ROMANTIC CUBAN JUSTICE. BY GEORGE H. WESTLEY.
NO governor general of Cuba stands out so prominently in the history of the island as Don Miguel Tacón, who held the reins of Spanish government there from 1834 to 1838. The old Cubans who re member Tacón say that he was un hombre muy grande; but it cannot be said that they regard his memory with affection, for his policy was one of violence and he ruled with a hand of iron. There was this much to his credit, however, that he had but one interpretation of the law for the rich and the poor, for the humblest peasant and the wealthiest grandee. While acting in his judicial capacity Tacón rarely tempered justice with mercy, but it is said that he took a keen pleasure in coloring it, whenever possible, with ro mance. And that brings me to the story. In Havana, in Tacon's time, there was a beautiful young Creole girl, named Miralda Estalez, who kept a little cigar shop, fre quented by young men of the town who loved a choicely made and superior cigar. Miralda was an orphan, having lost her father and mother before she was sixteen. In manner the girl was delicate and refined, yet cheerful, and though she was paid con stant attention by her rich and gay young patrons, she never for a moment allowed her head to be turned by their flatteries, or was unfaithful to Pedro Mantanez, the young boatman who was her accepted lover. One of Miralda's customers was Count Almonte, the gayest cavalier in Havana. He had conceived a violent passion for his fair attendant, and one day finding her alone, he took the opportunity to declare it, be seeching her to go with him to his magnifi cent mansion at Cerito in the suburbs, where he would surround her with every lu.xtiry
she could possibly desire, except of course the luxury of being a countess. Miralda, true to her womanhood and her lover, scorned his appeal, and bade him never again insult her by entering her shop. Almonte went away confounded, but never theless determined that by fair means or foul the girl should be his. On the following afternoon a file of soldiers halted at the door of the little cigar shop, and the lieutenant, entering, ordered the frightened girl to follow him immediately. "What for?" she asked, "By whose orders?" "The governor general's." Not daring to oppose such high authority, Miralda closed her shop, and went with the lieutenant. She was not taken to prison, however, but, what was to her far worse, was conveyed to Almonte's castle at Cerito. The Count was there to receive her, and, smiling triumphantly, he assured her that she would be kept a prisoner until she ac ceded to his desires. What was the surprise of the lover Pedro, that evening, to find the little cigar shop closed, and Miralda nowhere to be found. He instantly sought for some clue, and ob taining one, he traced it up until he dis covered where the girl was confined. Then, to make sure that she was not there of her own free will, he disguised himself as a friar of the order of San Felipe and, applying at a favorable moment, he succeeded in getting in and securing an interview with his in amorata, who received him with open arms. The next thing was to get Miralda out of the Count's clutches, and this was not easy. Almonte was rich and powerful, and Pedro was only a poor boatman. Nevertheless the young lover was not discouraged; he had
