"I am proud to hear you speak well of my father," she said. "And I am
well aware that he was badly treated in business. I fear, too, that
his advocacy of the rights of the Indians brought him into disfavor.
Of all his possessions the only remnant left to me is a barren
mountain, with a slice of fertile valley, in the Quillota district. It
yields me the magnificent revenue of two hundred dollars per annum."
"How in the world did he come to own land there?"
"It was a gift from the Naquilla tribe. He defeated an attempt made to
oust them by a big land company. The company has since asked me to
sell the property, and offered me a fair price, too, as the cultivable
land is a very small strip, but it would be almost like betraying the
cause for which he fought, would it not?"
"Yes, indeed," agreed the doctor, though his heart and not his head
dictated the reply. "May I ask you to tell me your plans for the
future?" he went on.
"Well, when Mr. Baring heard I was going to England, he was good enough
to promise me employment in his London agency as Spanish correspondent.
That will fill in two days a week. The rest I can devote to art. I
paint a little, and draw with sufficient promise to warrant study, I am
told. Anyhow, I am weary of teaching; I prefer to be a pupil."
"I cannot imagine what the young men of Valparaiso were thinking of to
allow a girl like you to slip off in this fashion," said Christobal
with a smile.
"Most of them hold firmly to the belief that a wife's wedding-dress
should be made of gilt-edged scrip."
"Poor material--very poor material out of which to construct wedded
happiness. And as to my young friend, Isobel? She joins her aunt in
London, I hear?"
"That is the present arrangement. She means to have a good time,
especially in Paris. I should like to live in Paris myself. Dear old
smoke-laden London does not appeal so thoroughly to the artist. Yet, I
am content--yes, quite content."
"Then you have gained the best thing in the world," cried the doctor,
throwing out his arms expansively.
The two became good friends as the voyage progressed. Christobal was
exceedingly well informed, and delighted in a thoughtful listener like
Elsie. Isobel, tiring at times of the Count, would join in their
conversation, and display a spasmodic interest in the topics they
discussed. There were only six other passengers, a Baptist missionary
and his wife, three mining engineers, and an English globe-trotter, a
singular being who appeared to have roamed the entire earth, but whose
experiences were summed up in two words--every place he had seen was
either "Fair" or "Rotten."