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Updated: June 27, 2025
The lonely ranch-house, old, and strong as a fort, girt round by tall cañon walls, nestled in a grassy open place; and not a comfort had been denied the woman there. For Gloria Ramero, Ferdinand's wife, had governed that. And Eloise had entered there to stay. This much was clear enough.
She cannot do it, as you know. I must do it for her now. I come here to claim what it is my duty to protect." At these words the crouching figure sprang up and Ferdinand Ramero, his steel-blue eyes blazing, came forward with cat-like softness. But the sturdy little man before the priest stood, hat in hand, undisturbed by any presence there.
You dare not follow me to the States, but I dare to come to your land. Can you meet me here?" Jondo was handsome in his sunny moods. In his anger he was splendid. Ferdinand Ramero dropped to a seat beside Father Josef. "I have told you I cannot face that man. I will stay here now," he said, in a low voice to the priest.
"Not until the death of her mother " Ferdinand Ramero broke in, hoarsely. For the first time to-day the priest's cheek paled, but his voice was unbroken as he continued: "I would have been kinder for your own sake. You desire otherwise. Yes, only after the death of Mary Marchland St. Vrain could you dictate concerning her daughter's affairs, with most questionable legality even then.
Ramero tried to draw away, fear, and hate, and the old dominant will that ruled his life, strong still in death. As he lay at the feet of the man whose life hopes he had blasted, he expected no mercy and asked for none. "You have me at last. I didn't put the poison in that spring. I would not have drunk it if I had. It was the one below I fixed for you. And I'm in your power now.
And lastly, good Father, he has no right to the child that he claims is here." "To the child that is here, asleep beside our sacred altar," Father Josef said, sternly. Ferdinand Ramero turned upon the priest fiercely. "Even the Church might go too far," he muttered, threateningly. "It might, but it never has," the holy man agreed.
It was Ferdinand Ramero who spoke, his sharp, bitter voice filling the church. "By order of this priest Eloise St. Vrain is yours to protect so long as you stay within these walls. The minute you leave them you reckon with me." Father Josef whirled about quickly, but the man made a scoffing gesture. "I brought this child here for protection this morning.
What keeps this Ramero in Santa Fé, if he is there?" "I keep him there. It's safer to know just where a man like that is. So I put a ring around the town and left him inside of it." Jondo paused and turned toward me. "Yonder comes Banney to go on guard now. Gail, I'll tell you all about it some day. I couldn't on a night like this." The deep voice sent a shiver through me.
"It was Paradise lost," Beverly declared, "and Satan falling clear to hell before the Archangel's flaming sword. Only he went east and the real Satan dropped down to his place. But they will meet up somewhere, Ramero and the real one, and not be able to tell each other apart." And Jondo. My boyhood idol, brave, gentle, unselfish, able everywhere!
You know just enough to be good to yourselves. You don't think much about anybody else," Jondo said, with a smile. "I think of others, Jondo, and for that reason I want you to tell me that story about Ferdinand Ramero that you promised to tell me one night back on the trail." Jondo gave a start. "I'd like to forget that man, not talk about him," he replied.
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