He
felt now that there was no time to delay longer his plans for
the safety of his mother and sisters. These were, indeed, of
the simplest and most uncertain character; for the condition
of the country and its few resources were such as to make
flight the only way that promised safety. And yet flight was
environed with dangers of every kind--hunger, thirst,
exhaustion, savage beasts, Indians, and the triple armies of
Mexico.
The day after his arrival he had begun to prepare, as far as
possible, for this last emergency, but the Senora's
unconquerable aversion to leave her native city had constantly
hampered him. Until Santa Anna really appeared she would not
believe in the necessity of such a movement. The proposal of
Fray Ignatius, even if it did end in a convent, did not
seem so terrible as to be a wanderer without a roof to cover
her. She felt aggrieved and injured by Antonia's and Isabel's
positive refusal to accept sanctuary from the priest, and with
the underhand cunning of a weak woman she had contrived to let
Fray Ignatius know that SHE was not to blame for the
refusal.
All the same the priest hated her in conjunction with her
children. On the morning after her interview with her uncle,
he went to receive her submission; for the marquis had
informed him of all that had passed, and he felt the three
women and the valuable Worth property already under his hard
hand.
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