"You have to ask me a question like that?" Enrico demanded indignantly.
"Well, what the hell was I supposed to think?"
"El Coronel Per¢n was your father's best friend. Your father never laughed at-"
"Well, get this straight, Enrico. El Coronel Per¢n is not my best friend, and I think he ought be ashamed of himself!"
He had to smile when he heard what he had said.
"I am sure he is," Enrico said, seriously, rationalizing: "I would be. But he was el Coronel's best friend, and you should not mock him."
"OK. I'm sorry."
"No, you are not, Se¤or Clete."
"No, I am not," Clete said. "Screw you, Enrico."
He got out of the car and walked to the double doors of the Mallin mansion. Failing to find a doorbell, he raised the clapper and let it fall.
It sounds like somebody knocked over a garbage can.
A maid answered the door, but Dorotea came running past her.
"Hey, Princess!"
"Cletus, damn you, I've been frantic!"
"I'm sorry."
"Where have you been?" she demanded, then she saw the Rolls. "Where did you get that?"
"It's mine. It was the only thing available." He had a sudden thought. "Would you like to go for a ride? Before your parents learn I'm here and we get all involved with the wedding?"
"They're not here," she said. "Why should we go for a ride?"
"Because we have to talk," he said. "Where are your parents?"
"They went to dinner. I refused to go."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want to miss your call, if you called. I've been out of my mind, not knowing where you were, not that you give a damn."
"I'm sorry, Princess."
"A Colonel Mart¡n called Daddy and told him that you were all right. All that did was convince Daddy that you were up to your ears in this damned rev-olution. Were you?"
"Yes."
"I don't think you should see Daddy tonight," she said. "He's furious with you."
"Why?"
"At the moment, because he thinks you went off and got yourself killed just so our baby won't have a name and he'll be embarrassed. When he finds out you're still alive, he'll think of something else. What do we have to talk about?"
"Excuse me?"
"You just said we have to talk."