Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-11

bered her unmistakahle fright at his t:ys I
Expression of faith He must ''be wise as
the serpent and harmless as the dove:
He must work upon her soul alone, and
secretly. He VINO would have shrunk from
any clandestine association with q girl
from mere human affection, saw no wrong
in a covert intimacy for the purpose of re-
ligiouS salvation. Ignorant as he was of
the ways of the world, ard ine> peiienced
i'll the usages of society, he began to plan
methods of secretly meeting her with all
the intrigue of gallant. The perspicacity
as well as the intuition of a true lover had
descended upon him in this effort of mere
spiritual conquest.
Armed with his Information and a few
Spanish words he took the yellow Con-
cepcion aside and .raNely Suhorned her to
carry note to be delivered secretly to
Miss Ramirez. To his great relief and
some surprise the old woman grianCd with
intelligence, ami her withercd hand closed
with d certain familiar deNterity over the
epistle and the accompanying gratuity. To
Il man. less naiVely one-ideaed, it might
have awakened some suspicion. but TO the
more sanguii.e hopefulness of MaSterton it
only suggested the fancy that Conception
herself might prove to be open to CONVEX
sion, and that he should in due season at
tempt her salvation also. But that would
he later. For Conception was always with
him and accessible: the girl was not.
The note, which cost Kim some labor of
composition. simple and almost business
like was tie result, ran as follows:
Il wish to see you upon some matter, of
grave concern TO Yourself. VIII YOU chlige
ME by coming again to the wall of the mis-
sion tonight.at early candle light? l. would
avert worldly suspicion if you brought
also your guitar.
The afternoon dragged slowly on: Con-
cepcion returned: she had, with great d!f-
fiCulty, managed to see the Senorita, but
not alone: She had, however, slipped the
note into her hand, not daring to wait for
an answer.
In his first hopefulness Masterton did
not doubt what the answer would be. but
as evening approached he grew concerned
to the girls opportunities of coming
and regretted that he mad not given her a
choice of time.
Before his evening meal was finished he
began to fear for her willingness, and
doubt the potency of his note. He was
accustomed to eXhort orally-perhaps he
ought to have waited for the chance of
speaking to her directly without writing.
When the moon rose, he already in
the garden. Lingering at first in the
shadow of an olive tree, he waited until
the moonbeams fell on the wall and its
crests of foliage. But nothing moved
strained for the familiar tinkle of the gui-
tar-all was silent. AS the moon rose
higher he at last boldly walked to the
wall and listened for any movements on
the other side of it. But nothing stirred.
She was evidently rot comng-his note had
failed.
He was turning away sadly. but he
faced his home again he heard a light
laugh beside him. He stopped. \ black
shadow stepped out from beneath mis- own
almond tree. He started, when. with Il
gesture that seemed familiar to him, the
upper part of the shadow seemed to fall
away with a lcng black mdntilla and the
face of the young girl was revealed.
He could see now that she was clad in
black lace from head to foot. She looked
taller, older, and he fancied even prettier
than before. A sudden doubt of his abil-
ity to impress her. swift realization of
all the difficulties of the attempt, and, for
the first time, perhaps, a dim perception
of the incongruity of the situation came
over him.
81 was looking for you on the wall" he
Stammered.
"Madre di Dios!' she retorted. with
laugh and her old audacity, you would
that l shall always hang there, and drop
upon you like a pear, when you shake the
tree? No!''
TO be concluded tomorrow