--a _fiesta_.

The thought was a happy one. It was not only one of those things she had
always wanted to see, but it would be a break--something to relieve the
strain of her daily existence; she pursuing, he avoiding her. The
novelty of the scene--the bright, gay costumes of the Mexicans, music
and twinkling lights, dancing and wine and laughter and song, and the
stars overhead, mellowed by the light of the full moon, must infuse new
life into them all--recall memories of other days to him. With such a
setting, a woman of her beauty, refinement and attraction, and an adept
at the game of flattery and intrigue, must shine with new luster--become
doubly dangerous and irresistible to a man. Though this was her chief
motive for giving the _fiesta_, she had still another in view.

The fame of Chiquita's dancing had naturally aroused her curiosity. She
would ask her to dance; not that she believed the half of what she heard
concerning it, but it would be a satisfaction to see it. Besides, she
had a certain motive of her own for so doing which she imparted to no
one; the subtlest of a woman's thoughts which only the intuition of a
woman could have prompted. She laughed to herself at the thought which
invariably aroused within her a feeling akin to triumph. Why had she not
thought of it before? She knew the Captain had already seen her dance,
but then that was before he knew who she was. It had been in a theater,
and his enthusiasm must have been prompted in a measure by that of the
audience about him. The emotion of a large assembly was always
contagious--sweeping the individual along with it. Whereas, in private,
her dancing, lacking the glamour and artificiality of the stage, would
be a very different thing. It would appear in a more realistic,
commonplace light. Any faults which the atmosphere of the stage might
have concealed would immediately become apparent in the light of natural
surroundings and her performance sink to the level of the commonplace.

Her dancing could only be amateurish at its best, for where could she
possibly have learned to dance? What instruction could she, living in
this out-of-the-way corner of the world, have received in the art? As
for local enthusiasm, it counted for little--amateurs were always so
popular at home. And after all was said, what did the achievements of
the great dancers really amount to? Their creations were not ranked with
those of other artistic achievements. In fact, dancing