Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-01-25

"And Senior JoaoP" said the Admi-
raj, after {, brief pause, his countenance
indicating the interest with which the
narration had inspired him.
"He went abroad shortly after
wards" said Mr.. Carston, sand has
never returned. Since the death of
Senhof-Ramon twas found bhathe had
been sending his fortune abroad secret
ly, but with the utmost diligence and
energy. There was much, however,
which could notreadily beconverted and
which he was compelled to leave, for,to
tell the truth, Rio became a very disa-
greeable place foTshim to live in after
the occurrences which I have related
to you. There have been occasional
rumors of his death, and suchfproperty
as he has left has been claimed at law
by a free negro woman. who asserts
herself as his mother, and who is GER
tainly hideous enoughto lend a. color
of plausibily to her claim"
This was substantially all of the story
which Mr.. Carston could tell us, and
after a buzz of eolloquy, in which I no.
ticed that the silent and wan Father
Petre took no part, the company broke
up and dispersed. I accompanied the
latter to the beach, where I babe him
farewell, and watched his receding boat
till it became but a spot upon the moon
lit water.
On the following day, in company
with my host and hostess, I went to the
Church of the Candelaria, where d num-
Der of d~evotees, some of them of suffi-
Gent social rank to inspire a high de-
gree of curiosity and attention, were to
take the black veil. We went early,
and attained a favorable place near the
high altar, where, among the officiating
priests, we saw Father Petre, clad in
his ecclesiastical robes, looking very
pale and troubled, as he watched the
advancing line of black figures which
came slowly up the aisle, each bearing
in his hand a taper, and each attended
on either side by members of the re-
ligious sisterhoOd among whom they
had spent the years of their probation.
AS they neared the altar [ saw among
them n face of exceeding loneliness,
but mournful and Woe-stricken beneath
it's weeds, with troubled eyes, as of
some orlorn, lost creature supplicating
help, of which it was nevertheless hope
less. But as her look fell upon the face
of Father Petre, which was cold and
immovable as marble, though it, too,
wore an expression of anguish beyond
the power of words to describe, her own
lit with a sudden Light, and, with a cry
that sounded above the reverberations of
the organ she threw her taper upon the
pavement and advancing to where he
stood sought to cast her arms about
his nonl- on ofTnrt ryhiah u-ac Z hua rfnS
by the alarmed and confused ecclesias-
tics and acolytes to whom such an oc-
currence beneath the very blaze of the
high altar, with it's throned Madonna
glittering with gems and bright raj
ment, vas as terrifying as If the very
veil of the temple had been rem in sun
der, N as if the arches above them had
been rocked by an earthquake. So re-
pulsed, the unhappy and obviously de-
ranged young postulent, standing in
the midst of the clear light reflected
from the double rows of gigantic can
delabra which adorned the altar, began
with an outward aspect of calmness
and determination to tear from her her
black raiment and scatter it's shreds 1t
her feet. She was, of course, at once,
hurried away, the sisters grouping
around her with gestures of sympathy
and alarm, and the organ choir rolling
forth q storm of music as if to drown
in a tumultuous food of melody the
painful Impressions which such an event
must have awakened in the minds
of those who beheld it. There was,
of course, much commotion, and the
ceremonies were hurried through with
all possible dispatch. Extreme curiosi-
ty was evinced concerning the identity
of the unhappy young lady whose reason
had been thus strangely and suddenly
overthrown, but at that time it could
only be learned that she had for a num-
Der of years been apostulant at the
nunnery of the Adjuda and that her
name and family were unknown even
to the sisters of that foundation. 1t
was subsequently ascertained that she
had come thither from the Convent of
the Tho do G~obernador, but both her.
self and Father Petre were dead before
it became publicly known that she was
the daughter of Senior Ramon, the
midnight fugitive, who had fled
from the terrible advances of Senior
Joao and sought a desperate and
terrified refuge beneath the midnight
waters. She had been providentially
rescued by Father Petre, who was re-
turning to his cloister from a visit to a
neighboring island, whittier he had
been summoned to perform some ur-
gent priestly office, and conveyed in his
boat to the Island of the Governors,
where she was placed in charge of the
lady superior of the convent, to whom
alone was confded the secret of her
history, that with her recovery she had
loved her preserver and he had loved
her with a love as intense, and as the
future showed, as ill-starred as that of
Abelard and Heloise. When it seemed
as if his earthly passion was about
to lead him to abjure his
sacred VOWS, the knowledge
came to him through afellow-priest who
had been the confessor of Senior Ra-
mon, that between himself and Carita
there existed q close tie of consanguin-
ity. Both were the children Of the same