"But once," answered Esteban. "He is tall; and he had weeskers, verree black and sufficient.""Was any one else present when you shaved him?""An old Indian woman, Senor, that belonged with the ~casa~, and one senorita--a ladee of so much beautee!--~ah, Dios!~""All right, Esteban," said Goodwin. "It's very lucky that you happened along with your tonsorial information. The new administration will be likely to remember you for this."Then in a few words he made the barber acquainted with the crisis into which the affairs of the nation had culminated, and instructed him to remain outside, keeping watch upon the two sides of the hotel that looked upon the street, and observing whether any one should attempt to leave the house by any door or window. Goodwin himself went to the door through which the guests had entered, opened it and stepped inside.
Madama had returned downstairs from her journey above to see after the comfort of her lodgers. Her candle stood upon the bar. She was about to take a thimbleful of rum as a solace for having her rest disturbed. She looked up without surprise or alarm as her third caller entered.
"Ah! it is the Senor Goodwin. Not often does he honor my poor house with his presence.""I must come oftener," said Goodwin, with a Goodwin smile. "I hear that your cognac is the best between Belize to the north and Rio to the south. Set out the bottle, Madama, and let us have the proof in ~un vasito~ for each of us.""My ~aguardiente~," said Madama, with pride, "is the best. It grows, in beautiful bottles, in the dark places among the banana-trees.
~Si, Senor~. Only at midnight can they be picked by sailor-men who bring them, before daylight comes, to your back door. Good ~aguardiente~ is a verree difficult fruit to handle, Senor Goodwin."Smuggling, in Coralio, was much nearer than competition to being the life of trade. One spoke of it slyly, yet with a certain conceit, when it had been well accomplished.
"You have guests in the house tonight," said Goodwin, laying a silver dollar upon the counter.
"Why not?" said Madama, counting the change. "Two; but the smallest while finished to arrive. One senor, not quite old, and one senorita of sufficient hadsomeness. To their rooms they have ascended, not desiring the to-eat nor the to-drink. Two rooms--~Numero~9 and ~Numero~ 10.""I was expecting that gentleman and that lady," said Goodwin. "I have important ~negocios~ that must be transacted. Will you allow me to see them?""Why not?" sighed Madama, placidly. "Why should not Senor Goodwin ascend and speak to his friends? ~Esta bueno~. Romm ~Numero~ 9 and romm ~Numero~ 10."Goodwin loosened in his coat pocket the American revolver that he carried, and ascended the steep, dark stairway.
In the hallway above, the saffron light from a hanging lamp allowed him to select the gaudy numbers on the doors. He turned the knob on Number 9, entered and closed the door behind him.
If that was Isabel Guilbert seated by the table in that poorly furnished room, report had failed to do her charms justice. She rested her head upon one hand. Extreme fatigue was signified in every line of her figure; and upon her countenance a deep perplexity was written. Her eyes were gray-irised, and of that mold that seems to have belonged to the orbs of all the famous queens of hearts.
Their whites were singularly clear and brilliant, concealed above the irises by heavy horizontal lids, and showing a snowy line between them. Such eyes denote great nobility, vigor, and, if you can conceive of it, a most generous selfishness. She looked up when the American entered, with an expression of surprised inquiry, but without alarm.
Goodwin took off his hat and seated himself, with his characteristic deliberate ease, upon a corner of the table. He held a lighted cigar between his fingers. He took this familiar course because he was sure that preliminaries would be wasted upon Miss Guilbert. He knew her history, and the small part that the conventions had played in it.
"Good evening," he said. "Now, madame, let us come to business at once. You will observe that I mention no names, but I know who is in the next room, and what he carries in that valise. That is the point which brings me here. I have come to dictate terms of surrender."The lady neither moved nor replied, but steadily regarded the cigar in Goodwin's hand.
"We," continued the dictator, thoughtfully regarding the neat buckskin shoe on his gently swinging foot--"I speak for a considerable majority of the people--demand the return of the stolen funds belonging to them. Our terms go very little further than that. They are very simple. As an accredited spokesman, I promise that our interference will cease if they are accepted. Give up the money, and you and your companion will be permitted to proceed wherever you will. In fact, assistance will be given you in the matter of securing a passage by any outgoing vessel you may choose. It is on my personal responsibility that I add congratulations to the gentleman in Number 10 upon his taste in feminine charms."Returning his cigar to his mouth, Goodwin observed her, and saw that her eyes followed it and rested upon it with icy and significant concentration. Apparently she had not heard a word he had said.
He understood, tossed the cigar out the window, and, with an amused laugh, slid from the table to his feet.
"That is better," said the lady. "It makes it possible for me to listen to you. For a second lesson in good manners, you might now tell me by whom I am being insulted.""I am sorry," said Goodwin, leaning one hand on the table, "that my time is too brief for devoting much of it to a course of etiquette.
