Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-27

uOnhoJs Ahto the Guy 70 market, @
household servants, thus early out Z
doors for the daily sweeping of th
streets. One of these drew near from
house across the way, woman of NOR
than middle age, bearing the bundle @
long, jointless straws tied up with
string that make the short, handleles
brooms Of Mexico.
"Senors, your worships summon /,
vain" she said, with somewhat of won
der breaking through the composure O
her bearing; "this house has long bee,
vacant"
Friar Lorenzo turned in sort of rag,
upon her, his meekness overborne by hi,
distress of body and his souls solicitude
"Wouldst say lie, impious one? Srial
priest not know where he has heard
| confession? But it was here, I tell We
Openl openi nor tarry for her prating
lest the crime be done within our very
hearing"
The woman's dark face flushed She
seemed decent body, and her counte.
nance was full of intelligence beyond
the common, as she replied, with protest
as positive as respectful:
'tNsy, his reverence, she were in
deed a bold and irreverent woman who
would dispute the word of Friar Loren
zo-ayel know his fame for holiness.
as who does not among the humble ones
of Mexico? But his reverence is less
young than he once was, and these day
break lights are uncertain, 80 that to
mistake one house for another is easy.
Humbly do assure ye that never once
has this door been opened in the fifty
years that 1 have lived across there, and
my mother, who was FORTRESS before me,
has often said that never in her time
had the house tenant"
"But open! open!" Friar Lorenzo
shouted. Then the officer, impressed in
spite of himself by this strange excite
ment and insistence, bade his men take
up massive viga, or roof beam of cedar,
that lay where some workmen had been
repairing an azotea, and, posing it
among them, the patrolmen again and
again dashed the heavy timber, in the
guise Of battering ram, against the
door leaves, whose heavy planks crashed
londly at the impact; then the bolts
sprung open, and into the zaguan poured
the gathered gazers. No sight or sound
of life greeted the incursion.
Once inside the zaguan it was no hard
matter to shatter the heavy, antiquated
paddock that held the door leading to
the side room; that clumsy defense was
indeed half eaten away with rust and
verdigris, and down from the corners of
the door head swung veritable curtains
of venerable cobwebs, thick and velvety,
the ancient tapestry. The door fell in
ward with crash of rotten, honey
combed wood, and every soul there but
one retreated step or two from the un-
knownness before them. Only Friar
Lorenzo pushed forward, with an eager
ness that vanquished his decrepitude,
and then, from the farther corner, came
his voice:
''Said I not 80? And will ye doubt me
longer, unbelevers? This was the place
indeedl They have taken away the'hap-
less lady; ye must seek her, but the
proof of the place show vel Here it is,
among pile of rubbish, mine own dear
rosary, made Of olive stones from Geth-
semane," and be came forth, as the chief
of the patrol caught cresset from the
hand of huclcster and blow i,.tv a pull
gent blaze it's sluInbering bit of ocoH
(Mexican pitchpine or hghtwood), and
went forward to rake curiosly with his
short sword among the shapeless heap
that the friar had abandoned.
''This rubbish-why, ladsi Here is
wristlet, rings, a great breadth of brocade
incrusted with gold and gems-a collet
Of major diamonds-aye! we have found
a bonanza! and-what Is thisY He
clapped his hand upon long mass,
black as jet in the red light, and with
one swift sweep held it aloft, as high as
his head, whence it fell to the knees of
him. Then he dropped it with gasping
cry of terror. "'1is hair! womans
hair. And-gracious God! See that!
the hair of dead womanp' For, as he
stirred that dense black veil from the
coils and couchings where it had lain for
unknown years, a smallish skull, long
kept in position by its once crown Of
glory, rolled forward and touched his
russell boot. And from the dread crumb-
ling relics now arose a dire odor of NOR
taity, whose warning of dissolution and
decay sent the stout soldiers and their
commander rushing, with one accord,
away from the bones and the diamonds,
hustling the peeping mob before them.
"Aye, Padre Friar Lorenzo!" called
the alcalde; "now, what blessed thing
it is we have a holy man among us!
Father, en- e. nombre de Jesus, Maria
Jose Gin the name of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph), purge and purify us of this
vile contactp and he would have knelt
before Friar Lorenzo; but a sturdy srti-
san, who had just sent his great red cop
per kettle rolling across the dankly
mossed stones of the court as he dropped
it in the effort to catch the sinking fig
ure-this grimy Christian called out:
''Stand backl Give him the good Gods
air, ye doughty soldiers! All, no; 1t
helps notl his eye is fixed, his face is
ashen-his body grows a dead weight.
Aye, senors, see you not that this
sainted Friar Lorenzo is dying, for never
yet lived through the day priest who
confessed one already dead-and how
many years think ye have lain yonder,
whittier he led us, the mortal parts Of
the poor lady ye cried out that ye had
found thereY'-Y. HI. Adds in Argonaut.
Wonderful Gains.
Dr. Miless Nervine not only cures all nervous