"Of course it is," said Mr. Wood sharply. "The papers are all there.
You're a fool, Victor Garcia!"
And so he was. And, for the matter of that, so was Mr. Saponaceous Wood,
of counsel.
Meanwhile Miss De Haro returned to San Francisco and resumed her work. A
day or two later she was joined by her landlady. Mrs. P. had too large a
nature to permit an anonymous letter, written by her own hand, to stand
between her and her demeanor to her little lodger. So she coddled her
and flattered her and depicted in slightly exaggerated colors the grief
of Don Royal at her sudden departure. All of which Miss Carmen received
in a demure, kitten-like way, but still kept quietly at her work. In
due time Don Royal's order was completed; still she had leisure and
inclination enough to add certain touches to her ghastly sketch of the
crumbling furnace.
Nevertheless, as Don Royal did not return, through excess of business,
Mrs. Plodgitt turned an honest penny by letting his room, temporarily,
to two quiet Mexicans, who, but for a beastly habit of cigarrito smoking
which tainted the whole house, were fair enough lodgers. If they failed
in making the acquaintance of their fair countrywoman, Miss De Haro, it
was through the lady's pre-occupation in her own work, and not through
their ostentatious endeavors.
"Miss De Haro is peculiar," explained the politic Mrs. Plodgitt to
her guests; "she makes no acquaintances, which I consider bad for her
business. If it had not been for me, she would not have known Royal
Thatcher, the great quicksilver miner,--and had his order for a picture
of his mine!"
The two foreign gentlemen exchanged glances. One said, "Ah, God! this is
bad," and the other, "It is not possible;" and then, when the landlady's
back was turned, introduced themselves with a skeleton key into the then
vacant bedroom and studio of their fair countrywoman, who was absent
sketching. "Thou observest," said Mr. Pedro, refugee, to Miguel,
ex-ecclesiastic, "that this Americano is all-powerful, and that this
Victor, drunkard as he is, is right in his suspicions."
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