New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-02
NEW ORLEANS REPUBllOAN, SUNDAY, JANUARY q 1876

.&TU04kOAN, OONOAA,
wounded colonel, he nerved himself to hear
She was not the belle Of the Captain Gen.
eral's late ball. nor of the Cerro. nor yet Of
the Prado, but simply because she had not
appeared ct either, for rumOr said ehe was
singularly and superb1y beautiful. u
seemed sae was from New Orleans, had
made her new acquaintance only among
the foreign residents, had the care OF an
infrm uncle, and felt compelieo 10 oe
always within his call. 1t yop wished to
see her, you must pass her house in the
cool of the evening, and behold her at her
grated window, like, as the pOstical colonel
sad like q dove in cage" >,
cit is worth the trouble every day" said
he. "There are none like her for beauty,
nor for goodness, l dare venture, though
with blase smile" that is a minor con-
sideration."
Her residence was in the Gale del Obs
pO, an ordinary Havauese dwelling, neither
poor nor pretentiOus, tw0-stOries high, OF
concrete, with q square paved court at the
bottom of its covered carriage way, its
drawing room on the ground-foor with win.
d0ws Immediately on the street: protected
by the perpendicular iron grating which
the climate demands instead OF window
sash.
Looking into one of these windows, one
could SEQ that the furnishing of the apart
ment was in Cuban style; large rug in
| the middle of the checkered marble floor,
and ten cane arm-chairs standing around
| its edge. This is notable, as it was rumOred
that the gentleman and his niece had
brought many of the: manners and customs
| of the Estates" with them. All the ap-
| pOintments of the room were costly, and
the vases, pictures and statuettes, which
were plentiful, were gems of art.
| "MOnasteri0 says co." remarked the
| colonel, land there is no deceiving him in
that direction; next to senOritas, statueut es
are his maddest passion. You will know
the place by the very large =aguaq"
| (carriage.way through the housed. There
| Is an empty epsce across the way with q
| few old foundation stones on it, and some
| acacias-'
"Yoa forget" breaks in slender youth,
whose CATER toes turn up marvelOusly,
that Senior jus tiniani Ia building directly
| opposite. Certainly. Monasterio selected
the site and is to be builder as we'll as de-
signer. 1t is to be perfect palace, am
told Senior Justiniani."
The suffering don answered only with his
shoulders, and the young man understood
that he had spoken overbOldly. The don
rose to leave the place. but before he
reached the street he heard two handsome
fellows on the stairway say that 1.-The only
two who had the privilege Of stopping at
her drawing-room window were MoDasterlo
and Simpson, and he knew they meant the
SenOrita Luisa.
.'Ees a fas'-a work a man-MOnaeterio,'
said Don joaquin, in one OF his brighter
moode, to the Englishman. But the Eng
lishman answered only with q surly grunt,
He had come to loathe the architect; for
Monasterio in love-making was little short
of genius, while he, though he trudged
up and down the Gale del Obispo at
broad footed English trot until the very
sparrows knew him, and though he had
Jose to help him, made slow progress.
When the senorita had first landed, Monas-
terio had followed her in q cab las is proper
for Cuban admirers to dol, and had marked
her dwelling. The next evening he had
passed it on the farther side OF the way;
the third evening" he had stood on the cor
ner and drawn forth his handkerchief with
a coy flirt !; on the fourth he had crossed
over and bowed.
He was q handsome man, may be little
light of frame but with clear olive skin,
with bright black eyes, and a harmless boy
ishness OF face that helped to excuse the
superabundant locks which his delicate ar.
fist fingers kept tossing up.
1t was merely the artist, however, not
the neighbOrs called her. favored witha re-
cognition, and it was only when he was the
bearer Uf some lovely bit of
intended for the new house
that he was certain of pleasant evening
chat, t. the chagrin of q score OF persistent |
passers by.
He was as the don said, q rapid work
man. No sooner had the site been finally
chosen, where the heart Of Don Joaquin,
like the ashes of Columbus urned in the
old cathedral was to have dwelling place,
than the crow bars had struck in, and the
harmless little gray lizards that lodged in
aud out among the stones and rubbish to
drink the torrid sunshine, and the yellow
tufted acacias that had planted their feet |
50 happily in the cranniee, were ousted from
their snug homes without writ or apology. |
The old foundations were heaved from their |
beds, spade and mattock ran a six days |
race. and from the quarries came stones |
that made the mighty necks Of the oxen to |
tremble and their sure feet to clip, while the |
leaning from Don JOaquin's |
voiante, said biting things against their |
cruel masters. In ever 50 short time the |
well pleased don saw the new foundations |
ftly laid and as the weeks passed in and |
out, and the beautiful structure began to |
be q reality, he felt, despite the weary men |
ton of the SenOrita de Grijalva, his spirit |
lightened.
His heart seemed little by little to build |
into the stately wall as day after day they !
rose, great stones upon great stones-the |
yellow coral rock that holds the island up, |
and which grows younger and more imper- |
ishable as it grows old and gray. 1t enter |
ed into the halls of marble, into the frescOed |
and took delight in the doors of |
precious wood, the pavements of Italian |
tiles which MonasteriO loved, and all that /
the architects enthusiasm had furnished,
poetical in architecture, Spanish in art, or
rich and Cuban in display.
His trouble fell asleep. Even then, it is
true, it stirred in its slumber; for the very
artisans had caught the name of the senior
ita over the way, seeing MOnast rio and the |
80 often at the window, and
had learned to startle the don with COM
illusions to this or that piece of
bronze work or thing as the SenOrita Luisa's
choice.
Not only so. The Englishman too made
her the burden of frequent conversation
with his friend, and hesped up one more
annoyance upon a hundred earlier by ask
ing at every meeting: "Having you not seen
her vet, Justinianig That's strange: you've
never seen her, though you pass her house
every morning If you would go by some
evening, now"
mo" The Cuban made dark grimace.
You'll SEQ her yet, Justiniani; and mark
you, when you do you'll say you never saw
30 fair woman in your life"
'Ezcept-a one!" said the don, with
slow. imperative bow.
''WelI," said Simpson, await till you see
her. But see here, Justiniani, when you
do, you mustn't steal march on me, you
know"
Even Don Joaquin, plainly vexed, had to
smile.
"Ez eos questione navera 60 to ask-a
no bothy."
"Oh, confound you, l wouldn't trust you
unless you promised cried the Englishman,
whom love had made little silly.