Without waiting to hear her threat Esteban tossed his arms above
his head and fled from the room. Flinging himself into the saddle,
he spurred down the hill and through the town to the Casino de
Espanol, where he spent the night at cards with the Spanish
officials. But he did not sell Evangelina.

In the days that followed many similar scenes occurred, and as
Esteban's home life grew more unhappy his dissipations increased.
He drank and gambled heavily; he brought his friends to the quinta
with him, and strove to forget domestic unpleasantness in
boisterous revelry.

His wife, however, found opportunities enough to weary and
exasperate him with reproaches regarding the slave girl.




II

SPANISH GOLD


The twins were seven years old when Dona Isabel's schemes bore
their first bitter fruit, and the occasion was a particularly
uproarious night when Don Esteban entertained a crowd of his
Castilian friends. Little Rosa was awakened at a late hour by the
laughter and shouts of her father's guests. She was afraid, for
there was something strange about the voices, some quality to them
which was foreign to the child's experience. Creeping into her