Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-11-05

HlllhlSut'
The poison was in his blood. He had |
eaten of the lotus, and he forgot home and
the past. He gave reckless rein to the
course of young blood, and so fortnight
passed away. There were no more letters.
They were being sent to Santa Barbara,
where he had told the brown eyed girl that
the first weeks In March would find him.
| He had not written to her He had meant
| to, but it was the land of POGO tempo.
| In pursuance of the romance he was liy-
ling he one day put on the dirty overalls
( and hat of old Manzelo and went with
Alicia to the San Gabriel railway station
to wash and pack oranges Alicia was
dressed in faded dark blue, with yellow
handkerchief around her neck and pink
bow in her hair. She was very pretty and
very open in accepting the open devotion
of the American. 1t was still just lark
for him. 1t was rather more for her--a
| little more.
A tallyho drove up to the station, and
the driver stopped it that his party of
| tourists might watch one of the really pic
turesque scenes left to the United States.
Some of the washers looked up. Cameron
and Alicia Manzelo were talking together
and did not. Both were gazing light love
| luUO odCu OUuci b eyes. LIlC pooS VI oiio
gang came up to the tallyho with hand
full Of oranges. The finest one, all wet
and glistening with its scrubbing, he Of
fered to the girl on the front seat
"Thank you. What splendid oneF'
she praised. II am SO thirsty that 1T Will
| taste good.
''May peel it for your" he asked, with
an infection that showed him English at
once
He had not offered to peel them for the
others, but this was very beautiful wom-
an, with brown hair and a skin that re-
minded him of the women at home While
he prepared it she looked at the workers.
and when he handed it to her, "Thank
you, she said again. "And can you tell
me who that man by the girl in the blue
gown Is? He is evidently not Mexican. )"
He wondered why she should care to
know, but he answered: "No, he is an
American. All can tell you about him
is that his name seems to be Nelson. 1t is
what the girl calls him"
"The grip
'Yes. It's picturesque Irritation, l
| gather from her father. 1t has been going
OH for some weeks, and the old man says
Nelson, or whatever his name really is,
means to marry her, but it is unsafe. "
every, should say" said the girl re-
flectively.
"They rarely do, these whites that make
love to pretty Mexicans," added the Eng
lishman.
i The pretty Mexican cast up her dark
eyes just then and took notice Of the tally
ho She had known twas there all along,
but she had not been interested in it.
"The lady on the front watch you, she
murmured to her companion.
Cameron glanced up. He caught the
unfaltering look of the brown eyes, and
the scales-the rosy scales of romance
fell from his own. He dropped the orange
that he held into the water in his tub and
started to the tallyho, but he took only II
step, then went back. The girl on the
front seat had turned to the others.
Cant we get out for awhile? I'm sure
weare all cramped and tired and | should
like to watch this pretty scene for bit. "
The Englishman helped her down, but
she thanked him and walked away. Her
manner implied that she would make her
own Investigations. She wandered among
the boxes and the tubs and trays, hazard
ing word to the washers here and there
Most of them did not understand her. She
came up finally beside Cameron's tub and
spoke to him. The onlookers fancied that
she might be asking how many oranges
he had cleaned that day. Alicia, half
dozen feet away at the end of the tray,
was unconcerned. So the Anglo-Saxon
conducts his tragedy
'It is evidently more attractive here
than in Santa Barbara" the fair Ameri-
can said in cool, placid tones.
Cameron stammered.
''I can't blame you. 1t breaks my heart,
of course but that can't be helped. l can
stand it, and better now than later. Only
I cared for you great deal-a great, great
DEAL" She stopped.
"Don't you now" asked Cameron
BADLY.
eyes. Isuppose Ialways shall, too; but,
of course, 1 shall never see you again.
He started to protest, little outraged
in feelings at her severity.
"Please don't make scene," she said
anxiously. 1T won't do any good You
ought to know me well enough to know
that
Cameron reflected that Alicia would
have screamed and cried and stabbed per-
haps, but would have forgiven. That was
her Latin blood. This girl was Anglo
Saxon. She would never forgive, but
neither would she ever forget. He under
stood. He was of her race. So he kept
silence.
"Do you love herr" she asked him
"No."
"Is she-was she goods"
"I think So
"Did you tell her you would marry
herY'
Eyes" He did not attempt to evade.
"Then you will keep the promise, will
you nots"
He did not answer.
81 must leave that to you" she finished.
"If you think you should, you will do it.
Goodby.'
The cool possessors of hot, young blood
parted after the manner Of the well bred
of their kind. The girl drove away through
the country Of romance. She was in Ely
sian fields and her heart and soul were in
hades, but no one knew that.
The man washed his fruit in silence
while the little daughter Of the land stood
beside him, patiently waiting for him to
speak. When he did, he said, "We shall
be married in week at the mission,
Alicia.
eyes, she answered. pleased.
And the romance was closed.-Gwen-
dolen Overton in Argonaut.