Read Online Suzanna by Harry Sinclair Drago - Free Book Online Page A

rear, the rushing gamecock.
    The crowd did not wait for the verdict, but slunk away, intent on disavowing any connection with the affair. Miguel saw Suzanna enter the kitchen, and with a sort of dying hope that the inevitable might still be averted, he dashed after her. His heart failed him as he gained the door and saw that the way to the dining room was unbarred.
    No sound of the tumult outside had penetrated the cool, darkened room in which Don Fernando’s family and Señor Alvarez sat. Ramon’s father sat at one end of the long board experiencing the comfortable feeling of a man whose stomach is well-filled and whose mind is at peace with the world. The house-servants had just removed the dishes, and with hand-rolled cigars and a rare vintage before him, Don Fernando surveyed his friend, Alvarez, and his son, Ramon, with keen pleasure.
    Ramon’s father and the lawyer had held a consultation that afternoon, and it had been planned that at this very time the boy should hear the ultimatum in regard to Suzanna.
    It was a propitious moment. The meal had passed with rare pleasure, and Don Fernando congratulated himself on choosing this time for broaching the subject. He shot a keen glance in the direction of his son, and was further pleased to note that Ramon was in excellent spirits. The aged don showed his astuteness by addressing himself to Alvarez rather than to the boy.
    â€œHow do things fare in Monterey?” he asked quite casually.
    The lawyer had awaited this question, and he promptly voiced his rehearsed answer.
    â€œFrom bad to worse,” he replied with a show of feeling. “The Mission property is about destroyed. Some of the small ranchers are hiring the Indians at a daily wage. If this thing is not put down, we will be hard-pressed to gather our crops. We cannot exist without peon labor. This talk of educating them is heresy. Once we start that, they will be out of hand completely.”
    â€œWell, I wonder,” Don Fernando replied, seeming to weigh his answer.
    â€œWhat? Have you turned Republican, too?”
    â€œHardly! But I have begun to question some of our institutions.”
    Ramon heard his father’s words in amazement. This was an unbending which he had never dreamed possible. Don Fernando read his son’s thoughts, and made his cast.
    â€œWhat I am about to say will come as a great surprise, I know,” the master of the hacienda continued. “I have gone so far as to formulate certain plans regarding the educating of one of my peons. But last evening did I receive confirmation of them.”
    â€œRuiz?” the lawyer asked interestedly.
    â€œNo,” Don Fernando replied deliberately, and with a shaking of his head,— “his daughter, Suzanna.”
    â€œWhat?” Ramon asked. “Have you spoken to her? She has——”
    â€œRamon!” Doña Luz remonstrated. “Allow your father to finish.”
    Señor Gutierrez bowed, and went on:
    â€œSuzanna is an unusual girl. A beautiful woman, I might add. She seems to possess intelligence beyond the scope of the average peon. Enough so, that she manages to unload her work upon the shoulders of others. Her lack of industry is the girl’s worst fault.
    â€œBut you know,” continuing to address himself to Alvarez, “that my wife and I have long felt a peculiar attachment for her. Her father has been a loyal servant. That, as well as my interest in the girl herself has led me to make this move.”
    â€œIt is a worthy effort, although it may prove a foolhardy one,” Doña Luz declared uneasily.
    â€œSurely it is a wonderful chance for the girl,” Alvarez cried heartily. “Why there is not one peon in ten thousand who can write his own name. The girl is beautiful; but, in all kindness, one must admit that she is without culture of any sort.”
    â€œIf there is any possibility of her acquiring it,” Don Fernando answered, “she