Chapter 12: Performance

"Bernardo! If you don't stop shaking your head so hard it will fall right off your shoulders!" chided Don Diego. He was changing into his Zorro garb, and Bernardo was standing there frowning even as he held out the black mask and hat. "This is a very simple matter. Since El Zorro brought the Señora Emerson home after her riding accident it is only natural that he should pay a brief call to inquire after her health. I probably don't even need to take the sword." The muzo's reaction to this was to roll his eyes and resume shaking his head. "Did you bring the flowers?" Bernardo reached over to a shelf and produced a large bouquet of blossoms. "Do I want to know where you got them?" More shaking. "And you, too, have a part to play this evening," declared Zorro. Now Bernardo pointed to himself and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Yes, you," replied his patròn. "Now here is what I want you to do..."

Maggie was enjoying their last few day at the De la Vega hacienda. In four days she and her father would be moving permanently to Rancho Flores. They had decided to keep the original name since suddenly calling the property "Rancho Sheraton" would just confuse everyone. She was attempting to finish a book she had borrowed from Don Diego when she heard a loud clatter from across the patio. She got up and crossed to the far corner to discover that the cord of one of the hanging plants had split and the pot had fallen to the ground and broken. I must remember to tell Arturo about that, she thought to herself. Bernardo, now pressing himself back into the large bushes, thought: That is the first thing.

Returning to her seat, she was startled to discover a large bouquet of flowers now sitting next to her book. Looking around with a sense of anticipation, she heard the now familiar silken voice behind her: "Buenos tardes, Señora. ." She turned and was not in the least surprised to see Zorro standing there.

"I am beginning to think you really are a ghost," she declared with a smile. "You certainly seem to come and go as you please! How do you do it?"

He laughed. "That is my secret, Señora, and ghosts do not reveal their secrets."

"So you came just to bring me flowers?" She was astonished.

"I believe I told you I would bring you more flowers. But I also wanted to see for myself how you are recovering from your fall."

"I'm mending well and it's very kind of you to ask, but you should not take such a risk just to find out how I'm doing. What if you run into a lancer patrol?"

"That is my affair, Señora, but I assure you I can take care of myself. You are truly feeling well?"

"Yes," she insisted. "The bruising is all healed and I have just a little stiffness in —" They heard a door open and both of them looked up to the balcony. Someone had taken a few steps out onto the balcony then retreated back into the room as if to retrieve some forgotten item.

That is the second thing, thought Bernardo.

"Don Diego! I must go," said Zorro.

Surprised, she looked at him. "Do you mean to tell me you are afraid of Don Diego?"

"I am not afraid of Don Diego," he replied. "But he is an honorable man and if he finds me here he might feel obligated to defend you. And then I would be obligated to defend myself. And then who knows what might happen when swords cross?"

"Yes," she said softly, almost to herself and looking back up at the balcony. "Don Diego is an honorable man. And a kind man...and a gentle man. Yet I believe there is steel in him. He tries to hide it, but I feel it's there..." Her voice trailed off. Thinking back to that afternoon when the two of them had tried to play his guitar together, when she was positive he was about to kiss her, she realized that the last thing she wanted was for Diego to be hurt in foolish swordplay. Turning back to Zorro, she said, "Yes, it is best if you go now. I wouldn't want you crossing swords with Don Diego. I do thank you for the flowers. And perhaps someday you will explain to me how you come and go unseen. I really would like to know. Really."

"Such a gentle curiosity," he murmured, smiling and shaking his head. He took her hand and raised it to his lips, then gazed at her for a moment. "Buenos tardes Señora."

As he was speaking she looked at his masked face and thought, There is something familiar about him. Is it possible that I know this man? He released her hand and backed away into the garden as silently as he had come.

Once again Zorro entered the hacienda through the study window and rushed across the room to the secret door. By the time he reached his bedroom upstairs he had removed his hat, mask, black bandanna, and cape, and Bernardo was there holding Diego's shirt and pants. That is the third thing, thought the muzo.

Diego changed more quickly than he thought possible and then casually sauntered out the door to the balcony, leaving Bernardo to gather up Zorro's clothing. Descending to the patio, the young don found Maggie holding the flowers. "Ah! Such lovely flowers!" he exclaimed. "Where did you get them?"

"Zorro brought them."

"Zorro! The outlaw?! Here in the hacienda?!" he cried in alarm. He grasped both of Maggie's shoulders. "Did he harm you?"

"Oh no," she reassured him. But this did not seem to calm him in the least.

"Arturo!" he called. "Arturo, summon the vaqueros. El Zorro has been here! We must search the house!" He looked at Maggie. "Perhaps I should put on a sword. I think...I think there is a sword in my father's study." He started toward the hacienda door."

"Don Diego, wait, please! I don't think that's necessary," she tried to calm him. "Zorro brought the flowers and asked how I was feeling, and then he left. That's all that happened. I'm sure if he had planned on stealing something he would hardly have made his presence so obviously known."

"Yet I will ask Arturo and Bernardo to look over the hacienda just in case," he declared firmly.

"And I really don't think you'll need a sword," she added with a small smile.

"Perhaps not," he replied, "but at least I will find out where I may find one in case this ever happens again." He crossed the patio and went inside.

Maggie returned to her book, but found she could not read. Something about Zorro had seem so familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what. And there was something else, something he'd said that jogged a memory. He had said: "Such a gentle curiosity." It was the phrase "gentle curiosity." She was sure she'd heard it before, but who had said it and when?

Diego, now back in his room with Bernardo, was congratulating himself on a fine performance. "You see, I told you it was a simple matter," he declared cheerfully. "Zorro the gallant caballero kept his promise to bring her flowers, and asked about her recovery. And I think that I almost did manage to be in two places at the same time.

He didn't realize he had dropped a clue.