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Harte, Bret, 1836-1902

"The Crusade of the Excelsior"

"I give in. I don't understand her: she frightens
me."
"That is of your conscience! It is that you would understand the Dona
Leonor--your dear Miss Keene--better! Ah! silence, imbecile! this Dona
Barbara is even as thou art--a talking parrot. She will have that the
Comandante's secretary, Manuel, shall marry Mees Chubb, and that the
Doctor shall marry my sister. But she knows not that Manuel--listen so
that you shall get sick at your heart and swallow your moustachio!--that
Manuel loves the beautiful Leonor, and that Leonor loves not him, but
Don Diego; and that my sister loathes the little Doctor. And this Dona
Barbara, that makes your liver white, would be a feeder of chickens with
such barley as this! Ah! come along!"
The arrival of the Doctor and the Comandante's secretary created another
diversion, and the pairing off of the two couples indicated by Dona
Isabel for a stroll in the garden, which was now beginning to recover
from the still heat of mid-day. This left Don Ramon and Mrs. Brimmer
alone in the corridor; Mrs. Brimmer's indefinite languor, generally
accepted as some vague aristocratic condition of mind and body, not
permitting her to join them.


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