e corps of Royal Engineers. He
sat on a bench, saturated by the hot vivid peace; before him reached
the narrow entrance of the bay with, on the farther hand, the long
pink wall of the Cabanas. A drift of military music came to him from
the fortress.... A great love for Havana stirred in his heart;
already, after only a few hours, he was familiar, contented, there. It
seemed to Charles that he understood its spirit; the beauty of palms
and marble was what, in the bleak north, all his life he had longed
for. The constriction of his breathing had vanished.

The necessity for an immediate and violent action had lessened; he
would, when the time came, act; he was practically unlimited in days
and money. Charles decided, however, to begin at once the study of
Spanish; and he'd arrange for lessons at the Fencing School. Both of
those accomplishments were imperative to his final intention. He
lingered on the beach without an inclination to move--he had been
lower physically than he realized. The heat increased, the breeze and
band stopped, and finally he rose and returned to the Inglaterra.
There the high cool shadow of his room was so soothing that he fell
into a sound slumber and was waked only by a pounding at his door past
the middle of afternoon.

A servant tendered him a card that bore engraved the name Andres
Escobar. He would see Mr. Escobar, he sent word, as soon as he could
be dressed. And, choosing his garb in a mingling of haste and
particular care, he was permeated by an indefinable excitement. Facing
Andres, he had a sensation of his own clumsiness, his inept attitude;
for the other, younger than he in appearance, was faultless in
bearing: in immaculately ironed linen, a lavender tie and sprig of
mimosa, he was an impressive figure of the best fashion. But Andres
Escobar was far more than that: his sensitive delicately modelled dark
face, the clear brown eyes and level lips, were stamped with a
superfine personality.

His English, as his father had said, was halting, confined to the
merest formal phrases, but his tones were warm with hospitality.

"It was polite of you to come so soon," Charles replied; "and your
father was splendid to me on the steamer."

"How do you like Havana?" Andres asked.

"I love it!" Charles Abbott exclaimed, in a burst of enthusiasm, but
of which, immediately after, he was ashamed. "I was thinking this
morning," he continued more stiffly, "when I had hardly got here, how
much at