The Adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow

Gabriela's House on the Cliff

At noon Señorita Gabriela was escorted to the house on the cliff by her maids, Catalina, a young girl, and Isabela a middle-aged woman, and four male servants. Her father was cunning, even though they were on the run, he had enough time to plan their escape. Not only did they bring most of their belongings but almost most of their servants as well.

A winding dirt road led to the house on the cliff. The beautiful house was smaller than Don Juan's. It was a two-story house with no interior patio. The gardens were all around the property and were surrounded by a stone fence, with a huge iron gate at the entrance of the property.

The exterior of the house was made of stone, with large balconies, and large windows with wooden latticework that provided security at night and restricted the entry of the sun's rays at siesta time. The entrance was a large double door made of finely carved Slavonian oak with wrought iron fittings. the ground-floor windows also had wrought-iron bars, reflecting the blacksmith's mastery of details. On both sides of the door were two large pots of honeysuckle, on both sides of the windows were hibiscus and bougainvillea that hugged the stone walls and reached the first floor. Branches of geraniums of various colors fell from the balconies. It looked like a house from a fairy tale.

Upon entering the house, Gabriela was perplexed. The entrance hall had Carrara marble floors, the doors were all made of light oak. The white walls with a finely painted ceiling that looked like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The furniture was exquisite. The view was breathtaking. Gabriela did not need to see more to realize that her father was a womanizer. That house was intended for her father's lover who would surely arrive on the next ship from Europe. Surely her father would be anxious that the duke not let her work so he wouldn't have to get another house and decorate it so luxuriously to please his lover.

The rest of the house was as delicately decorated as the hall. On the ground floor, there was a small study and library, a beautiful living room, and a dining room. Then in the back a large kitchen and bedrooms for her servants. Through the kitchen, there was access to the back garden. At the back of the property were the stables and on top of these the housing of the other servants. That building was also made of stone.

Gabriela arranged for an orchard to be installed behind that building to provide the necessary vegetables and a small chicken coop to have fresh eggs, in addition, she established where the clothes would be hung to dry so they would not be seen from the house.

On the first floor was a master bedroom with an unsuited bathroom that featured a large copper tub. A marble-topped cabinet with an English porcelain ewer and basin for washing the face and hands and a beautiful mirror with a gilt metal frame on the wall and a hook to hold the towel. The cabinet had drawers to store hygiene items. In addition, the bathroom also had two English porcelain potties to relieve themselves at night. What made them different was that they were placed on a seat each one and the potties could be removed for washing.

On the same floor, there were also four other bedrooms and a bathroom that only had a tub and a closet to store towels. Each bedroom had mirrors with its ewer and basin and under the bed the potty. The beds were all finely ornate bronze with carved wooden nightstands and a three-door wooden wardrobe and in the central door, there was a beveled mirror. One of the bedrooms had a double bed, another had a single bed and the other two had two single beds. Something that caught Gabriela's attention was that the beds had linen sheets with delicate embroidery and bedspreads. Both bathrooms had towels. The kitchen was fully equipped and both the dining room and sitting room had glass cabinets with English china, baccarat crystal goblets, and gold and silver cutlery.