"That is good, good, good!" exclaimed Madre Moreno. "How didst thou,
Ysidria, come to find our friend Carlos de Soto and he to take thee
home?" and the Madre began to laugh boisterously. "Stay to sup with us
Carlos," she said, when she had enough recovered from her fit of
laughter to speak, "or perhaps thou art afraid of the old witch."
In as few words as possible the accident was explained to Madre Moreno,
and I again lifted her niece and placed her on a lounge in the house.
"The Madre can bring you out all right, if anyone can," I said as I left
the room, "I will take the liberty of inquiring for you in the morning."
As I walked down the path to the gate, I spoke aloud, "What beautiful,
beautiful eyes!"
"Yes, that they are, Master Carlos!" said a voice seemingly beside me. I
turned, the voice sounded like that of the Madre, but no one was to be
seen, however, the large black cat which had followed me, put up her
back to be stroked and purred and rubbed against my leg. As I closed the
gate the same voice sounded again but more faintly. "Beautiful eyes hath
Ysidria; beautiful eyes!"
IV.
When I returned home, Catalina had a hot supper ready, and I sat down,
forgetting, for the moment, the events of the day, in the odour of the
good things on the table.
"What success, Don Carlos, have you found the flowers you were searching
for?"
"Yes, Catalina, I found the plants just where I expected to find them,
and I also found at the old adobe what I did not look for." I then gave
an account of the day, however, making as modest enumeration of the
charms of Madre Moreno's niece, as I was able, for fear of exciting
Catalina's suspicions.
I began to feel that I was much interested in the beautiful Ysidria, and
hated to have old Catalina discover it, for the girls relationship to
the Madre would, I knew, be the cause of much disquiet to the good
woman.
I sat before the door long after supper, building air castles, in all of
which the fair stranger held a place. Her brilliant eyes were always
before my mind, as I had first seen them that afternoon, sometimes of a
deep blue colour, and then in a moment black as jet, when the dilated
pupil covered the iris, and then her pretty smile and graceful form each
had a great and wonderful charm for me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account