Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-08-28
CHLOE.

There was a great noise! Shouts-hoarse.
shrill, sweet, harshl The deep bass OF
young men; the feeble quavering of old
ones; the silvery tones of women; the high
falsetto of children; all mingling in delight
and exultation, and without a shadow o1
pity fos the miserable wretches whose lives
were passing slowly out of their mangled
bodies through a score of wounds. The
late afternoon sun beat down holly on
thousands of heads, save where on one side
friendly walls afforded shelter from its
rays. In the great open arena-the sky its
only canopy-a haze of dust, with the
heavy vapors always attendant upon a vast
conconrse 1t people, made the atmosphere
so hard to breathe that the multitude
gasped with the effort between its shouts.
Fans waved in a thousand bejeweled
hands, but the artificial current of air thus
created was hardly perceptible. 1t was
hot-steamily hot. and anything but a
Mexican audience, which had just wit
messed the slaughter of one of the ferccst
and gamest bulls that ever put matadol
in deadly peril, would long ago have left
the building.
neatly he found the heart with one plunge
below the shoulder. He handles his sword
like master, Ell, senor?" said a dark Wis.
aged, powerfully built Mexican, as he
famed himself with his large sombrero,
and looked in the face of quiet looking,
we'll dressed man at his side.
eyes. He is a skillful swordsman, I'M.
doubleday" was the reply of the well
in icf 10, al nj how
accents.
And then the carcasses of the wretched
horses killed under the picadors, together
with that of the bull which had furnished
most of the entertainment, having been
raked over and smoothed down, the plea
doris, banderillos, chulos and matador,
ready for another fray, filed into the open
space in their gaudy trappings, and, with
cloaks, darts, spears and other accouter-
ments displayed, bowed to the spectators,
took up their respective positions and pre-
pared for the onslaught of the last bull to
be killed that day.
The sport went on. The picadors, on
their old, broken do*n horses, circled
around the miserable bull brought out to
be baited, and leased him into rage, with
ly planted their sharp goads, ornamented
with rosettes, in the bull, until he was
covered with futtering ribbons. The
chulos, with their gaudy cloaks, did their
part in attracting the bulls attention
when the sport waxed dangerously warm
for its tormentors. Then, at last, the dig
nifed matador, red cloak on arm and
long, cruel napier ready for action, ap-
peared, gave the foaming, wearied bull his
coup de grace, received the plaudits of the
audience gracefully and retired as the
building slowly emptied itself.
The well dressed man, With the northern
accent, had sat through the performance
quietly and with the air of one who had
nothing particular to do or he would not
have been there. Sunday bullfghts evil
IDENTIFY interested him but slightly. His
eyes were turned toward the arena, be-
cause from his seat it was easier to look in
that direction than in any other, but any
one could have seen that his thoughts
were far away.
edward Payson," he was saying to him
self, as a scornful smile passed over his
handsome features, "what are you doing
here with that letter in your pocket, show
ing you how foolish you are in putting off
your happiness2 Because you have been
an exile for ten years is it necessary for
you to stay away from home another ten
years, when the one girl you ever loved
beseeches you to return? If she did tell
you then that what you hoped could never
be, can you not believe that she was mis-
taken in her own heart, and that long alb
sence has taught her that she does care fol
your What other construction is to be
put on the words in her letter."
Edward Payson drew letter from his
pocket and looked at it earnestly, just as
the bull in the ring transfxed horse with
one of it's long horns, and buried the other
in the arm of the unlucky picador on his
back. Through all the hubhub of shout
ing that followed this incident, Edward
Payson seemed to witness a scene very diff
ferent from that spread before him. The
letter, with the supercription III q refined
ladylike hand, had awakened a flood of
memories that swept everything present
away.
He saw large, well kept lawn, fringed
by sycamore, maple and oak, with the
bright red of the sumach and the delicate
white of the syringa relieving their somber
shadows He saw the massive architecture
of stone mansion, half hidden by the Vir-
ginia creeper and ivy which chung lovingly
to its rugged walls. He saw the home of a
noble Virginia family, with the simplicity
of republic enriched by the lavish taste
of race still authorized by the College of
heraldry to display shield with sixteen
quarterings. He saw in the distance the
colored laborers working In the fertile
fields. He saw the whole picture In a
golden frame of still summer weather. and
he could almost feel on his cheek the gen
tie breeze from the Rappahannock as it
rolled slowly past on its way to the sea.
The bull had broken away now and was
dashing wildly around on the blood stained
sawdust, with its hot eyes fixed on plea
dor waiting for the attack, while the null
titude howled with excitement.
But Edward Payson paid no heed. He
saw coming out of the front door of the
mansion and surveying him with saucy
SMILE as she stood on the veranda young
girl in her teens, with wealth of chest
nut brown hair glinting in the morning
sun. Her garden hat was swung care
iessly by the ribbons from her hand, and
the brown hair, just stirred by the breeze,
seemed to ripple in harmony with the i'm
pulsiye good nature expressed in her sweet
face The clear cut features, softened by
an utterly unselfsh disposition, were those
of natural aristocrat-the aristocracy
which holds itself above paltry action and
supercilious assumption, because it can
not help it.
He saw the girl run laughingly down
the steps and accept his invitation for
stroll through the trees and shrubbery be-
yond the flower beds and lawn, and then
he saw her face as she told him that sister
ly regard was all that she could ever feel
for him, but that Chloe Payson would
never cease to pray for his welfare as long
as she lived.
81 was a fool" he muttered impatiently,
as the noise accompanying the slaughter
of the bull in the arena awoke him from
his reverie. "If, instead of weakly despair
ing and leaving everybody and everything
in old Virginia to come here among a
strange people, had staid and faced my
fate like a man, who knows"
He moved out of the great, hot amphi-
theater with the letter still in his hand.
The streets were at their gaysst, with all
the action and bright color characteristic
of Mexican city on Eunday afternoon.
Richly dressed ladies, with the lace man
tilla thrown over their dark hair; gentle
men in American cut frock coats and broad
sombreros; female beggars and flower
sellers, each with the inevitable baby fas-
tened to her back by q gay hued roboZo;