She sprang up in surprise. She had not expected him to come to her, after sending Cara. She was still dressed, having felt in no humor to disrobe. "I will be ready in a minute, tell him," she said, and rushed to the washstand to make herself presentable. He came in while she was still at her toilet, trying hard to hide the traces of her many tears. It was a warm embrace that the old general gave his daughter; with all his outward sternness and inflexibility he loved his only child dearly, and this he did not hesitate to show when the two were alone. "My little girl!" he cried, in the softest of Spanish tones, as he gazed lovingly upon her. "You look pale, you have been crying! What is the trouble?" "Oh, it is nothing, papa," she replied. "But what brought you? Cara said you could not leave the plantations." "I came in to purchase some guns," was the reply. "Matters are growing warmer. These devilish rebels must be taught a lesson." "Oh, but, papa, are they so much in the wrong?" she asked, earnestly. She had hoped to find his ideas changing. "Wrong? Of course they are wrong! Had I my say I would string them all up, or put them to the machete! The kingdom of Spain must be upheld!" "But, papa, they have suffered--they are taxed so heavily!" "So am I taxed, but I don't complain. They have no right to resist, to turn traitors!" He stamped his foot and began to walk up and down the apartment. "Estella, I am glad I sent for you to return. I see your sojourn in the United States has done you no good, so far as loyalty to our mother country is concerned." "I believe Cuba should be free!" she murmured, impulsively. "Free! Do I hear aright! My child talking like that!" General Corona began to grow purple in the face. "Estella, who put those silly ideas into your head? Cuba must and will remain as she is! I will myself return to the army, to fight for Spain, if need be! I am glad I came to Santiago to see you safely home. As soon as I can purchase the arms I am after, we will start for the plantations, and I will talk this silliness out of you. You must not think of becoming a little Cuban rebel!" She started back. A little Cuban rebel! Just what her friends had called her! "You have been crying," he went on. "Is it possible that you have shed tears for the rebellious rascals, the fellows who ought all to be in Spanish dungeons? Fie on you, Estella! You ought to be more of your father's daughter! But, then, women always were strange!" And he stopped to kiss her on the forehead. "When did you come to the city?" she asked, to change the subject. "At midnight. I expected to arrive earlier, but the rebels stopped the train. They are growing very bold. And while hunting up you and Cara, I was stopped by two of the rebels on the streets here. The rascals would have robbed me of my watch and money had not an American gentleman come to my assistance." "An American gentleman!" said Estella, eagerly. "Did you learn his name?"