en the party again met at the dinner-table there were indications that
Senor Alvaros had made up his mind to treat Jack as a person much too
insignificant to be worthy of the least notice: but he soon found that
he must either abandon this line of policy or himself be left out in the
cold, for the Montijos, one and all, persisted in including Jack in the
conversation; and very quietly and unobtrusively, but none the less
firmly, contrived to make Senor Alvaros understand that the young
Englishman was already regarded as one of themselves. Seeing this, he
changed his tactics and artfully endeavoured to entrap Jack into an
expression of opinion upon the politics of the island: but the young man
was not to be so easily caught; he laughingly disclaimed any knowledge
of or interest in political questions of any kind, and pointed out that
in any case his acquaintance with Cuba was altogether too recent to have
enabled him to form even the most elementary opinion on the question, at
the same time mentioning as a general axiom that Englishmen were usually
regarded as cherishing a weakness in favour of good government and the
maintenance of law and order.

And later on in the evening, when the party adjourned to the drawing-
room, the soldier again found his endeavours to pose as a _persona
grata_ quietly ignored. He would fain have monopolised the society of
Dona Isolda for the remainder of the evening, and attempted to carry her
off with him to a remote corner of the room, but Carlos would have none
of it. His sister had a good voice, and had been taught to use it to
the best advantage, and he wanted his friend Jack to hear her sing some
of the old-fashioned Andalusian folksongs, which she did with
cheerfulness and alacrity, promptly recognising Carlos' intention and
eagerly seconding it. Then Carlos proclaimed that Jack was a singer and
an accomplished pianist, and insisted that his friend should sing and
play to them; and when Senor Alvaros privately confided to Senorita
Isolda his opinion that English music was simply barbarous, and
Englishmen utterly unendurable, the young lady unhesitatingly declared
that she entirely disagreed with him. Altogether, Senor Alvaros spent a
distinctly unpleasant evening, for which circumstance he blamed the
young Englishman; and as he rode back to his quarters that night he
cursed the English nation freely, and Jack in particular, for whom, he
decided, there was no room in Cuba. And the