Chapter eight

"Buenos dias, don Alejandro." Victoria stood behind the bar as always and served her customers. She was a bit surprised that the elder de la Vega had come with his granddaughter, but she said nothing, only smiled to herself. The time must have been on Isabel's side.

"Buenos dias, Victoria," Alejandro greeted her.

"What can I do for you?"

"Carlos and Esteban are already here?" the elder de la Vega looked around and saw his friends sitting by one of the tables. "Oh, excellent. Victoria, can you please give us a bottle of wine and glasses..." Alejandro stopped and looked down at Isabel, who stood calmly beside him.

"And some juice for our young lady?" finished Victoria with a smile. "Of course. But where is Diego?" she asked finally. Isabel usually came to the pueblo with her father or Felipe, Alejandro never took her with him.

"I would like to know that too," answered the elder de la Vega with irritation. "I thought maybe he's in his office, but no. He disappeared again with Felipe."

"And he didn't take me," added Isabel offended.

"Come, we will drink some juice," offered Victoria. She guessed, and Alejandro's grateful glance made her sure, that the elder caballero didn't know what she would do during his meeting with friends.

"Are you sure?" asked Alejandro. "I don't want to make you any troubles."

"Isabel knows the rules and won't be making any troubles," Victoria reassured him. The girl smiled and disappeared behind the curtain.

"Papa is still sick," said Isabel, when Victoria joined her a moment later. "He only doesn't say anything. And I don't know where he is."

"But it makes no sense," pointed out señorita Escalante. "Why should he do that?"

"I don't know. But last time you didn't want to believe me, and now I have a proof!" said Isabel suddenly and she triumphantly gave her a stuck of paper she took from her bag.

"Isabel, what is it?" Victoria took the sheets unsurely, on first sight recognizing Diego's handwriting. "Where did you get it from?"

"Love poems," replied Isabel as if she was saying the most obvious thing in the world. "About you, or to you."

Victoria had already noticed that. She went over the first poem and, blushing, took another. Yes, these poems were undoubtedly directed to her. She must again verify her opinion about her friend. How come he knew so much about her? All these romantic remarks about her lips and eyes... When did he watch her so closely? Why was he putting all these feelings on paper? Why did he write about her as if he...

"There was a painting too, but I couldn't take it," said Isabel freely, breaking the silence. She looked very pleased of herself.

"A painting? Where?" asked Victoria. „Where did you take these poems from?"

"From papa's bedroom," replied the girl. "They were between his cravats."

Victoria consumed this information for a moment. Diego kept his love poems hidden in his wardrobe... But then she realized what Isabel had said.

"You rummaged through Diego's things?" she asked harshly. "These are your father's private belongings and you shouldn't have touched them.

"But..."

"No buts, Isabel," the señorita cut her off. "Promise me you will put these poems back and you will never rummage through Diego's thing again. Or I will tell him about this," she threatened, barely holding her smile. Diego's face, if she had waved his own poems right in front of his nose, would certainly be priceless. Victoria didn't know how to react. It would be best if she pretended that nothing had happened, but she didn't know if she was able to do so.

"I just wanted..."

"I know."

"I promise," said the girl finally. "I won't touch anything. But why Abuelo was so angry today?" she asked suddenly, changing the topic.

"Probably because the courier was robbed," replied Victoria. "A few letters he was waiting for are gone."

"Why Zorro didn't do anything?" Isabel looked questioningly at her elder friend. She had already noticed that the people relied on their defender.

"Zorro is wounded," said Victoria shortly and returned to her cooking. "He probably won't do anything."

"If Papa were Zorro, he would do something," stated Isabel surely. Señorita Escalante burst out laughing. If Diego started being Zorro, the world would certainly stand on its head. Isabel has sometimes crazy ideas, thought Victoria and went to the main room with a tray in her hands. She was still smiling when she put the orders on the tables and returned to the kitchen. In a meanwhile Isabel came to another conclusions.

"But Victoria, Papa can be Zorro," she stated right when the señorita came in. "Zorro can fight well, just as Papa," she noticed.

"I don't think so, Isabel," replied Victoria with laughter, thinking at the same time why the little one was so stubborn about Diego being a good swordsman. Nothing could change her mind, neither Victoria's raillery, nor Diego's assertions. "They are too different."

"Really?" now Isabel seemed to be truly surprised. "Like what? You told me Zorro makes many tricks. You should see what papa can do! And they are similar height."

"It is no proof," Victoria was still skeptical. "I can't imagine Diego can do things like Zorro does."

"Why now?" asked Isabel swaggered, staring at Victoria with a challenge in her eyes.

"Because..." Victoria started, but cut off. If fact, why. She had already noticed that her friend was capable of doing things she had never thought him to do. But well, everything ended somewhere. "It's not like Diego," she finished, laughing in disbelief.

"But Papa loves you. And Zorro too," Isabel was still stubborn, as if she was more and more sure she was right.

"It's not a proof," replied Victoria, but then she went serious. She leant over Isabel and said. "Don't tell anybody what we talked about, or Diego will be in big troubles. If anyone would think that he is Zorro... De Soto might not look at the facts, but use the occasion to get rid of your father. Remember that there is a high prize on Zorro's head. Catching Zorro means his death, do you understand it?"

"I do," the girl nodded seriously. "I won't tell anybody, not even Abuelo."

"Don't tell Diego too," added Victoria. "He will be embarrassed," she explained. Feeling a bit guilty, she realized that she often compared Diego with Zorro and that her friend didn't take it well. Isabel's appearance, paradoxically, made him more self-assured. The girl admired him and it did him well.

"If you say so... Alright, I won't tell him," Isabel agreed unwillingly.

"And don't forget about these poems," added Victoria and they both went to the main room of the tavern.

ZZZ

The room was stuffy despite the open window, the blanket too warm, the pillow too hard. Victoria twirled in her bed, tired after a long day, but she couldn't sleep. She kept turning back to her talk with Isabel. Now that she thought about it, she realized she had suspected a few times that Diego had stronger feelings towards her than just friendship. Each time though, he had done something that had denied her suspicions, or she had thrown these thoughts from her head, not wanting to change their relationship. But now... Now she could cheat herself no more. Diego de la Vega, her friend, a person she was ready to share with almost every secret, was in love with her, while she was in love with Zorro. And what was she going to do? She could only guess how much effort Diego put to hide his own feelings. Knowing his sensibility, Victoria suspected that he didn't want to push her in any way or oblige her to anything because of his declarations. It was safer and healthier to be just friends.

The matchmaker had once told her that Diego had no romantic bone. Victoria had today proofs in her hand that it wasn't true. Diego put all his emotions on the paper, he closed all his feelings in these heart catching poems... Victoria realized suddenly how little she knew about the person she considered as her friend. Yes, she knew him well, they met almost every day, but what did she really know about his daily habits? It was commonly known that Diego, if only he could, would sit in his library with his books, that he was interested in science and technology, that he didn't like violence... But how much of it was true? Despite the ostentation her friend sometimes talked about some issues, Victoria knew he was in fact a very shy person. He was always proper, sometimes even too much, but from the other side... Isabel was a proof that Diego knew something about passion and breaking all the conventions. If he had hidden it so well, if he had never mentioned his romance, what else didn't she know about him? She and probably everybody else. How much Diego kept just for himself?

There was one more thing. However Isabel's remark that Diego could be Zorro sounded funny, Victoria couldn't forget about it. The experience of last month had taught her that there was more in the young caballero that he showed to the world. How much more? Isabel insisted that Diego was a good swordsman. Very good. And during these five years how many times had she seen him with a sword in his hand? One, two... three times. And how many times had he actually used it? Only once. Too bad as for a good swordsman. The only time Diego actually took his sword and stood up to a duel Victoria remembered very well. Insulting her was the reason her friend had challenged sir Miles Thackery. How could she not notice it earlier? The crowd had surrounded the plaza then, when the two men were to cross their swords, but she herself was afraid to watch, certain that her friend would soon die. Diego had no idea how to fight with an experienced swordsman, but.. but he had faced him longer than Louis Ramone or any of the soldiers. How was it possible?

ZZZ

The empty hacienda gave her recently interesting discoveries. Isabel still felt joyous excitement at the thought of her last finding. Secrets with Victoria made her trips to the pueblo important and interesting. The poems written by her father were a proof good enough for the tavern owner. Isabel was very curious what her elder friend was going to do. Diego seemed to hamper any action. He avoided Victoria. Ha avoided everyone and everything, which irritated the girl, because her father didn't pay attention to her.

After making sure she was alone, Isabel went on her searching. It wasn't what her mother, and recently Diego had taught her, but the boredom and curiosity were stronger. She already knew her father's room, including all the cupboards and a trunk under his bed. Now it was the time to discover other secrets in the hacienda. Only her grandfather's bedroom and cabinet were untouchable. Don Alejandro de la Vega commanded respect. Papa was admired and loved, and she could do anything with him. Isabel wouldn't dare the same towards her grandfather.

A solid chair was an irrevocable help for the girl, who couldn't reach everywhere because her height. Isabel brought it to the bookshelf in the library and stood on it to look at the books standing on the shelves. She was curious what her father kept over her reach. And someone had taken from the table a book she was reading and the girl wanted to find it.

On the shelf stood only books she didn't know, so she left them. A bit disappointed she noticed that nothing was hidden behind them, like in one of the stories she had recently read. But the other point of view allowed her to see her missing book on the cornice of the fireplace. Glad, she went down from the chair and placed it by the fireplace. She had to put it awry, because it shook when she stood on it. The girl grabbed the cornice not to fall down. The chair steadied itself, but something else had happened. The wall in the fireplace moved aside, opening an entrance. Isabel smiled widely. THAT was very interesting.

She had probably just found the reason her father and Felipe disappeared so often in the library. She had already noticed that papa and his charge were able to vanish before she could see where they went. The entrance in the fireplace was an explanation.

Isabel get down from the chair and went over the hearth. At the other sine a single candle gave a faint light on the stairs. The girl ran down and found herself in a twilight of a big room. Two or three candles, lit no matter if someone was inside or not, gave little light, but enough to look around.

There was a big table with many dishes. The girl's eyes shone with understanding when she recognized the ones her father had used when he had showed her some of his experiments.

"Ooooh," she sighed. "So Papa keeps it all here," she said to herself, coming closer to watch everything better. She still remembered Diego's show ended by a spectacular explosion, so she didn't touch anything. Why Papa didn't tell her anything? It was amazing!

Something snorted. Isabel jumped at this sudden sound and looked around. From behind the fence looked at her dark eyes of a black horse. The girl rubbed her eyes. A horse? In a cave? And it looked familiar. Isabel came closer to the wooden barrier and reached her hand. Soft nostrils touched her hand in search for tidbits.

"What are you doing here?" asked the girl, smoothing the horse's nose.

The stallion snorted in response and licked her hand. Isabel played with him for a while, and then went on further research. Why was her father keeping a horse in the cave? What for? There was a big stable by the hacienda, there would be enough space for one more horse. Isabel passed by the table and saw another riddle. Black clothes and a sword were hanging on a hanger. The girl joyfully clapped her hands. This explained everything. So she was right! Papa WAS Zorro! Excited with her discovery, she ran up the stairs and froze.

She had an uniform wall in front of her. There was no entrance to the library, it had to close behind her. Papa will find me here and he will be angry, thought Isabel. For some reason he kept hiding in this strange place. Right, Zorro was an outlaw. She wouldn't have to be genius to understand, why Diego kept Toronado in hiding. No one... Victoria didn't know! Isabel realized suddenly that señorita Escalante would love to know this. But to tell her everything, Isabel had to find the way out, fortunately without Diego's knowledge about her presence here. She remembered how she opened the entrance from the other side, so she started knocking to the wall inch by inch.