A tall officer in the uniform of the
United States navy raised his cap from iron-gray hair and looked at her
with blue eyes as piercing as her own.
"You will pardon me, madam," he said, "if I insist upon attending you to
your door. It is not safe for a woman to walk alone in the streets of
Monterey at night."
Dona Eustaquia bent her head somewhat haughtily. "I thank you much,
senor, for your kind rescue. I would not like, at all, to be eaten by
the dogs. But I not like to trouble you to walk with me. I go only to
the house of the Senor Larkin. It is there, at the end of the little
street beyond the plaza."
"My dear madam, you must not deprive the United States of the pleasure
of protecting California. Pray grant my humble request to walk behind
you and keep off the dogs."
Her lips pressed each other, but pride put down the bitter retort.
"Walk by me, if you wish," she said graciously. "Why are you not at the
house of Don Thomas Larkin?"
"I am on my way there now. Circumstances prevented my going earlier."
His companion did not seem disposed to pilot the conversation, and he
continued lamely, "Have you noticed, madam, that the English frigate
_Collingwood_ is anchored in the bay?"
"I saw it in the morning.
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