend," she vanished from his sight
behind the curtain.
The next day, Harry consumed an ounce of tobacco in vain upon the
neutral terrace; neither sight nor sound rewarded him, and the
dinner-hour summoned him at length from the scene of disappointment. On
the next, it rained; but nothing, neither business nor weather, neither
prospective poverty nor present hardship, could now divert the young man
from the service of his lady; and wrapt in a long ulster, with the
collar raised, he took his stand against the balustrade, awaiting
fortune, the picture of damp and discomfort to the eye, but glowing
inwardly with tender and delightful ardours. Presently the window
opened; and the fair Cuban, with a smile imperfectly dissembled,
appeared upon the sill.
"Come here," she said, "here, beside my window. The small verandah gives
a belt of shelter." And she graciously handed him a folding-chair.
As he sat down, visibly aglow with shyness and delight, a certain
bulkiness in his pocket reminded him that he was not come empty-handed.
"I have taken the liberty," said he,
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