“Good Lord, Jimmy, is _that_ the marvellous character you've been
talking about!” whispered the New Yorker. “Why, he's just a plain,
ordinary greaser. Nothing lofty about him.”
But Jimmy didn't hear. He was gazing in rapt eagerness over the heads
of the seated throng outside the railing. Sampson leaned forward and
whispered something to the reporter from Dorr's paper. He repeated the
remark, receiving no response the first time. The young fellow's reply,
when it came, was what Sampson, from his vast experience in law courts,
summed up as “totally irrelevant and not pertinent to the case.”
Somewhat annoyed, he turned to Jimmy Dorr. That gentleman's gaze was
fixed, so Sampson followed it. A young woman had taken the seat beside
the prisoner. He could not see her face, but something told him that it
was attractive--and then he was suddenly interested in the way her dark
hair grew about her neck and ears. Dorr was whispering:
“She's the most wonderful thing you ever laid eyes on, Sampy. Wait
till you get a good peek at her face. You'll forget your old Miss
Hill-obeans. She landed here about a month ago, straight from Spain,
where she has been in a convent since she was fourteen. Doesn't speak a
word of English--not a syllable, the reporters say. She--Hey! Sh! What
the devil's the matter with you!”
Sampson had uttered a very audible exclamation. He was staring at her
with widespread, glazed, unbelieving eyes. She had turned to favour the
reporters with a wistful, shy, entrancing “good morning” smile, and he
looked once more upon the face he had never forgotten and would never
forget.
“My God!” he whispered, grasping Dorr's arm in a grip that caused his
friend to wince. “Why, it's--Not a word of English! A month ago! Out of
a convent!” He was babbling weakly. His brain was not working.
“Is it too hot in here for you, old man!” whispered Dorr, alarmed.
“Shall we get out! You look as though--”
“Who is she!” gasped Sampson.
Dorr looked triumphant. “I thought she'd bowl you over. But, my Lord, I
didn't dream she'd give you such a jolt as this. The whole damned
bunch of us has gone mad over her. She's old Rodriguez's daughter--the
Senorita Isabella Consuelo Maria Rodriguez.”
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's The Light that Lies, by George Barr McCutcheon
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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