Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/230

 But perhaps the password which he whispered to me, 'Cuba Libre,' will do as well. For the cause of Cuban liberty has no warmer sympathizer than myself, Don Quesada," she adds, earnestly, and the Don's countenance lights with pleasure.

"Don Manada could have conferred no greater pleasure," he replies, "and I trust that you will honor my daughter and myself by becoming our guest, for a few days at least."

Isabel's dark orbs snap with triumph not easily repressed, but she answers hesitatingly: "Thank you, but I do not see how I can trespass upon your kindness. I have not the pleasure of an acquaintance with the senorita, and"

"Permit me to remove that objection at once," interposes Quesada, as Juanita at the moment stands in the doorway. "Juanita, mi querida, this is Mrs. Isabel Harding, an American lady and a friend of Don Manada, whom you met in New York. I have invited her to remain with us for a few days, or as long as our hospitality may prove attractive. Will you not add your request to mine?"

The more mature and voluptuous beauty of the older woman attracts the impulsive Cuban girl, and she seconds her father's invitation with a sincerity that would have won even a lady who had not come to the quinta with the deliberate purpose of securing such a proffer of hospitality.

And so the carriage is sent back to Santiago and Isabel Harding is installed at the quinta, the surroundings of which she finds much to her liking. Juanita is much charmed with her American friend, who fascinates the impressionable Cuban girl with her brilliant beauty, her wit and her knowledge of the great world amid whose pleasures and palaces Juanita lived for two years, and which she hopes some day to see again. The two women quickly become inseparable and naturally Juanita tells Mrs. Harding of her other recent New York friend, Jack Ashley. But Isabel, although she enjoys, or otherwise, an acquaintance with that industrious young man, does