Paloma

“ Paloma snickered. "The idea! She doesn't—"
"Get her out, and keep her out," Blaze rumbled. "She ain't right; she ain't—human. Why, what d'you reckon I saw her do, the other day? Makes me shiver now. You remember that big bull-snake that lives under the barn, the one I've been layin' for? Well, you won't believe me, but him and her are friends. Fact! I saw her pick him up and play with him. WHO-EE! The goose-flesh popped out on me till it busted the buttons off my vest. She ain't my kind of people, Paloma. 'Strange' ain't no name for her ”

“ It needed no close observation to discover the concern in Paloma's eyes; Alaire told her story quickly. "Mr. Law must be warned right away," she added, "for the man is capable of anything."
Paloma nodded. "Dave told us how he had killed Panfilo—" She hesitated, and then cried, impulsively: "Mrs. Austin, I'm going to confess something—I've got to tell somebody or I'll burst. I was walking the floor when you came. Well, Dad and Dave have completely lost their wits. They have gone across the river—to get Ricardo Guzman's body." ”

“ The young painter was still watching the bird when his ear caught a song not from the chapel. A girl’s voice was singing it—a clear voice, if a little loud:
The moon is a sun with a veil—
Lift my veil, and behold my eyes shining.
The voice neared, repeating the words but somewhat disconnectedly. Then, “Go on!” cried the voice impatiently, breaking off the song. “Must I carry you!”
The next moment Paloma came into view beyond the pickets at the corner of the kitchen. A scarlet shawl was thrown about her shoulders, and she was half-leading, half-shoving a young deer. ”

“ Don Mike predicted maliciously, and immediately withdrew the sting from his words by placing his hand in friendly fashion on Parker's shoulder and shaking him playfully. "In the interim, however," he continued, "now that our unwelcome guests have departed and peace has been reestablished on El Palomar (for I hear Pablo whistling 'La Paloma' in the distance) , what reason, if any, exists why we shouldn't start right now to get some fun out of life? I've had a wonderful forenoon at your expense, so I want you and the ladies to have a wonderful afternoon at mine." ”

“ She is the mother of as pretty a covey as you could wish to see, beginning with two lovely grown-up married daughters and one or two grandchildren, and ending with two darling little girls, one of whom bears the charming name of Paloma, the dove. ”

“ In short, there were modern women, and rich women, in Santa Paloma, as these things unmistakably indicated. Where sixty years ago there had been but a lonely outpost on a Spanish sheep-ranch, and where thirty years after that there was only a "general store" at a crossroads, now every luxury in the world might be had for the asking.
All this part of the town lay northeast of the sleepy little Lobos River, which cut Santa Paloma in two. ”

“ Then, “Let us hunt until we know,” advised Father José, in a low tone. “And, meanwhile, let us say nothing.” He laid a finger on his lips.
Paloma had listened—between sobs—to what was being said. Now, she sprang up excitedly. “Know?” she cried. “I know this moment. He did it! None needs to tell me different. Every day he has come. ‘Marry me or give back the ring,’ he has said. And I have said, ‘No,’ to both. And he has done this to revenge himself. The rattlesnake!” The next moment she straightened resentfully, and stared past Señor John and the father. Then, “Rattlesnake!” ”

“ No—my pearl, you see, is set in gold, and it was bought in Albuquerque, at the store that has high, glass windows.”
“Indeed?” questioned the painter, even more impressed.
“But whatever it cost,” went on Paloma, “Anastacio shall not have it back. What is given, is given. It is not my fault that he cannot love my pretty Miguel. I said to him, ‘The good father has a peacock. And I——’”
Father José held up a hand to interrupt her. “My peacock serves as a lesson to my Indians,” he said. “He is a living example of all that is least to be desired. He is beautiful, but useless ”

“ Every law of hospitality has been outraged through your imbecility. And to complete my humiliation, I have received only kindness on every hand. The chapel which I have desired for years is now a certainty, thanks to the master and mistress of Las Palomas. What apology can I offer for your”—
“Hold on there, Father,” interrupted Uncle Lance. “If you owe this ranch any apology, save your breath for a more important occasion. Don Blas is all right; any suitor who would not be jealous over a girl like Juana is not welcome at Las Palomas. ”

“ Blaze Jones was the last to leave. With especial emphasis upon her name, he said: "Miz Austin, Paloma and me would like to have you come to our house and stay until you feel like goin' back to Las Palmas."
When Alaire declined with moistened eyes, explaining that she could not well accept his invitation, he signified his understanding.
"We're goin' to see a lot of you, just the same," he promised her, "'cause we feel as if you sort of belonged to us. There's a lot of good people in this part of Texas, and them that ain't so good God and the Rangers is slowly weedin' out. ”

“ Palomas is a small village, with little to recommend it save that it is picturesquely situated in a pass —Cañon de las Palomas (Pass of the Doves) — in the Sierra Madre Mountains, which here separate the valley of Saltillo from the table-lands leading to San Luis Potosi. It has a thousand inhabitants, consisting for the most
A PICTURESQUE TRAVELER.
part of persons employed in the cotton factory, the leading industry, shepherds and laborers on the adjacent farms. ”

“ I remained away from where he was, and not once had the dreaded expression fallen from his lips within my learning, prior to our trip to Palomas. "The things which try people show what is in them." It so proved with Cosme. ”

“ She would save him that added burden. Three miles from the mission, the road swung up a gentle grade between two long rows of ancient and neglected palms. The dead, withered fronds of a decade still clung to the corrugated trunks. In the adjoining oaks vast flocks of crows perched and cawed raucously. This avenue of palms presently debouched onto a little mesa, oak-studded and covered with lush grass, which gave it a pretty, parklike effect. In the center of this mesa stood the hacienda of the Rancho Palomar. ”

“ To live well in Santa Paloma involves heavy expenditures for all sorts of social functions and many a family feels the strain which, however, they would not admit for worlds. The society clique think that everything will be run on even a more gorgeous scale with Mrs. ”

“ Business called us to Palomas for a day. It was settled that we should go in a carriage drawn by a spirited pair of dark mahogany thorough-breds, which had never been known to let anything pass them but a mozo.
Cosme was up betimes on this particular morning. He was more nimble and ready than ever before, in contemplation of the pleasure of an airing in the country. He gave his own characteristic toilet many extra touches. He washed his face and combed his hair, and even borrowed the blacking, in order, as he said: ''Para dar negro a las botas" ("black his boots ") . ”

“ Sweet Pamela, that head is stricken off, where only wisdom might be spoken withal; that body is destroyed, which was the living book of virtue. Dear Pamela, how hast thou left me to all wretchedness and misery? yet while thou livedst, in thee I breathed, of thee I hoped. O Pamela, how much did I for thy excellency honour thee more than my mother, and love thee more than myself! never more shall I lie with thee; never more shall we bathe in the pleasant river together; never more shall I see thee in thy shepherds’ apparel. ”

“ How tall and beautiful thou art grown! Verily, it is worth while to become blind for five years to see one's daughter matured thus! Now that I see daylight again, it is only right that I should no longer be a burden to thee. I shall work for myself, for as for thee it is already time for thee to marry."
"For this very purpose am I come," broke in at this opportune moment the silent sword-cutler; "I, as you will have already recognized by my voice, am your neighbor, Master Palomo. I love Maria, and ask you for her hand." ”

“ Pamela, child, I’ve set my heart on the saffron head. I vow and protest those gold ospreys [193] with the cluster of saffron roses and the little wreath of green leaves between, I vow and protest ’tis the very dream to go with my India gold-embroidered gown. ’Tis there on the bed, my dear, as fine as a cobweb! There’ll not be another like it in the room. And there’s never anything so elegant as white and gold of a hot night. With my dark eyes, Pamela, and the gold ospreys—oh, but the gold ospreys, so airy, so fly-away! And Her Majesty who will not even tolerate feathers! ”

“ Pamela saw the square tower of the little church silver and black against the sky. A lump rose in her throat. For the first and only time that night a burst of hysterical weeping threatened to overwhelm her.
“I’m lost,” she said to herself, “if I don’t keep brave. If I don’t keep my head, I’m lost.”
No strong soul ever cries vainly on courage. The anguish passed, her spirit rose.
“Sir Jasper Standish,” said she, “why are you running away with me? ”

“ The moonlight flooded the road, hedges and trees sparkled and shimmered white as diamonds. The sky was one mighty sapphire, darkly, wonderfully blue. The stars, fainting in the moonlight, looked like the thousand facets of a jewel.
“Oh,” cried Pamela again, “I’ll make a head out of it for the opera, I will indeed! Sapphire blue ribbands and frosted silver feathers. ’Tis an inspiration.”
This gave Sir Jasper his opening.
“Why,” said he, “’tis a monstrous pity such a monstrous fine girl as you should have to work for her living. ”

“ Turn and come with me, I say. Let us away under the trees, where we can talk by ourselves. Pamela, dearest Pamela, take my arm. You [199] are more lovely than ever, and I am—I am more headlong in love than ever I was before!”
There was too great a flutter in the girl’s soul for her to have her usual cool grip of the situation. An overwhelming tide of happiness lifted her from her mental balance. She could not doubt that, after all these months, it must be a genuine love that lit up his glance, that trembled in his voice and in his touch She had proved to him, surely, what kind of girl she was. ”

“ Milliners, unlike Oracles and Sybils, have each their personal human span with its joys and fears, pleasures, pains and triumphs. Pamela’s romance ran like a cherry-coloured thread through the warp and woof of those other existences, so far above her, in which her profession had involved her. To show the whole pattern, light and dark, sparkling and deep-hued, flowered, dotted, arabesqued, of this brocade of earthly life, the poor Modiste must assume as important a place as that of her clientele. ”

“ Pamela had come back. Indeed, at the end of all her perplexities and conjectures, to the belief born of her new love, that somehow the world would right itself, that somehow in a short while she would hear whispered upon the wind, answered by the ripples of the sea, and confirmed by the one voice she longed to hear, the sentinel's cry, "All's well." ”

“ The first winter was a trying one, and Pamela found London, after Paris, a cruel, ugly place; a cruel cold one, and a cruel hard one. When the summer came, existence might be easier, but the hours were longer with the daylight, and there were nights when even Pamela’s high heart gave way, and she would drop on her pallet bed almost too exhausted to sleep. She had grown thin, and there was a certain fierceness in the fire of her bright grey [61] eyes, as if they looked on all humanity as an enemy, by that July 16th, 1789, when my Lady Kilcroney’s woman wrote for the “blew feathers.” ”

“ That the Penance which Pamela suffers from Lady Davers might be shorten’d: That she is too timorous after owning her Marriage to that Lady, and ought to have a little more Spirit, and get away sooner out at the Window, or call her own Servants to protect, and carry her to her Husband’s Appointment.
5. That Females are too apt to be struck with Images of Beauty; and that the Passage where the Gentleman is said to span the Waist of Pamela with his Hand, is enough to ruin a Nation of Women by Tight-lacing. ”

“ She dropped a profound curtsy as the Prince appeared, followed by Mr. Sheridan and that other gentleman whom Pamela supposed to be the equerry-in-waiting.
“Forgive me, sir,” her voice was low and tired, and it struck Pamela that something had gone out of it—the fire and thrill and youthful pathos that had made it every moment an appeal—“that you should have such a poor reception. Since I was not prepared for the honour, since it was your pleasure to surprise me by this favour, I must beg you to take me as I am. There are no servants here to-night.” ”

“ Under a high moon, and a sky full of stars they [253] presently discussed plans that seemed to Pamela to combine the bliss of Eden with the practicality of a work-a-day world.
“I’ll not give up my business, sir! I’ll never pretend to be other than I am. No false lady airs for me!”
“You wouldn’t be Pamela if there were. You shall do exactly what you like! But I’m going to work too. Indeed, my dearest girl, I will! And we’ll have that cottage somewhere in the green, not too far but what you can get the coach of a morning.” ”