Maruja

had returned to duty at his distant post-were dispersing; some as riding cavalcades to neighboring points of interest; some to visit certain notable mansions which the wealth of a rapid civilizatio

e of guests, "after you've seen the stables with mahogany fittings for one hundred horses, ask Al

he Princess of China would only go

with her mother, like a good g

nd to Buchanan, as the vehicle rolled away with them

hy

little too Persian in his extravagance: of

hy, he's worth two

fe is as extrava

ry of the lassie's admirers too?" said Buchanan, playfully threatening

led and crept against the sides of the house, where the regular breath of the afternoon "trades" began to arise. A few cardinal flowers fell like drops of blood before the open windows of the vacant ball-room, in which the step of a solitary servant echoed faintly. It was Maruja's maid, bringing a note to her young mistress, who, in

noticed the bouquet on her dressing

n, Faquita had betrayed the secrets of her wardrobe to the extent of furnishing a ribbon from

verred that through this solitary

only thing left to do was to give her the polluted dres

ysterious odor of dried and desiccated religious respectability that penetrated everywhere, and made the grateful twilight redolent of the generations of forgotten Guitierrez who had quietly exhaled in the old house. A mist as of incense and flowers that had lost their first bloom veiled the vista of the long corridor, and made the staring blue sky, seen through narrow windows and loopholes, glitter like mirrors let into the walls. The chamber assigned to the young ladies seemed half oratory and half sle

lightly perched herself like a white dove on the railing. Mrs. Saltonstall, a dark, corpulent woman, redeemed only from c

ot been to

r. Do I

ey tell me that Captain Carroll

you

rge, or any of her cousins. She won't look at Juan Estudil

playing with the Captain's note in her belt. "You ca

like your father! She was no

off with Raymond and your Scotch friend in

nd is an old friend. You had better take your siesta now, child, t

ill Pereo say,

nceal his eccentric impertinence and interference from strangers, who can not understand his confidential position in our house or his long service. There are no m

ntelligent strangers," in

or sisters and their escorts like the Indian, whose blood is in his veins. The saints only can tell if he did not disgust this Captain Carroll into flight. He believes himself the sole custodian of the honor of our family-that he has a sacred mission from this Don Fulano of Koorotora to avert its fate. Wit

im to 'duena' Euriqueta with the Colonel Brown; how you let him frighten the young Englishman who was too attentive

stent as it was with the weakness of her argument, was not without impressiveness, "it is not yet, Blessed Santa Maria, that we are obliged to take notice ourself of the pretensions of every guest beneath our roof like the match-making, da

e is the youthful Jose Castro, the sole padrono of our national bull-fight at Soquel, the famous horse-breaker, and the winner of I know not how many races. And have we not Vincente Peralta, who

et you uphold Pereo! Go, now, and sleep yourself into a better frame of mind.

an of sixty,-who had evidently entered without ceremony. "I see you did not wait to be announced,"

e he swallowed yesterday," said the Doctor, dryly. "I met him outside the tienda on the

many people," said Maruju. "What would you? We can not select HIS

suddenly absorbed by a hitherto unnoticed motionless figure, that seemed to be hiding in the shadow of an angle of the passage, as if waiting for he

a sinister shadow, was the yellow of a dried tobacco-leaf, and veined as strongly. His garb was a strange mingling of the vaquero and the ecclesiastic-velvet trousers, open from the knee down, and fringed with bullion buttons; a broad red sash around his waist, partly hidden by a lon

ther dialect than the one she had used to her moth

the prowling, stealing brute until I run him down. Yes, it was I, Pereo, who warned your father he would not be content with the half of the land he stole! It was I, Pereo, who warned your

one knew it but ourselves, my Pereo, was it not?" He nodded his head violently. "It was you who showed me the gallant caballeros, the Pachecos, the Castros, the Alvarados, the Estudillos, the Peraltas, the Vallejos." His head kep

ou, Pereo? Who shall we dine to-day?' Or: 'Enquire me of this or that strange caballero-and if we may speak.' Ah, it is but yesterday that Amita would say: 'Lend me thine own horse, Pereo, that I may outstrip this swaggering Americano that clings ever to my side,' ha! ha! Or the grave Dorotea would whisper: 'Convey to this Senor Presumptuous Pomposo that the daughters of Guitierrez do not ride alone with strangers!' Or even the little Liseta would say, he! he! 'Why does the stranger press my foot

e, but with a bottle of old wine from the Mision refectory that I will send to thee. It was given to me by thy friend, Padre Miguel, and is from the old vines that were here. Courage, Pereo! And thou sayest that Amita complains that thou comest between her and Raymond. So! What matter? Let it cheer thy heart to know that I have summoned the Peraltas, the Pachecos, the Estudillos, all thy old friends, to dine here to-day. Thou wilt hear the old names, even if the faces are young to thee. Courage! Do thy duty, old friend; let them

lsive recklessness of Aladdin, who had forsaken his enchanted Palace on the slightest of invitations, and returned with the party in the hope of again seeing the Princess of China, an interchange of civilities, of gallantries, and even of confidences, at last took place. Jovita Castro had heard (who had not?) of the wonders of Aladdin's Palace, and was it of actual truth that the ladies had a bouquet and a fan to match their dress presented to them every morning, and that the gentlemen had a champagne cocktail sent to their rooms before breakfast? "Just you come, Miss, and bring your father and your brothers, and stay a week and you'll see," responded Aladdin, gallantly. "Hold on! What's your father's first name? I'll send a team over there for you to-morrow." "And is it true that you frightened the handsome Captain Carroll away from Amita?" said Dolores Briones, over the edge of her fan to Raymond. "Perfectly," said Raymond, with ingenuous frankness. "I made it a matter of life or death. He was a soldier, and naturally preferred the former as giving him a better chance for promotion." "Ah! we thought it was Maruja you liked best." "That was two years ago," said Raymond, gravely. "And you Americanos can change in th

ntique vehicles of fifty years ago, so faded, so worn, and so springless it was. General Pico related the festivities at Monterey, on the occasion of the visit of Sir George Simpson early in the present century, of which he was an eyewitness, with great precision of detail. Don Juan Estudillo was comparatively frivolous, with anecdotes of Louis Philippe, whom he had seen in Paris. Far-seeing Pedro Guiti

ical voice of Maruja was hea

ight, was ready b

, would be a pilgrim friar-in either case a natural object of woma

ject of womanly solicitude? But

arted to explain. From them it appeared that there was no such thing in Califo

ys very uncivil

you might have him invariably run from you. When the question was finally settl

h a certain shy, girlish interest that was as inconsistent with the serene regularity of her face as Maruja's self-possessed, subtle intelligence was incongruous

lations are all opposed to it; to-morrow they will each ap

lightly coloring; "but you are an engineer, a

, scattered along the veranda and on the broad steps of the porch in gypsy-like encampments, from whose cloaked shadow the moonlight occasionally glittered upon a varnished boot or peeping satin slipper. Two or three of these groups had resol

make a show of keeping up with her sister's boyish stride, in spite

s of both men. She was missing the ex

ny suggestion of fatigue or moral disquietude. "I'm tired of running against those turtle-doves in t

tant figure-what more could he want? Yet he wished she hadn't walked so fast. One might be vivacious, audacious, brilliant, at an Indian trot; but impassioned-never! The pace increased; they were actually hurrying. More than that, Maruja had struck into a little trot; her lithe bo

xercise; Raymond, who was annoyed at the poor girl's discomfiture; and Garnier, who had lost a golden opportunity, with the f

th her fan, as she glanced around in the staring moonlight. "Civilization has taken aw

ramp," sugge

ve been a gypsy, and to have wandered

that you and your sister are suitably clad to commence to-night. It is bitterly cold," he add

er the fields and down the lane. Su

figure slowly disappearing o

edge, complacently. "But what is surprising, he was not there when we came, nor did he come

sister's side, and took her arm with a confidential pressure that was returned. The two men, with a vague consciousness of some contretemps, dropp

a by the summer-house and the old pear-tree. The red sparks of two or three cigarettes in the sh

heard, Pereo?" sai

leading this Frenchman a dance, as she has led the others, and the Dona Amita and her Raymond are but wax in her ha

an American Doctor was speaking to her mother, thy mistress-our m

, Pepita!" said Pereo, excitedly. "S

heard it." She reached out her hand, and dragged

child of the land. Speak, little one. What s

it was but accident

hoped it had been more. But let t

tain in the oratory when Pepita ushered

like this?" said one of the ciga

said th

s man-ay, as she might have talked to THEE. And, could he advise this? and could he counsel that? and should

he frontier-the line of the arroyo-o

e-the-I know not what it

erever that cruel steel is laid the track of it is livid and barren; it cuts down all barriers; leaps all boundaries, be they canada or canyon; it is a torrent in the plain, a tornado in the forest; its very pathway

ring; "and yet they spoke of it as 'shares' and 'st

ita, impatiently. "It is not such bagatela that Faquita is

ttes, "and then they talked of other things and of themselves; and, of a verity, this gray-bearded Doctor will play th

y the right? No, thou didst mis

s not mistake," said the evident satirist of the househ

speaker's lips by Faquita's fan, had disappeared in the darkness, she resumed, petti

ce? What! thou sawest this, and did nothing-eh?" He stopped, and tried to peer into the girl's face. "No! Ah, I see; I am an old fool. Yes; it was Maruja's own mother that stood there. He! he! he!

rs. "She did what the veriest muchacha would hav

eps at her duty, and dreams behind a curtain! Yes, dreams!-you understand-dreams! And for this she leaves her occupations, and comes to gossip here! Come," he continued, steadily

e by one silently through the labyrinth. Pereo waited until the last had vanished, and then, cramming his stiff s

in vaquero's dress, mounted and caparisoned. Picking his way cautiously along the turf-bordered edge of the gravel path, he noiselessly reached a gate that led to the lane. Walking his spirited mustang with difficulty until the house had at last

d became invisible in their furious action, and, lying low forward on his mustang's neck, man and horse passed like an arrowy bolt around the circle. Then something like a light ring of smoke up-curved from the saddle before him, and, slowly uncoiling itself in mid air, dropped gently to the ground as

ompleted and bore down directly upon the unconscious object. Within a hundred feet he swerved slightly; the long detaching rings again writhed in mid air and softly descended as he thundered past. But when he had r

oomed the sweat-dried skin of the mustang the next day. "It is eas