Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-12

coward, when the nelgnpornood rnr1neo 70
the fight of Luisa Hare Her do -tood
ajar. and the poor belongings of her stood
| undisturbed in order All the evidence
| pointd to the fact that her fight was volun-
! tary and deliberate, and the popular voice
was unanimous in declaring that her comrade
! must be Nuno, Marquis OF Montes- Claros. It
! was this pair, no doubt, whom the worthy
I goodman had seen stealing away through the
I darkness, and his repentance was keen that
/ he had not followed them, to possess himself
! OF that knowledge Of their movements md
| destination that would nave made him I'M
f! portant among his fellows.
! From that day her old time neighbors
knew naught OF Luisa aaro. save that son1e
one, whose affairs had taken hin to the
suburbs of San Cosme, brought back the
story that he had seen her there, blooming
and with sunptuous accessories, II the bal
| cony of a splendid mansion that was known
to belong to Nontes-Claros.
| Six years after the fight Of Lnisa from her
/ horlely abode in TIE narrow callejuela she
] sat in the Injurious home where Monies
/ Claros had placed her, brooding nournfuily
over her situation. The moonlight streamed
through thu open window and illuminated
her respondent figure. N face and form she
vas more beautiful than On the day she fed
with Monies Claros, but still was she not
beautiful enough TO keep the tickle fancy of
the Spaniard- His attentions and his inter
est had gradually diminished, until the IN
/ happy woman row had bu. too much reason
to consider herself altogether deserted by
him, for whom she had given up all that IS
most dear to women. She had lacked TO
material comfort, it is true, thus far, but this
. was little consolation 70 woman whose
thwarted affection was as strong and unal-
tered as when her passionate heart first
poured ont its ardent incense before her
lover
| She had not seen Monies Claros for fort
night, and she was resolved to know the
I worst without further horror Of suspense
and anxiety. She rose and carried the in
FAINT in her arms to an alcove, behind whose
silken curtains lay two older children Sleep
ing. She laid the little one beside It's broth
ers. She shrouded herself in q long, dark,
clinging mantle, left the house, and took her
way to the central streets of the city.
She knew the family mansion of Monies
Claros, and shortly found herself before It.
The windows of the facade were ablaze with
light. and the alarmed watcher saw that the
rooms were full OF g festive throng. Nuno
was there in tae midst OF mis- guests with his
proud, affected mother, and beside them
young girl, tall and handsome, in bridal raj
ment.
The heart of Luisa sank like lead within
her. She plucked by the sleeve a bystander,
gazing like herself through the window.
DO you know, friend, who is the young lady
beside the Senior Marques!"
'Who should it be-" laughed the man she
questioned, "but his novia-the bride he
welded this morning at 10 of the clock in the
Chapel of the Sagrario:"
No word answered Luisa. but neither made
she cutlery, only presently fell back from tho
window, and pushed her way to the open
street through the eager crowd Of onlooke1s
Slowly, mechanically, she held her way,
never Fastening, never pausing, till she
reached the house IN San Cos;ne, and let her.
self in at its great arched entrance, and into
her own chamber. An antique Golfer stood
there, an ancient cedar chest with Mauresuue
decoration brought over from Spain by the
family of Iontes-Claros. In it Nuno had
been wont to deposit, while he yet frequented
the dwelling, such odds and ends as fancy
ing he might buy on the way out thither or
matters in his possession at the moment that
he found cumbrous.
Still under the spell of that awful, deadly
quiet, Tulsa opened the old chest, and took
from it dagger, a curious jeweled weapon,
that Nuno had tossed down long months
since, and forgotten, though its memory had
lived in the fevered brain of the woman.
Still lighted by the pallid, CHASTITY NOON
beams, she went to the alcove where her little
ones lay sleeping and drew aside the curtains
Your father has forsaken us, my darling
ones, and your mother would fam preserve
you from the miseries that await you. To
God recommend your innocent spirits"
Then, one by one, slowly, surely, fatally,
she thrust the dagger into the bosom of each
tender little body.
Only when the blood welled darby up,
staining the white night raiment, did the
wretched mother seem to realize her dreadful
doing She gazed moment at the heart
rending vision, and then ran forth into the
streets, uttering those frightful walls that
for 500 years have continued to echo in the
streets of Mexico at varying hours and
seasons-when the soul in penance can no
longer endure its torture, go the devout say.
AS the wailing woman ran that night her
cries aroused the city, and SHE was captured
and recognized, when the dagger she still
clutched and her blood stained raiment told
the trapic story and gave the clew to discov-
cry of her victims There was no penalty
for mans inhunanity to woman in the Mex
leo of those days any more than in the pres
ent, and the poor, distracted instrument of
crime paid all the temporal penalty in this
case, while the actual murderer, In fact,
rather gained popularity.
During her Imprisonment and trial Luisa
maintained helpless, hopeless silence. She
failed and faded day by day, and when at
last arrived the hour OF execution she was
unable to walk up the steps OF the scaffoid,
and, not from fright, but sheer weakness, she
became senseless il the arms of her bearers.
The execution proceeded but the decree OF
the law WIS done on q corpse, for ere the
halter touched her Luiss Haro was lifeless.
And however justice had miscsrTied N
the hands of human authority, the reiribri-
ton OF heaven proved direct and active; for
on that very Nay day, when the woman who
had trusted him went TO the doom of felor,
Nu1.o, MARQUIS Of Montes-C laros, was buried,
having died ere his honeymoon was over.
And now, centuries after it. it is told that
whenever appears the Waiting Woman the
following morning sees the flowers on the
tomb of Mo1tes-C iaros withered, scared. and
and the earth upon IL dank and ncisone, -
IL il were drenched and soaked with blood
Y. Il. Adds in Tie Argonaut.