"I would never question the judgment of either General
Ramirez or Coronel Peron, Senor Presidente."
"How well do you know General Obregon?"
"Only slightly, Senor."
But well enough to know that he is intelligent and ruth less, and that nothing would give him greater pleasure than to become the Argentine version ofHeinrich Himmler.
"I want to get the two of you together, privately, as soon as possible," Rawson said. "I want him to know how much I appreciate your services in the execution of Outline Blue"
The plan-in American military parlance, the operations order-for the coup d'etat had been called "Outline Blue."
"The next few days will be out of the question, I'm afraid," Rawson went on, "but I am going to Estancia San
Pedro y San Pablo for Sefior Frade's wedding, and perhaps there will be the opportunity there."
"Sefior, I am at your disposal."
"It would help if we knew when, precisely, the wedding will take place, wouldn't it?" the President said somewhat petulantly.
"I understand the Cardinal Archbishop has promised his decision by today, Mr. President," Martin said.
"Don't tell me you have someone in the Cardinal Arch bishop's office?"
"An absolutely superb agent, Senor Presidente. My wife's sister. She considers Senor Frade's request outrageous."
Rawson chuckled, and then returned to the subject of
General Obregon.
"Martin, while the appointment has not been made public,
General Obregon has been told. I wouldn't be surprised if he came to Edificio Libertador to have an unofficial look around."
"I will hold myself at his disposal, Sefior Presidente,"
Martin said.
"I really think, under the circumstances, Martin, that this was the best choice."
If he believed that, he wouldn 't have said it. He has his doubts, which suggests that he gave in to some kind of pres sure. Or was trying to solidify his position by appointing
Obregon. Which is the same thing.
"I'm sure it was, Sefior Presidente," Martin said.
IV
[ONE]
Estancia Santo Catalina
Near Pila, Buenos Aires Province
1005 1 May 1943
The wedding of Senor Cletus Howell Frade to Senorita
Dorotea Mallfn posed certain problems. The basic problem, the blame for which had to be laid squarely at the feet of the prospective couple, was that Dorotea was three months preg nant.
Her condition precluded the events that would otherwise surround a marriage between the offspring of two prominent
Argentine families. Ordinarily, there would have been a formal dinner party to announce the engagement. This would have been followed by a six-month engagement period, during which there would be myriad lunches, dinners, bridal showers, and the like.
Ordinarily, the wedding would have been held in the
Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar, in the Recoleta section of
Buenos Aires; and, considering the prominence of the respective families, the nuptial mass would have been cele brated by the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires himself.
The bride's family would then hold a reception for the new lyweds at their home, or perhaps, considering the number of people who would attend, at either the Plaza or Alvear Plaza
Hotel.
That was all now impossible, because of the careless carnal impetuosity of the couple.
An immediate marriage was the obvious solution, but that itself posed problems, primarily because the groom was just beginning the year's mourning for his late father, during which, without a special dispensation from the Church, he could not marry.
Obedience to the canons of the Roman Catholic Church regarding marriage was required, even though the bride and groom were Anglican and Episcopalian, respectively. Roman
Catholicism was the official religion of the nation, and therefore only Roman Catholic marriages were regarded as legally valid.
Father Kurt Welner, S J., not without difficulty, had found solutions to the ecclesiastical problems. Welner was not only a close friend of the Frade family (and had been a trusted friend of Jorge Frade), he was an expert in canon law and an adviser to the Cardinal Archbishop.
First, he had obtained from the Right Reverend Manuel de
Parto, bishop of the Diocese of Pila, in which Estancia San
Pedro y San Pablo was located, a waiver of the year of mourning requirement for Cletus Frade. The waiver was not in fact difficult to obtain. He had had to mention to the
Bishop only twice that more than half of the diocesan budget came from the pious generosity of el Patron of Estancia San
Pedro y San Pablo.
Father Welner had not mentioned to Bishop de Parto that, in deference to the feelings of the bride and her mother, and the groom's almost belligerently Episcopalian family, he was also seeking from the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires a special dispensation permitting the bride's priest, the Very
Reverend Matthew Cashley-Price, of the Anglican Cathedral of Buenos Aires, to take part in the wedding ceremony.
The Cardinal Archbishop had told Father Welner that he had to think long and hard about this, and it had taken him until last night to decide how to handle the granting of the dispensation needed to make the Anglican priest a part of the wedding cere mony. Once the decision was made, he himself had decided that he had to be the one to inform Bishop de Parto. Both Welner and the Cardinal were aware that the Bishop would be very uncomfortable with the notion of the Very Reverend Cashley Price having anything to do with the wedding.
As would the two priests of El Capilla Nuestra Senora de los Milagros, who tended to the spiritual needs of the more than 1,400 people who lived and worked on Estancia San
Pedro y San Pablo, and in whose chapel the wedding would be held.
And so would Monsignor Patrick Kelly, of the Archdio cese of Buenos Aires, who would celebrate the mass, repre senting the Cardinal Archbishop. The Cardinal would not be able to personally participate, as he would "unfortunately be tied up with pressing business," or so he had explained to the
Jesuit.
Monsignor Kelly, the family priest of the bride's father and of the groom's aunt and uncle, had made it quite clear to Father
Welner that he held him responsible for this outrageous busi ness of having a bloody English Protestant involved in the wedding.
But there were other problems, of a more social nature.
Though Senora Carzino-Cormano-who had been "a very dear friend" of the groom-to-be's father and was a close friend of the bride's mother, and whose daughter Alicia and
Dorotea had been close since childhood-had felt that she had both the right and the obligation to provide any assis tance she could, and would open Estancia Santo Catalina to the family of the bride to use as their home until the marriage was accomplished, her ministrations could not make straight what had long been crooked.
Enrico Mallfn, for example, the father of the bride and
Managing Director of the Sociedad Mercantil de
Importacidn de Productos Petroliferos (SMIPP), was having a very difficult-and only partially successful-time con cealing his unhappiness with his daughter's intended.
Worse-or at least generating more problems-the groom's maternal aunt, Beatrice Frade de Duarte, had been under the constant care of a psychiatrist since the death of her son, the groom's cousin. The psychiatrist spent a large portion of his time feeding her just enough tranquilizing medicine to keep her behavior under control while not putting her into a trance. When not so controlled, she moved rapidly between euphoria and black depression. Usually, he was successful.
Senora Claudia de Carzino-Cormano, the mistress of
Estancia Santo Catalina and its 80,599 (more or less) hectares, was a svelte woman in her mid-fifties, with a full head of luxuriant, gray-flecked black hair, drawn up from her neck to the top of her head.
When Sarita, her maid, entered to inform her that Padre