For three weeks every third or fourth night I impersonated my friend in the patio at the window of Señorita Anabela. At last she admitted that her heart was mine, and spoke of having seen me every afternoon when she drove in the plaza. It was Fergus she had seen, of course. But it was my talk that won her. Suppose Fergus had gone there, and tried to make a hit in the dark with his beauty all invisible, and not a word to say for himself!
On the last night she promised to be mine that is, Ferguss. And she put her hand between the bars for me to kiss. I bestowed the kiss and took the news to Fergus.
You might have left that for me to do, says he.
Thatll be your job hereafter, says I. Keep on doing that and dont try to talk. Maybe after she thinks shes in love she wont notice the difference between real conversation and the inarticulate sort of droning that you give forth.
Now, I had never seen Señorita Anabela. So, the next day Fergus asks me to walk with him through the plaza and view the daily promenade and exhibition of Oratama society, a sight that had no interest for me. But I went; and children and dogs took to the banana groves and mangrove swamps as soon as they had a look at my face.
Here she comes, said Fergus, twirling his moustache the one in white, in the open carriage with the black horse.
I looked and felt the ground rock under my feet. For Señorita Anabela Zamora was the most beautiful woman in the world, and the only one from that moment on, so far as Judson Tate was concerned. I saw at a glance that I must be hers and she mine forever. I thought of my face and nearly fainted; and then I thought of my other talents and stood upright again. And I had been wooing her for three weeks for another man!
As Señorita Anabelas carriage rolled slowly past, she gave Fergus a long, soft glance from the corners of her night-black eyes, a glance that would have sent Judson Tate up into heaven in a rubber-tired chariot. But she never looked at me. And that handsome man only ruffles his curls and smirks and prances like a lady-killer at my side.
What do you think of her, Judson? asks Fergus, with an air.
This much, says I. She is to me Mrs. Judson Tate. I am no man to play tricks on a friend. So take your warning.
I thought Fergus would die laughing.
Well, well, well, said he, you old doughface! Struck too, are you? Thats great! But youre too late. Francesca tells me that Anabela talks of nothing but me, day and night. Of course, Im awfully obliged to you for making that chin-music to her of evenings. But, do you know, Ive an idea that I could have done it as well myself.
Mrs. Judson Tate, says I. Dont forget the name. Youve had the use of my tongue to go with your good looks, my boy. You cant lend me your looks; but hereafter my tongue is my own. Keep your mind on the name thats to be on the visiting cards two inches by three and a half Mrs. Judson Tate. Thats all.
All right, says Fergus, laughing again. Ive talked with her father, the alcalde, and hes willing. Hes to give a baile[197] to-morrow evening in his new warehouse. If you were a dancing man, Jud, Id expect you around to meet the future Mrs. McMahan.
But on the next evening, when the music was playing loudest at the Alcade Zamoras baile, into the room steps Judson Tate in a new white linen clothes as if he were the biggest man in the whole nation, which he was.
All right, says Fergus, laughing again. Ive talked with her father, the alcalde, and hes willing. Hes to give a baile[197] to-morrow evening in his new warehouse. If you were a dancing man, Jud, Id expect you around to meet the future Mrs. McMahan.
But on the next evening, when the music was playing loudest at the Alcade Zamoras baile, into the room steps Judson Tate in a new white linen clothes as if he were the biggest man in the whole nation, which he was.
Some of the musicians jumped off the key when they saw my face, and one or two of the timidest senoritas let out a screech or two. But up prances the alcalde and almost wipes the dust off my shoes with his forehead. No mere good looks could have won me that sensational entrance.
I hear much, Señor Zamora, says I, of the charm of your daughter. It would give me great pleasure to be presented to her.
There were about six dozen willow rocking-chairs, with pink tidies tied on to them, arranged against the walls. In one of them sat Señorita Anabela in white Swiss and red slippers, with pearls and fireflies in her hair. Fergus was at the other end of the room trying to break away from two maroons and a claybank girl.
The alcalde leads me up to Anabela and presents me. When she took the first look at my face she dropped her fan and nearly turned her chair over from the shock. But Im used to that.
I sat down by her, and began to talk. When she heard me speak she jumped, and her eyes got as big as alligator pears. She couldnt strike a balance between the tones of my voice and face I carried. But I kept on talking in the key of C, which is the ladies key; and presently she sat still in her chair and a dreamy look came into her eyes. She was coming my way. She knew of Judson Tate, and what a big man he was, and the big things he had done; and that was in my favour. But, of course, it was some shock to her to find out that I was not the pretty man that had been pointed out to her as the great Judson. And then I took the Spanish language, which is better than English for certain purposes, and played on it like a harp of a thousand strings. I ranged from the second G below the staff up to F-sharp above it. I set my voice to poetry, art, romance, flowers, and moonlight. I repeated some of the verses that I had murmured to her in the dark at her window; and I knew from a sudden soft sparkle in her eye that she recognized in my voice the tones of her midnight mysterious wooer.