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There was hair of every shade of brown, looped over the ears, drawn high and confined by the high comb and the long pins; and Rafaella Sal, with her red hair and gray eyes, was still celebrated as a beauty, although no longer in her first youth she was twenty-two, and should have been a matron and mother long since!
"This Rafaella, then, was the Count's daughter?" "His only child, a girl lovely and gracious beyond rivalry." "Oh, of course, beyond rivalry. Are not all only daughters lovely and perfect when once they are dead?" she replied with a bitter smile. "They have their legend, their cult, and usually a flattering portrait. I am surprised that Rafaella's is not here.
Concha, alone, wore no color; her frock was white, her mantilla black. She stood somewhat apart, but although she was pale she commanded her eyes to dwell absently on the shifting sand far down the valley, her haughty Spanish profile betraying nothing of the despair in her soul. "Yes, Concha has always been too fortunate," repeated Rafaella.
The portrait of our Rafaella, Cristoforo, the portrait we have so long desired, is at last to be given to us!" I heard a chair move, and a slow footstep. Cristoforo appeared, with white hair and black moustache, his tall figure buttoned up in an old-fashioned frockcoat, the petrified, mummified remains of a once handsome man. He walked up to me, took both my hands and shook them ceremoniously.
When I told her you might tear them down, she vowed that if you did she would dance all night with the Bostonian." Luis lifted his shoulders and mustache to express an attitude of contemptuous resignation, but his face darkened, and a moment later he left the room and strolled up the square to the grating of Rafaella Sal.
"I will release you if you are tired, but otherwise I shall do myself the honor to waltz with your friend later." "I must look after my other guests," she said coldly; and he was led with what grace he could summon to the fair but sulky Rafaella. "How am I to help flirting with that girl?" he thought as he mechanically guided another light and graceful partner through the crowded room.
Behind her rode Concha, in white with a pink reboso; Rafaella Sal, Carolina Xime'no, Herminia Lopez, Delfina Rivera, the only other girls at the Presidio old enough to grace such an occasion; Sturgis, who happened to have spent the night at the Presidio, Gervasio, Santiago and Lieutenant Rivera.
But if you would be kind enough to tell Monsieur Charnot how sorry I have been for it, you would relieve me of a burden." I saw her eyes fixed upon me for a moment with a look of attention not previously granted to me. She seemed pleased. "With all my heart," she said. There was a moment's silence. "Was this Rafaella, whose story you have told me, worthy of your friend's long regret?"
Besides what more wise than to flaunt our flag in the face of the Russian bear? Their flag, of course, is a mere idle compliment. Let me tell you two things, Luis mio: this morning I invited the Russians to dance to-night, and told Padre Abella to ask all our neighbors of the Mission besides; and Rafaella Sal helped me to drape every one of those flags.
But if you would be kind enough to tell Monsieur Charnot how sorry I have been for it, you would relieve me of a burden." I saw her eyes fixed upon me for a moment with a look of attention not previously granted to me. She seemed pleased. "With all my heart," she said. There was a moment's silence. "Was this Rafaella, whose story you have told me, worthy of your friend's long regret?"
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