United States or Mongolia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Why, you have not changed a hair! It might have been but yesterday that you left us." "And you, Doña Fernandez are still the charming, handsome mistress of the Posada de las Estrellas to whom all men are irresistibly drawn." "Flatterer!" retorted Señora, laughing gayly and blushing like a girl of sixteen. How sweet it was to hear such words from a handsome Caballero like Don Felipe!
His prayers had been answered richly and abundantly, far beyond anything his imagination had pictured during those long years of waiting. The Posada de las Estrellas was situated on the western side of the town within a stone's throw of Padre Antonio's house. It stood well back from the highroad from which it was screened by a thick hedge-like growth of cedar, manzanita, tamarisk and lilac bushes.
"The poor fellow must be suffering all kinds of torture," she said as Norton reined in with her. "Let's hurry." He offered no answer as they clattered out of San Juan and turned out across the level lands toward Las Estrellas. So, as upon another night when speeding upon a similar errand, they rode for a long time in silence.
She was just seeking to understand how this latest incident might simplify or make more complex her problem. "I've had my suspicions all along," he laughed evilly. "To-night I followed and made sure. And now, my fine little white dove, what have you to say for yourself?" Might she use Patten? She was but now on her way to Las Estrellas for aid.
Then, abruptly, in a patch of tall mesquite, Norton reined in his horse and stopped. "You understand why I must leave you here," he said. "Yonder, beyond those trees straight ahead . . . you will see it from that little ridge . . . is Las Estrellas, a town of a dozen houses. But before you get there you will come to the house where old Ramorez, a half-breed, lives.
The thin curved sliver of silver thrusting up over the edge of the world in the east, ghostly and pale, added little to the throbbing gleam of the stars; but the waiting for it had put Las Estrellas a mile behind them, had set them alone together out in the heart of the silences, had given them that last excuse to be had to set back an evil moment.
As she left the hotel her thoughts were in chaos; she was caught in a fearsome labyrinth whence there appeared no escape. Now, though no way out suggested itself, still the stars were shining. At last the twinkling lights of Las Estrellas, seeming at first fallen stars caught in the mesquite branches, swam into view.
Sometimes they bring in the stars thus: A lua esta sahindo, Mai, Mai! A lua esta sahindo, Mai, Mai! As sete estrellas estao chorando, Mai, Mai! Por s'acharem desamparados, Mai, Mai! The moon is rising, Mother, Mother! The moon is rising, Mother, Mother! To find themselves forsaken, Mother, mother!
She was leaving him helpless . . . the thought presented itself that she would have another thing to answer for if one of the many men with such cause to hate him should come upon him thus. Well, that was but one of the more remote chances she must take. There was scant enough likelihood that any one should come here before she could race into Las Estrellas and back.
"Where's Virgie?" "Gone," he informed her, waving his pipe. "On a case to Las Estrellas. I'm waiting for her. Did you want to see her?" Florrie, coming down the veranda to him, giggled. "No," she told him flippantly. "I'm looking for the Emperor of China. I never was so lonesome. . . ." "So'm I," said Elmer. He pushed a chair forward with his foot. "Sit down and we'll wait for her.
Word Of The Day