Little did he think that the very fact that he made bold to step out and hold an indignation meeting, like his ancestors, against the “powers that be,” that the cherished skeleton would be brought forth and aired with a result of disaster to his present life, that is, disaster in a certain way. As much as Don Francisco R. Cantu y Falomir hated, or pretended to hate, the Americans and their language, he had now in his employ a poor, but highly educated young American woman, Helen Hinckley. She spoke his language and understood it as perfectly as if it were her native tongue. She had no prejudices against the race from which her employer claimed to have sprung. She rather admired the quaint, old-fashioned customs to which he and his family adhered. She was evidently of strictly American origin. She had no relative, no home, and no money but what she earned. She described herself as a lost spirit roving over the world in search of friends and a permanent abiding-place. That was the only answer she gave herself or anyone else, when questioned why she was alone and in Chihuahua or any other place. She had been in Chihuahua only one night, when she read in the great daily, _The Chihuahuan_, the next morning, the advertisement of her present employer, which stated that he wanted an educated American who understood the Spanish as well as his own tongue, who was quiet and unobtrusive, to act as secretary. He preferred a person with no family ties; and one who would consent to live in his family for a year. Whatever salary such a person required for his services would be forthcoming at the end of each month. When Helen Hinckley walked into the old-fashioned adobe house standing in the center of a large garden, around which was the old-time high adobe wall, and stood in the magnificent _patio_ gazing at the rare flowers, beautiful birds and sparkling fountain, she felt as if she were not a stranger to these very scenes. She was startled and yet made very happy, neither of which feelings could she account for. When shown into the long reception-room she showed her surprise, to see it full of applicants eager to get the position for which she had come to apply. She was about to retire, for she was sorry for these earnest breadwinners, whose only happiness seemed to be in material existence. Besides, she felt intuitively that if she applied, all of those present, who needed the position worse than herself, would go away with a heavy heart, still she lingered in the _patio_. To the left of the room where the many applicants breathlessly waited to know their fate, was the small but well-appointed office of Don Francisco R. Cantu y Falomir, where, one at a time, he examined the applicants.