She slipped the ring on her finger, met his eyes defiantly for a moment, and then called, "Daddy, look at the exquisite ring Cletus gave me."
Her father examined the ring for all of half a second.
"How nice," he said.
"That's old," Pamela Mallin said, an observation, not a criticism.
"It belonged to my great-grandmother," Clete said. "Maria-Elena Pueyrred¢n de Frade."
"Then it belongs in a museum," Pamela said. "The National Museum, not on Dorotea's finger."
"It's mine," Dorotea said. "Cletus gave it to me. It'll go into a museum over my dead body!"
[TWO]
Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo
Near Pila, Buenos Aires Province
2010 11 April 1943
Humberto and Beatrice Duarte arrived twenty minutes after the Mallin family. By then Enrico Mallin had had two stiff drinks of whiskey.
It was a very long twenty minutes.
Once Enrico Mallin had inquired into the well-being of el Capitan Lauffer and his wife, little seemed available to talk about, at least that either he or his wife had to say to Cletus H. Frade, at least in front of Lauffer.
Sensing this, Lauffer raised an eyebrow and gave his head a tilt, asking Clete if he should leave the library. Clete placed his hands together as if in prayer and shook his head, meaning that he would very much prefer for Lauf-fer not to leave him alone with his father-in-law-to-be.
When Humberto came through the door, Clete felt an enormous sense of relief. That, however, did not last long.
With tears in his eyes, Humberto wrapped his arms around Clete and wetly kissed both his cheeks. Feeling another male's stubble against his own made Clete uncomfortable.
"God is good," Humberto announced emotionally. "The Lord taketh away, and the Lord giveth. A new life! I will pray that it will be a son."
Dorotea looked very uncomfortable.
The face of Roberto Lauffer, who was standing beside Clete, made it quite clear that he understood the meaning of the term "new life."
At the same moment, Enrico Mallin's face made it quite clear that he did not regard the new life as a manifestation of the generosity of the Supreme Be-ing. He allowed himself to be embraced by Humberto, then held out his glass to one of the maids for a refill.
"I found those documents you were concerned about," Clete said.
It took a long moment for understanding to register on Humberto's face.
"Oh, good," he said finally.
Since he is anything but stupid, he must be drunk. I didn't think that was af-tershave I smelled when he kissed me. And that "God is Good!" speech!
"What documents are those?" Beatrice asked.
"Some business dealings I have with von Wachtstein," Humberto replied, "nothing to concern yourself about, my dear."
And he has a big mouth. My God!
"Oh," she said, and put the subject out of her mind.
As soon as she walked in, it was immediately apparent to Clete that Bea-trice was again-still?-detached from reality, heavily dosed with what Hum-berto euphemistically called her medicine. The odds were remote that she would ever remember the exchange, Clete decided.