Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-01-25

the Empire, and an honored parsonage
in the gaustere and exclusive society of
the Capital. The singular intimacy
which sprang up between the Senior
Joao-coarse, unlettered, misshapen,
maimea-and therefined and fastidious
Senior Ramon Esquiros naturally at
traeted-attention, and was the cause of
not a few friendly remonstrances and
WARNINGS. But they were of little avail.
The joint operations of Seniors Es-
quiros and Joao increased IN magnitude
and importance; they shared the own
ership of sugar-milfs and plantations
in the province of Entire Rios; theyzex-
tended their operations to the
Amazon, where they were con-
cerned jim the production of India
rubber; they projected railroads from
the coast to the coffee-plantations Of
St. Patllo and were meditating the es-
Enlistment of a bank, the charter OF
which had been applied for and its list
of directors named. 4 AT this point of
time the Senior Ramon EsQuiros was
found n morning lying upon the floor
of his sleeping apartment In his house
upon the Catete shot through the heart.
A small pistol identified as his own lay
near him, and after due inquiry his
death was ascribed to suicide. The in
vestigation of his affairs, which took
place Immediately after his funeral, dis
clesed,a sufficient motive for the act.
His extensive estate was found to be al
most entirely wasted, and it seemed to
have passed bodily into the hands of
Senior JoaO. Nor could the regularity
of the proceedings of the latter be inn
peached. All seemed according to the
established usages of business, and
though the aversion and hatred felt
towards Senior Jeao were, If any
thing, increased, nothing came of them
except that he was cursed more vigOr-
ously than ever on Change, and that
more people than ever crossed the Rue
Direita or the Rue d'Ouvidor rather
than meet face to face q parsonage so
dreaded and detested.
"Among the properties which be-
longed to Senior Ramon and which af-
ter his death came by right of mort
gage to Senior Joao was a plantation
with about forty slaves, near Teresopo-
lis, a mountain town, almost within
sight of the capital. Among the latter
was a young girl of eighteen, a natural
daughter of Senior Ramon, to whom
he had given his name and whom he
had had educated with the utmost care
at Lisbon and later at Paris. She had
but recently returned from Europe, and
her first knowledge that she was a slave
and not the legitimate daughter of her
father came to her after his death and
from the horrible lips of her new own
er. There were many of the friends Of
DON Ramon who were aware of his in
tcrtiOns toward Carita and who were
determined that she should be rescued
from the possession of Senior Joao,
and to this end a sum of money was
subscribed among them, and Senior
Joao plainly informed that he might
name his price for Carita, and it should
be paid, but if ill befel her he should
answer it. Within q day Or two she
had disappeared from the Teresopolis
Plantation, and no trace of her was to
be found. Senior Joao professed per-
feet ignorance of her whereabouts, and
it is known that at the time of her dis
appearance he was himself in the city.
This was about the middle of Deem
Der. The search for her continued for
some time, but it was at length con
jectured that, terrified by the prospect
of passing into the possession of such
an owner, she had in some unknown
manner, made good her escape"
Thus far Mr.. Carston had proceeded
with the story of the Seniors Joao and
Ramon, when the deepening twilight
made it necessary to light up the porch,
and this was done by hanging rows of
paper lanterns of Chinese pattern ON
either side, and a constellation of them
above the table. Their soft light shone
upon the faces of the guests, which in
the gathering gloom had faded into in
distinctness, and revealed the interest
with which each had followed the mar
ration. When the illumination was
completed, Mr.. Carston resumed:
"The villa over yonder which is now
deserted and going to ruin, was of
the summer-houses of Senior Ramon,
and n of the portions of his estate
which came into the hands of Senior
Joao. 1t had been for some time unoc-
cupied, out shortly before Christmas six
years ago-the year of the occurrences
| am relating to you-the neighbors
GuouSht tucy oiSCUfcIcu dOOuG III SOu1e
obscure signs of h%abitation. On Christ
mas night at midnight, just as the bells
of the convent had ceased ringing, the
whole island vas startled by a C
sion of piercing shrieks. 1t was a wom-
ans voice, apparently in the extremity
of terror. Some boatmen returning
from the city affirmed that, coincidently
with the shrieks, they had seen by the
moonlight a figure in white leaping from
the rock which juts into the water yon-
der; and this statement was further con-
roborated by the discovery the next
morning of the tracks of tiny bare feet
leading through the sand from the villa
to the rock. One of the windows too,
was shattered, and it was believed to
be through this that the fugitive made
her escape. 1t was at once surmised
that Senior Joao had caused Carita to
be brought secretly to the deserted
fazenda, which had been his fathers,
and that after the anxious interest in
his disappearance had, in some degree,