should deliberately contract a
mesalliance in the face of his objections, was too much. It was the last
straw. The country was going to the dogs. He argued, pleaded, stormed
and swore and beat his head against the wall of indifference and
obstinacy which his daughter reared between them with the unremitting
fury of a wasp that finds itself on the wrong side of a windowpane. This
new turn in affairs rendered Mrs. Forest so furious that she snapped
right and left regardless of persons like a dog possessed of the rabies,
rendering herself the most disagreeable person in the house.

The alarming rapidity with which event succeeded event, whirling them
onward to some unseen end, was more than sufficient to convince them all
that life was fast becoming a very uncertain quantity. No one knew what
the morrow might bring forth; and all, with the exception of the
Captain, were wrought up to a pitch of nervous tension that threatened
the breaking point. Don Felipe shadowed Chiquita and the
Captain--Chiquita and Blanch regarded one another with increasing
suspicion--Dick pressed his suit with the ardor of desperation; while
the Colonel and Mrs. Forest nagged on all sides. Even Senora wore an
anxious, worried look. It was evident to all that things, as they were,
could not continue much longer. Only the Captain seemed capable of
keeping his head above water; for him the future held no terrors. The
more complicated matters became, the more serene he grew; for had he not
vowed that he would see things through to the end? They would all have
an opportunity of judging who it would be that would laugh last.

The _fandango_ would relieve the tension. Blanch's inspiration was truly
a stroke of genius, for anything was better than a continuance of the
present state of affairs. Ever since Dick's declaration of love, Bessie
had fought and struggled against the tide of events which was
overwhelming her by making herself as disagreeable as possible in his
eyes. But what could she do to thwart the machinations of a man who
laughed at her moods, who encouraged her with each fresh outburst?

Scarcely an hour elapsed after parting from him, than a note was slipped
into her hand by some one of the many Mexican attendants, telling her
how he adored her moods. That a frown from her was sweeter than the
perpetual smile of another woman; that he loved a woman of spirit; that
she would find him on the morrow in the dust at her feet as usual; that
the