The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-12-11

ciety. he began to plan methods OF se-
cretly meeting her with all the intrigue
of a gallant The perspicaclty d well
as the intuition OF q true lover had de-
scended upon him in this effort Of mere
spiritual conquest. ~
Armed with his information and a
few Spanish words. he took the yellow
Conception aside and gravely suborned
her to carry a note to be delivered Sc
cretly to Miss Ramirez. To his great
relief and some surprise the old woman
grinned with intelligence, and her with
cred hand closed with a certain familiar
dexterity over the epistle and the ac-
companying gratuity. To a man. less
naively one-ideaed. 1t might have awak-
ened some suspicion, but to the more
sanguine hopefulness of Masterton 1t
only suggested the fancy that Concep-
cioh herself might prove to be c"au to
conversion. and that he should in dr>-
season attempt her salvation also. But
that would be later. For Conception
was always with him and accessible:
the girl was not.
The note. which cost him some labor
ness-!ike as was the result, ran as fol-
lows:
1 wish to see you upon some matter of
grave concern to yourself. vii you oblige
me by coming again to the wall Of the mis-
sion tonight. at early candle light? IT
wcald avert worldly suspicion if you
brought also your guitar.
The afternoon dragged slowly on:
Conception returned; she had, with
great difficulty. managed to see the
senorita, but not alone: she had, how
ever. 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 con-
cerned as to the girls opportunities of
coming and regretted that he had not
given her 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-per-
haps he ought to have waited for the
chance Of speaking to her directly with
out writing.
When the moon rose. he was already
In the garden. Lingering at first in
the shadow of an olive tree, he waited
and its crests of foliage. But nothing
moved among that ebony tracery; his
ear was strained for the familiar tinkle
OF the guitar--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 1t. But
nothing stirred. She was evidently not
coming-his note had failed.
He was turning awny sadly, but as
he faced his home again he heard a
little laugh beside him. He stopped.
A black shadow stepped out from be-
meath his own almond tree. He started
when, with a gesture that seemed famil-
lar sto him, the upper part of the
shadow seemed to fall away with long
black mantilla 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 ability to impress her. a swift
realization of all the difficulties of the
attempt, and, for the first time, per-
haps. a dim perception of the incon-
gruity of the situation came over him.
II was looking for you on the WALL"
he stammered.
"Madre di Dios!" she retorted. with
a laugh and her old audacity, you
would that I shall always hang there,
and drop upon you like pear when
you shake the tree? MOI"
ITO be continued)