]
"My Cuban friends had much to say about their life in New York, the many
flattering attentions received from friends and acquaintances, the
opera, the shops, and other delights of metropolitan life. The Senorita
said she preferred New York to Paris; so did her papa and brother. They
loved America and everything American.
"The dinner was a delight. Afterward we went to the theatre. The
excitement in the streets did not escape the notice of the Cubans. Nor
did the flag of Cuba Libre picked out in electric lights over the
entrance of a restaurant near the theatre, nor other significant sights
and sounds. But they warily held their peace. I looked for some show of
feeling, but there was none. A tete-a-tete with Mercedes was out of the
question, and for this I fervently thanked the gods! There was no
telling the havoc that bewitching face might have wrought. Principles,
opinions, and theories might have withered and fallen utterly consumed
beneath the fire of those ardent glances and the magic of that caressing
voice! So it was all for the best.
"After the play there was supper, and then we returned to the hotel.
Parting with the Senorita at the elevator, not without a tender pressure
of her jeweled fingers,--ah me!--I proposed to the father and son that
we go to my club, a few staggers away.
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