And she did and will swear--
look you!--SWEAR that it is the one given you as a child by the
woman at the convent, who was your mother! And who was that woman--
eh? Who was the mother of the Arguello de la Yerba Buena?--who
this noble ancestress?"
"Excuse me--but perhaps you are not aware that you are raising your
voice in a lady's drawing-room, and that although you are speaking
a language no one here understands, you are disturbing the hotel."
It was Paul, quiet, pale in the moonlight, erect on the balcony
before the window. As Yerba, with a start, retreated quickly into
the room, Don Caesar stepped forward angrily and suspiciously
towards the window. He had his hand reached forward towards the
handle as if to close the swinging sash against the intruder, when
in an instant he was seized by Paul, tightly locked in a desperate
grip, and whirled out on the balcony. Before he could gain breath
to utter a cry, Hathaway had passed his right arm around the
Mexican's throat, effectively stopping his utterance, and, with a
supreme effort of strength, dragged him along the wall, falling
with him into the open window of his own room. As he did so, to
his inexpressible relief he heard the sash closed and the bolt
drawn of the salon window, and regained his feet, collected, quiet,
and triumphant.
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