his cargo.
But he has a fine opportunity here for the display of his diplomatic
talents. I fancy they will avail him more than they did at
Nagasaki--where I am told he swore more than once when he should have
kowtowed and grinned."

"I shouldn't like to see him grin," replied Khostov, as they finally
started for the outbuildings. "If he could go as far as that he would
be the most terrible man living. Were it not for the fire in him that
melts the iron just so often he would be crafty and cruel instead of
subtle and firm. He is a fortunate man! There were many fairies at
his cradle! I have always envied him, and now he is going to win that
beautiful Dona Concha. She will look at none of us."

"We will doubtless meet others as beautiful at the ball to-night," said
Davidov philosophically. "You are not in love with a girl who has
barely spoken to you, I suppose."

"She had almost given me a rose this morning, when Rezanov, who was
flattering the good Dona Ignacia with a moment of his attention, turned
too soon. I might have been air. She looked straight through me.
Such eyes! Such teeth! Such a form! She is the most enchanting girl I
have ever seen. And he will monopolize her without troubling to notice
whether we even admire her or not. Pray heaven he does not break her
heart."

"He is honorable. One must admit that, if he does fancy his own will
was a personal gift from the Almighty. Perhaps she will break his. I
never saw a more accomplished flirt."

"I know women," replied the shrewder Khostov. "When men like Rezanov
make an effort to please--" He shrugged his shoulders. "Some men are
the offspring of Mars and Venus and most of us are not. We can at
least be philosophers. Let us hope the dinner will be excellent."

VII

It proved to be the most delicate and savory repast that had excited
their appetites this side of Europe. The friars had their consolations,
and even Dona Ignacia Arguello was less gastronomic than Father
Landaeta. Rezanov, whose epicurianism had survived a year of dried
fish and the coarse luxuries of his managers, suddenly saw all life in
the light of the humorist, and told so many amusing versions of his
adventures in the wilderness, and even of his misadventure with Japan,
that the priests choked over their wine, and Langsdorff, who had not a
grain of humor, swelled with pride in his chance relationship to a man
who seemed able to manipulate every string in the human