Newport daily independent., 1903-04-13


 to break up the proposed marriage. It was delicate mission. Even the general admitted its difficulty. He knew full well the iron determination of the Lawrences, and it had always been his boast that Lawrence has never been driven, sir-not a single step; you can kill them, but you can't drive them. No, siree."
 So it happened one soft, languor- ous day that Charles Lawrence disem- parked at Havana, presumably upon q mission to secure some transporta- tion franchises for an American syndi- cate, and hunted up his brother, the captain.
 He was received with open arms, and the brothers reveled for several days in their reunion. The elder never hinted at his mission, and when he talked shop" at all, dwelt enthusl- astically upon his franchise quest. II the younger suspected the ulterior de- sign of his visitor he did not betray It.
 It was several days after Charles ap- peared on the scene before he found any sort of opening for the further ance of his real mission. Singularly enough Will did not mention his love affair or give him any sort of open ing, and he hesitated to broach the subject himself. One soft evening, however, after dinner the captain re- marked:
 "Charley, I want you to make call I, I you the two most beautiful women in Cuba-in the world"
 Acquiescing readily, the two strolled through the better part of the town and brought up at a rather preten- tiously built Cuban home of the older type-somewhat run down, but bear ing marks of responsibility, even aris' tocracy.
 "This is the home of Don Carlos An. tonic Silvera," remarked Will. "He is of very old and very proud Spanish family-of the purest blood, mind you, and for heavens sake don't for get that point, as he is extremely proud of it. He was formerly away up in c financially, but the revolution and other misfortunes have largely stripped him of his estates. But he keeps up appearances as best he can and is the finest kind of type of an old aristocrat. And his two daughters are the very flower of the Antilles especially Julia"
 With this preface Charles was ush- cred into the house and presently was formally presented to the Senorita Julia. He was compelled to admit to himself that his brother certainly had an eye for beauty, for seldom in all his travels had he laid eyes on SC striking a girl, so perfect a type ot the Latin beauty. Still more was he surprised and taken aback at the high breeding and culture of the fair hostess and her chaperone, the old aunt who guarded her with lynx-eyed fidelity. He was presented also to the master of the house, and was fairly overawed by the dignity and grace of his manner. As he was regarding the senorita with profound admiration and refiecting upon the mammoth pro- portions his task had suddenly as sumed, a curtain was swept aside and vision appeared before him which drove all other thoughts from his mind and all other objects from his sight It was another woman very like the Senorita Julia, but very different more ripened and matured in charm and manner-one of those lustrous- eyed, olive-skinned, voluptuously formed creatures only to be found among the women descended from the pure Castillian blood, and also with a face so alive with intelligence and d head so perfectly formed that he al- most forgot the perfection of physical beauty in admiration of the suggestion of intellectually.
 "Ah, this is the Senorita Rosa, ' exclaimed the captain. "Senorita, my brother, Charles"
 The evening sped for both brothers the younger being engrossed with his fiancee and the elder finding keen in terest in the strange, ardent nature of the sister-absolutely a new type | to him.
 On the way to the captains lodgings l Charles became conscious of feeling of distinct annoyance in the thought that he was not pursuing his mission with the single-heartedness that he should, and that he had enjoyed the evening altogether too much and did not regard the Silvera family with | that aversion which was expected o1 him. Also he fancied that he detected note of suppressed glee in the cap | tain's demeanor.
 There followed many visits to the l Silvera home, and Charles put in many sleepless nights in trying to figure'out ] a plan to break up the affair, but with a growing certainty that he was mall ing a poor job of it and that he cared much more to bask in the sunlight oi the Senorita Rosa's lustrous eyes thar for expostulating with Will.
 Of course the result was foreor | fho4 xxI,x oIJ fs