Kendric failed to understand and looked to Betty. Her eyes widened.
Then her cheeks crimsoned.
"Oh!" she gasped. "Mr. West, what do you mean? I have heard of her, everyone has. She is the most terrible creature!" She shuddered.
"What made you say that?"
Bruce laughed his disbelief of her words and att.i.tude.
"Jim, here, doesn"t seem to remember," he said brusquely. "If you"d been down in Sonora lately, Jim, you"d know all about Pansy Blossom.
She sings rather well, I hear, and dances. It would seem that she has the makings of a highly successful actress," he concluded meaningly.
Kendric stared at him.
"You mean that Betty Gordon here is some sort of an adventuress?" he demanded.
For answer Bruce shrugged elaborately and returned Kendric"s stare.
Jim looked to Betty again. Her face was stamped in the image of shocked amazement, she scarcely breathed through her slightly parted lips.
"You"re talking nonsense, Bruce," Jim said emphatically. "Sheer rot.
She"s just Betty Gordon and in a peck of trouble. It"s up to you and me, being countrymen of hers, to see her through instead of hurting her feelings."
Bruce regarded him somberly.
"Old Headlong," he said slowly, "you"re just the man to mistake a woman. You"ve judged Zoraida Castelmar wrong; you"re making a mistake with Miss Pansy Blossom."
"You fool!" cried Jim angrily. "Where the devil have your wits gone?
You call this child an adventuress? Why, man alive, can"t you see she"s just baby?"
"Pansy Blossom"s record----" began Bruce.
"Deuce take Pansy Blossom! We"re talking about Betty Gordon, this poor little lost kid here. Who told you that she was the same as that dancing woman?" Bruce made no answer. "Was it Zoraida Castelmar?"
demanded Kendric. "Tell me. Is that what Zoraida Castelmar had to say about her?"
"Well?" challenged Bruce. "Suppose it was?"
"What else did she tell you?" Jim had him by the arm now and his eyes were blazing. "Spit it out, boy. What other rot?"
"It"s not rot, Jim. If you"ll keep your eyes open and think a little you"ll know as much as I know."
Kendric groaned. "There"s a game on foot that has a bad look to it.
Escobar is in it and Rios and--your young lady friend. If you"ll give me a few minutes presently, I"ll explain."
"Escobar and Betty Gordon! Why, there"s nothing between them but fear and hatred. Or rather that"s all there was; Escobar"s lying dead out there now. Ruiz Rios plugged him square through the heart just now.
And now he"s taking _your_ lady friend out to tell her about it! Betty is their captive, held for ransom, as I told you."
"Or appears to be?" Bruce jerked his arm away and began moving restlessly up and down, looking always toward the door through which Zoraida had gone. Kendric turned toward Betty. She had not stirred; her cheeks were still burning. Apparently she had heard a very great deal of unsavory report of the lady Bruce mistook her for. Only the expression in her eyes and about her lips had changed; now it was one of pa.s.sionate anger. The look surprised him. He began to think of Betty in altered terms. She wasn"t just the baby he had named her and she wasn"t just the little kid of sixteen he had at first taken her to be. During the interview with Ruiz Rios he had learned that she had a mind of her own. To her other possessions he now saw added an American girl"s fiery temper.
Then Zoraida and Rios returned. Before a word was spoken Kendric knew that he was to be treated to some more play-acting. Zoraida had elected to look frightened and uncertain; the glance she cast toward her cousin spoke of terror as well as loathing. Rios glared and looked important. Swiftly Zoraida crossed the room, her bejeweled fingers finding Bruce West"s arm.
"My friend," she whispered so that they could all hear. "I don"t know which way to turn. A man has killed himself--the Captain Escobar. Or so Ruiz Rios says. And I----" She broke off, shuddering. And then, bewildering Jim Kendric if no one else, two big tears gathered in her eyes and spilled down to her cheeks!
"Senores Kendric and West," announced Rios autocratically, "you will take all orders from me now. You will not leave the house, either of you, unless I give the word. Senorita Zoraida, you will go to your room and wait until I send for you. Senorita Pansy," and suddenly his teeth showed in his quick smile, "a word with you please in the _patio_?"
"My cousin," said Zoraida, all soft supplication now, her two hands held out toward Rios, "it is only a little thing I beg of you. May I have a few words with Senor West?"
"Go to your room," answered Rios shortly. "Senor West remains with us.
You may see him later."
Zoraida looked lingeringly at Bruce, shook her head sorrowfully as he appeared to be gathering himself to spring at the man who terrorized her, murmured gently, "Wait--for my sake, senor!" and went out of the room. Out of the corners of her oblique eyes, when her back was to Bruce, she mocked Jim Kendric.
Rios held the door open for Betty.
"Will you come to the _patio_ with me, senorita?" he asked.
"No!" cried Betty. "You terrible man. No."
Rios, though not the actor Zoraida was, managed to appear startled that she should speak so. Then, as he looked from her to Jim and Bruce, he smiled as though in comprehension.
"There is no need to pretend further, Senorita Pansy," he said. "They know."
"There is a great deal we know, Ruiz Rios," broke out Bruce. "You hold the upper hand just now but there"s a new deal coming!"
"Will you come, Senorita Pansy?" Rios grew truculent. "Or shall I call for a dozen men to escort you?"
"Rios," snapped Kendric, "I"m getting d.a.m.ned tired of this foolishness.
Betty Gordon is a friend of mine and I"m going to see her through. She goes nowhere she does not want to. If you want to take me on, I"m ready for you. Ready and waiting!"
"No," said Betty again. "Mr. Kendric, I will go with him as far as the _patio_." She took a step forward, then whipped back at a sudden thought. "He is lying out there--dead!" she whispered.
"The unfortunate Captain Escobar," Rios told her equably, "has been removed to another part of the house. And, if you like, we will speak together in the dining-room."
Betty came to Jim Kendric then. She looked up into his eyes and said gently:
"I do trust you. You are the only one I trust. I can look to no one else. If I want you I will call. And you will come to me, won"t you?"
"Come to you? Why, bless your heart, I"d come running!"
So Betty and Rios went out and for a little while Jim and Bruce were left alone.
"Bruce, old man," said Kendric, "let"s come down to earth. Put your sentimental heart in your pocket and use your brains a while. You know me well enough to know that I won"t lie to you. Will you listen to me?"
"Yes. But tell me only what you know, not what you surmise. What do you _know_ against Zoraida Castelmar?"
"I know she is an adventuress, playing for big stakes, stakes so big that in the end they are bound to crush her."
"Speculation, old chap." Bruce smiled faintly. "Keep away from doping out the future and stick to facts."
"So you want facts? All right: She is planning a revolution; she has the mad idea that she can rip Lower California away from the government and make of it a separate empire, herself its queen!"
"Why not? Wilder things have been done. And where would you find a more likely queen?"