Higher, higher, higher climb, Up and down the valley, Flowery racemes in the prime, Up and down their valley: Giantesque; Sure from such a little seed Never sprang so huge a weed! Malva, primrose, sunflower, all, Up and down the valley; (Thou'rt so fair,) Glints and sparkles with thy bloom, Flouted, routed, trampled now, Yet thy grains By the road-sides grow apace Mourning not thy broken sway What care I if most despise? Still thy beauty to mine eyes Ne'er doth find its fellow. Augusta E. Towner. Florencia fulfilled her mission well-recalling skillfully to the minds of the elder gossips the events and doubts of years agone; arousing suspicions, light as air, which perhaps had once menaced the fair name and fame of her who later had been revered as a saint under the name of Sister Veronica. It was natural after the excitement of Pedro's disappearance had subsided, that reminiscences of events in which he had figured should, in default of some new interest, rise to the stagnant surface of hacienda life, and be re-colored and adorned with suggestions, probable or improbable; and that the favorite topic should be torn to shreds in its dissection, while the motive power of its appearance should in the excitement of discussion be utterly lost sight of. Florencia, herself, in the interest of tracing the sequence of events, and in hearing attributed to the characters that had figured in her girlhood traits and deeds of which she had heard little or nothing at the time, time, almost forgot that she was talking with a purpose; and therefore, perhaps, had a truly unprejudiced account. to give to Chinita-when she could again see her, for Doña Isabel had become a wary duenna, and the girl had no opportunity of learning aught that might throw light upon the theory she had formed of her birth and parentage. In his insufficient knowledge of the language, Ashley Ward let much of the gossip of the women, who chatted about him as they performed their daily tasks, pass entirely unheeded, while he pondered upon the very subjects which, with more or less directness, were discussed. But one morn ing he caught the name of Herlinda, and thenceforth all his senses were alert. So great was his surprise when he discovered this to be the name of a daughter of Doña Isabel, who had been a beautiful girl when the American was killed, that thenceforward his mind became preternaturally keen; he divined the meanings of words he had never heard before-gestures, glances, the very inflection of a tone, became revelations to him. Hitherto he had, without cogitating upon the matter, naturally assumed from hearing. no reference to another, that the newly married Carmen was the only child of Doña Isabel. Now he learned the tragical fate of Norberto and the existence of the elder and more beautiful daughter, Herlinda, the cloistered nun; and she was for the time the theme of endless reminiscences and conjectures. Her winsome childhood; her early gayety and incomparable beauty; the open love of Gonzales; the suspected mutual attachment of the young American and the daring child, who with her mother's pride had failed to inherit her mother's strength of will; the murder of John Ashley; the time of the great sickness; the death of Mademoiselle La Croix; the effect of the shock and horror upon the mind and appearance of Herlinda; the portrayal in heavier shades of faint suspicions, which had floated over the name and fame of the daughter of a house too absolute in its ascendency and power to be lightly attacked; her removal from the hacienda; her strange rejection of the suit of one who had always been dear to her, and to whom her mother, in accordance with good and seemly usage, had pledged her; her forswearal of the world she had loved, and entrance to a convent, which she had held in horror:— all this was discussed from a dozen points of view. And all he heard confirmed in Ashley's mind the belief that the woman whom his cousin had loved was found; that whether she had been his wife or no, the daughter of a woman whom it would be a mortal offence to approach upon such a subject was the possible mother of a child which he could scarcely refuse to believe existed. Though here a new perplexity confronted him, as--like the young officer, whom he regarded with a half contemptuous amusement that should have prevented him from following any example set by so lovelorn at cavalier he began to seek occasion for observing Chinita with an intensity that made. her doubly the object of the jealous and ireful dislike of Carlota and her mother. That the girl, though not positively beautiful, possessed a bewitching and bewildering grace, far different from any he had ever beheld in woman, of whatever race or kindred, impressed him daily more and more deeply, while-But stubborn facts made. speculation and efforts at inquiry alike futile. As days passed on, a certain friendship sprang up between himself and Don Rafael. They talked for hours over the political situation, Ashley straining ear and mind to comprehend the Administrador's smooth and impressive utterances, and Don Rafael, with grave politeness, listening without smile or gesture of amusement to the hesitating, and often utterly incomprehensible attempts of the young American to deliver his opinions, or make minute inquiry into reasons and events which often horrified as well as puzzled him. Don Rafael had the air of simplicity and candor, which is so infinitely attractive to the stranger, and which presented so great a contrast to the lofty coldness of Doña Isabel, and the grave and melancholy reticence of Feliz. Their demeanor left the baffling and depressing conviction that there was an infinity that they might reveal, were but the right chord touched; while that of Don Rafael was satisfying in its cordiality, even while no response fulfilled the expectation that his fluent and kindly frankness appeared to invite. As soon as the state of his wound permitted, Ashley joined the Administrador in his early morning rides to the labores and the potrero, and learned much of the workings of a great hacienda. These rides were confined to the immediate neighborhood of the casa grande, and four or six armed men were invariably in attendance; for, as Don Rafael explained with a smile, the administrador of the rich hacienda of Tres Hermanos was invested with the dignity of its possessors, his personal insignificance being absorbed in the state of those he represented, so that his person bore a fictitious value, and if seized by an enemy, either personal or political, would doubtless be held at a prince's ransom, which the honor as well as the interest of his employers would force them to pay. In the course of these rides, they not unfrequently approached the deserted hacienda de beneficio, and it was upon the first occasion that this happened that Don Rafael questioned the young American as to his relationship to the last director; and upon learning it, rehearsed with deep feeling the story of his murder, pointing out the very tree under which the bloody tragedy was enacted. Ashley watched his countenance narrowly as he talked. His words, whose meaning might have been obscure to the foreigner, were rendered dramatic by the deep pathos of his tone and the expressive force of his gestures; even the men who rode behind drew near as his voice rose on the stillness of the air in a tale so foreign to the peace and beauty of the scene. As they skirted the low adobe wall, and looked over upon the stagnant tortas, the piles of upon the broken ores, the adobe sheds and stables, crumbling under rain and sun, Ashley was ready to credit the whispered words with which Don Rafael ended his narration: "Señor, it is said in the silent night, when the moon is at its full, phantoms of its old life revivify this deserted spot, and that its massive gates open at the call of a ghostly rider, who wears the form of that poor youth who after his last midnight ride came back feet foremost, recumbent, silent, from the tryst he had sallied forth to keep." "And did you know the woman?" gasped, rather than demanded, Ashley Ward. "I know the woman?" answered Don Rafael. "I know the woman? I was a stranger, and, truth to tell, no friend of Americans; a faithful husband withal, and was it likely he whould share secrets of a doubtful nature with me? When I said a 'tryst' I used it for want of a better word. What attraction should a man so refined, so engrossed in his affairs, find in the humble and rustic beauties of the village? For my part, I find it impossible to imagine such coarseness, in a man as little likely to be governed by a base passion as Ashley appeared. You know your own people better than I can; what say you "I say the same! answered Ward eagerly, with a keen glance at the sensitive dark face of the Administrador. "Yet I know that my cousin loved, that he claimed to be married; that the lady--” .. He paused some of the men were within hearing, listening like Don Rafael himself, with rapt faces. That of Don Rafael lighted for a moment with an incredulous smile. "Ah, then there was a woman?" he said. "That was but natural; but a marriage? Ah, Señor, if there had been that, all the world would have known. You know but little of our laws, if you suppose such a contract could be here secretly and legally made. If he claimed such to be the case, he was vilely deceived, or himself was-" He stopped at the word, as if fearing to offend. To urge the matter further seemed to Ashley worse than useless. He had learned enough of marriage laws in Mexico to feel that to mention the name of Herlinda Garcia in connection with that of Ashley was to cast upon it a slur such as could but bring upon him the resentment, and perhaps the revenge, of the family to which he was probably indebted for his very life, and certainly for a hospitality that merited respect for its liberality, if not gratitude for its warmth. he "I shall never learn the truth," thought; "and why, indeed, should I seek it? My aunt was wise in her generation. Though ignorant of the possibilities or impossibilities of Mexican society and character, she wisely refrained from problems which its keenness and honor ignored, or left unsolved. I will go back again in content to my houses and lands, to my silver and gold: I am despoiling no legitimate heir; and to imagine the existence of any other is an offense either to my cousin's intelligence or honor, and to the chastity of a woman whom even in thought I must be a villain to asperse. Let but a momentary quiet come that I may be able to obtain the requisite funds, and I will abandon this senseless quest, and leave my murdered cousin to rest in peace in his forgotten grave, in this land of violence and mysteries." This was the resolve of one hour-to be broken in the next, as the sight of a girl's face, or the sound of her voice, like a disturbing conscience, assured him that in absence the doubt, or rather the tantalizing. certainty, would each day torment him more and more, and so make enjoyment of his wealth even more impossible than it had been when Mary's sensitive imaginings had urged him upon his Quixotic errand. Trivial and even ridiculous things often divert minds most harassed and burdened, and exert an influence when great and weighty matters would benumb or torture. It would have been impossible for Ashley Ward, in the embarrassment of his situation (for his funds in the City of Mexico were entirely cut off by its investment by the Liberals) and in the perplexity of his thoughts, to have entered with enjoyment upon any festivity or pleasure requiring exertion either of body or mind; but he was, quite unconsciously to himself, in the mood to idly view the little comedy which was enacted more and more before his eyes -just as in seasons of deepest grief and anxiety one may seek mechanical employment for the eye, and relief for the brain, in the perusal of a tale so light that neither the strain of a nerve or a thought, nor the excitement of pleasure or pain, shall awaken emotion, or burden memory. Fernando Ruiz was too wily a youth, too courteous, too kind, to throw off at once the semblance of devotion to a goddess who had lured him to a shrine that held a divinity whose charms, in his inconstant sight, so far surpassed her own, that he could. not choose but transfer his worship, even were it but to be disdained and rejected. In the decorous visits he made to Doña Rita, and when they met at table, he would still sigh, and cast despairing glances at the bridling Carlota; who, but that she intercepted others more fervent still, directed towards the upper end of the board, where Doña Isabel and Chinita sat in lonely state, would have believed quite true the tale with which her mother strove to console her-using such feeble prevarication as is usual in Mexican families when ill news is to be ultimately communicated, in the fond hope of softening a blow, which doubt and procrastination can but cause to be the more nervously dreaded. But well was she convinced that though Ruiz held daily conferences with her father, and even once or more was honored by a few moments' speech with Doña Isabel, it was not of her or of love that they spoke; and with a philosophic determination to replace with a more faithful lover the fickle admirer whom she could cease to love, but would never forgive, she began to turn a shoulder upon the recreant soldier, and her smiles upon the stranger. Ward was perhaps singularly free from vanity, or too much absorbed to notice the honor paid him; but with a sense of angry surprise he became aware that Chinita no longer ignored the existence of the persistent languisher, who at early morning paced the court in trim riding suit of leather, a gay serape thrown negligently over his left shoulder, his wide brimmed hat poised at the angle whence he could see the door of her room open, and Chinita rival the sun in dazzling his enchanted eyes. At noon he stood in the selfsame spot,in gay uniform, from which, by some miraculous process, all stain and grime had disappeared. And not unfrequently at evening he reappeared in the holiday dress of some dependiente, who for the time had loaned his jacket of black velvet, trimmed with silver buttons, or his chaparraras of stamped leather, and faja of scarlet silk, well pleased to fancy he was represented by the lithe young officer, who filled them with a grace that made them thenceforth of treble value in the owner's eyes. This masquerade might have continued indefinitely-for Ruiz no sooner tired of changing fine clothes than of descanting to Ashley of his sudden but undying passion for the young Chinita, whose fortunes he conceived, as the favored of Doña Isabel Garcia, would be as brilliant as her charms -but that first, one by one, then in twos and threes, in tens and dozens, men flocked. into the adjacent villages; and though reluctant to be torn from gentler pursuits, and yet with pride to find himself in a position to form and command a regiment, he set to the task of bringing order out of the wild and discordant elements-a task for which |