Maximina Part 41

of _La Independencia_.

The relationship which he enjoyed with this gentleman was not very intimate. Since he had given his endors.e.m.e.nt, guaranteeing the thirty thousand duros which had been spent on the newspaper, he had seen him only twice, to receive from his hand two sums amounting to twelve thousand, which had not been wholly spent on the paper, but had also been used in a.s.sisting the _emigrados_. This unseasonable visit therefore reminded him of these things, and made him anxious and suspicious.

Eguiburu was a tall, lean man, with pale and wrinkled face, small blue eyes, thinnish red hair, and very inelegant in his whole person. The clothes that he wore--tight-fitting trousers of black serge, large vest, and an enormous gray overcoat reaching to his very heels--did not tend to give any additional elegance to his appearance.

Miguel greeted him courteously and gravely, and asked him to what he owed the honor of his visit....

"Senor de Rivera," said Eguiburu, unceremoniously taking a chair--Miguel, in his surprise, having neglected to ask him to do so--"it happens that now for several months you have been in power...."

"Hold on, my friend; there is no one in Spain further from being in power than I.... I am not even under-secretary."

"Well, well; when I say 'you,' I mean your friends; they all at the present time occupy great positions: the Count de Rios, amba.s.sador; Senor Mendoza has just been elected deputy...."

"And do you think of comparing me, an insignificant pigmy, with the Count de Rios and Mendoza, two stars of the first magnitude in Spanish politics?"

"Now, see here; Senor de Rivera, to tell the truth, the other night in the Levante Cafe, Senor de Mendoza was not spoken well of, even by his own friends."

"What did they say?"

"They said,--begging your pardon,--that he was light as a cork."

"Those are the calumnies of the envious. Don't imagine, friend Eguiburu, that statesmen are made of such stuff."

"I am very glad that such is the case, senor. But the truth is that, in spite of their talents and the positions that they hold, neither the Senor Conde de Rios nor Mendoza are remembering to make good to me the money that I have been spending for them."

"Have you spoken to them?"

"I have written a letter to each of them. Mendoza did not reply; the Senor Conde, after the lapse of considerable time, tells me in a letter, which I have with me, and you can see, 'that the very serious political duties that weigh upon him do not permit him at present to attend to such things as these, which have for some time been intrusted to his former private secretary, Senor Mendoza y Pimentel.' Of course, as you very well know, I have no need of begging from door to door for what is my own. And so, without further delay, I have come directly to you."

"Why did you not go to Mendoza first?"

Eguiburu hung his head, and began to twirl his hat; at the same time he smiled much as a marble statue might have done if it had the power.

"Senor de Mendoza seems to me to have very little flesh for my claws!"

On hearing these words, and seeing the smile that accompanied them, Miguel felt a chill run down his back, and he made no reply. At the end of a few moments he looked up, and said in a firm voice:--

"In other words, you have come to dun me for those thirty thousand duros! Is that so?"

"I feel it in my soul, Senor de Rivera ... be convinced that I really do ... for it is certainly not to be gainsaid that you have not _eaten them_."

"Thanks! you have a sensitive spirit, and I congratulate you on it.

Unfortunately I cannot reciprocate this delicacy of feelings by handing over the thirty thousand duros."

"Very well; but you will hand them over!"

"Have you any security for it?"

Eguiburu lifted his head, and fixed his little blue eyes on Miguel, who looked at him in a cool and hostile manner.

"Yes, senor," he replied.

"Then I congratulate you again; I did not know that you could have it."

"Don't you remember, Senor de Rivera," said the banker, with amiability exaggerated in order to palliate the unpleasant effect that his words were about to produce, "I have here a paper endorsed with your name?"

And as he said this he raised his hand to his overcoat pocket.

Again Miguel kept silence. At the end of a few moments he spoke in a voice in which could be detected anger scarcely repressed:--

"That is to say, Senor de Eguiburu, that you propose nothing else than to ruin me on account of a debt, which, as is evident to you, I have not contracted."

"I propose merely to make sure of my money."

"That is all right," said Miguel, in a choking voice; "to-morrow I will write to the Count de Rios, and will also see Mendoza; I should like to know if the count is capable of leaving me in the lurch.... If that should be so, then we will see what is to be done."

After these words there was a period of embarra.s.sed silence. Eguiburu twisted his hat, looking askance at Miguel, who kept his eyes fastened on the floor, while his lips showed an almost imperceptible tremor, which did not escape the banker's notice.

"There is one way, Senor de Rivera," he suggested timidly, "by which you can get out of the difficulty in which you find yourself, and still have time to obtain from the count and the other friends the fulfilment of their obligations.... If you will guarantee me the money which I have since spent on the newspaper, I shall be perfectly willing to wait.... I am sorry to put the pistol to the heart of a person for whom I have so high a regard, but...."

Miguel remained motionless, with his eyes cast down, and thinking deeply; then suddenly standing up, he said:--

"Well, we will see how this affair turns out. I will speak to-morrow with Mendoza, and immediately let you know the result of my interview, and of my letter to the count."

Eguiburu likewise arose, and with exquisite amiability offered Rivera his hand in farewell. Miguel shook hands, and looking at him keenly, while a derisive smile hovered over his lips, he said:--

"Are you very anxious for those thirty thousand duros?"

"Why do you ask me?"

"Because I should be grieved if you were very much set upon them, while on the eve of losing them forever."

"Explain yourself!" said the banker, growing serious.

"Nothing, man; but if I should not get the money from the Conde de Rios, what I have...."

"Hey! What is that you say?"

"That I should never in the world be able to pay for it, for the two houses which const.i.tute my fortune are mortgaged...."

Eguiburu became terribly pale.

"You could not mortgage them because I have your endors.e.m.e.nt for an obligation: the mortgage is null."

"They were mortgaged long before the endors.e.m.e.nt."

The banker pa.s.sed his hand over his forehead in despair; then straightening up quickly, and giving Rivera a crushing look, he stammered--

"Tha-that is ... a p-piece of rascality.... I will have you up in c-court as a swindler."