The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-01-17

nat SDe might love anOlHeI WIS dA
idea to which he never gave a
thought. 1t was the business of a
we'll brought up Spanish maiden to be
a passive instrument in the carrying
out of her fathers views. especially in
things matrimonial. in which, indeed.
love found little room for entrance.
But Donna Mercedes loved Captain
Alvarado. and she cared nothing for
Don Feline. Not that Don Felipe was
disagreeable to her or to any one; he
was a Spanish gentleman in every
sense of the word-handsome, distin-
guished, proud and gallant-but she
did not, could not. love him. To com-
plicate matters still further De Tobar
was Captain Alvarado's cherished COM
panion and most intimate friend.
The progress Of the love affair be-
tween Alvarado and Donna Mercedes
had been subjective rather than OBJ
j%ective. They had enjoyed some I'M
usual opportunities for meeting on ac-
count of the station the former filled
in the viceroy's household and the
place he held in his heart, yet the op-
! portunities for extended freedom Of in
tercourse between young men and wo-
men of the gentler class in those days.
and especially among Spaniards Of
high rank. were extreme limited. The
old count took care to zee that his
daughter was carefully watched and
shielded, not because he suspected her
Of anything, for he Cid not, but be-
cause it was a habit Of his people and
his ancestry. The busy life that he
led, the many e%mployments which
were thrust upon him, his military Gu
ties, had kept the days of the young
| soldier very full, and under the most
favorable circumstances lie would have
had little time for lovemaking.
But, though they had enjoyed brief
opportunity for personal intercourse,
the very impossibilities Of free COM
m%unication, the difficulties Of meeting,
had but added fuel and fire to their
affection. Love had famed into these
TWO uSdIIS WILL <L1l lIS 4AICAS1lS VI
! their tropic blood and tropic land. al
varado's passion could feed for days
| and grow large upon the remembrance
Of the fragrance of her hand when be
kissed it last in formal salutation.
Mercedes soul could infold itself in
the recollection Of the too ardent pres
sure of his lips, the burning yet re-
spectful glance he had shot at her, by
others ~unperceived, when he said fare
we'll. The situation was complicated
in every possible way for Alvarado.
Had he been a man of family, like his
friend, De Tobar, he would have gone
boldly to the yiceroy and asked for
the hand Of his daughter, in which case
he thought he would have met with no
refusal; but, being ignorant Of his
birth. having not ven a legal right to
the nauc he bc"e. he hnew hat the
proud cid hidalgo wopiG rather see his
daughter dead thar welded 70 him.
OF ST tie ancient %spiez45ors OF the
Spanish people there Vas left them
but one thing Of which they co2ld be
proud-their ancient name. De Lara,
who belonged to one of the noblcst and
most distinguished families of the Ibe-
Ran peninsula, would V consent to
degrade his line by allying his only
daughter to a nobody, however worthy
in other respects the sutton might
prove to be.
Again, had Mercedes father been
n other than the lifelong patron and
! friend TO whom he literally owed ev-
erything that he possessed, such was
the impetuosity Of Alvarado's dispose
ton that at every hazard be would
have taken the girl by stealth OF force
from her fathers protection, made her
his wife and sought an asylum in Eng
land or France or wherever he could.
! So desperate was his state Of mind. so
overwhelming his love, that he would
have shrunk from nothing to win her.
Yet Just because the viceroy had been
O father to him, just because he had
loved him, had been unexampled in his
kindness and consideration to him,
just because he reposed such absolute
~ unlimited confidence in him. the
young man felt bound in honor by fet-
tiers that he could not break.
And there was his friendship for De
Tobar. There We're many young gal
lants about the vice regal court who,
Jealous Of Alvarado's favor and en-
yious of his merits. had not scrupled
in the face OF his unknown origin to
sheer. to mock or to slight-so far as
it was safe to do either of these
things to 50 brave and able a soldier.
Amid these gilded youths De Tobac,
with noble magnanimity and affection,
had proved himself Alvarado's stanch
friend. \ romantic attachment had
sprung up between the W youngsmen,
and the first con1idant OF De Tobar's
love affairs lad been Alyarado him
self. To bet:ay his friend was alnost
as bad as to betray his patron. 1t
was not to be thought OF.
Yet low cou:d he. Il man in whose
blood-though it nay have been iS-