The Van Buren press., 1897-03-13

eet for fife years, he die sure
Il am not afraid. Iwould be glad to
die to have your ring for even year"
mo. Geef eet back to me-
'Then you do not love me-" he said,
dejectedly. you are like all women,
you are glad to break a mans heart"
mo, no. l lofe you. You can keep
eet. weel tell Carlos loose eet."
At the moment her mother called TO
her from the adobe. She threw her
| plump arms about the American neck
and said a clnging good-by, as if her
heart were sadly wrung. And for the
time being she was in desperate earn
est.
At daybreak he saw two borselnen,
both Mexicans, ride up to the house,
He guessed that they were the men
Manara and Carlos; and he hitched up
the team quickly and went, in a fash
ion that suggested fight, taking he ring
with him.
Now it happened-as such things will
happen in the new west-that Carlos
Valera grew very rich within few
months and went to live in San Diego
with his wife, and that they were much
courted and sought after, for Valera was
generous and well-mannered and not
ill-looking, and Sonora Valera was be-
witehing, a type, more than locally IA
nous for her beauty, and possessed of
a charm that is peculiar to women of her
race who have learned the usages Of
the world. They kept open house, in
the grand way of the wealthy Spanish
| Americans of not so long ago. Never
day passed that more than one total
| stranger was not entertained. Thus II
came about that, upon a spring evening
some years after her marriage,
Sonora Valera greeted with lovely ease
and grace a <nest whom her husband
brought home with him, a Mr.. Richard
Lowell, of Los Angeles. But as she greet
ed him she glanced down at his hands
and saw that he wore the opal skull.
She turned to her husband and said in
English that was perfect now, though
made dainty by slight lisp: Carlos,
dear, will you see if left my opal-and-
diamond pin on my dressing stand?
| IIlutA L lOON lU odt w NNul anu IN
got it. l don't want it to get lost like
that other opal you gave me before we
were married. I'm afraid they are really
unlucly stones; don't GU think so, Nj.
Lowell? Would you mind going for
it, Carlos?"
Valera left the room.
"Mr. Lowell, take off that ring while
you are here" she said, calmly.
81 have never taken ID off. And I'm
sorry that | can't do so now"
"lf Mr.. Valera sees it, he will be apt
to kill you as not. He is very jealous"
Il fancy he has good reason"
"Kindly keep your opinions where
such unpleasant ones properly belong
in your own consciousness. You
will be wise to do as | say, and to be
quick. Do you know that the five years
is up to-night?"
81 doubt that sort of superstition. As
I told you before, I'm not afraid. Per-
haps you are, though? 1t is natural
you should be. l will tell you what ]
will do. I'll take the ring and put it in
my pocket"-he slipped it off and held
it between his thumb and fnger-"ii
you will kiss me again as you did on
that night"
81 will not. You would have forgot
ten that Stiffness of mine by now, il
you had been fortunate enough to be
gentleman"
"Never!-not all those caresses and
protestations. Cons, kiss me again,
and I'll hide the ring"
mo. Mr.. Valera will finish hunting
for a pin that isn't there in a moment
more, and if he comes back it may &C
i'll with you-it certainly will if he sees
the ring"
"Then kiss me-"
II will not. Be quick. I hear him
coming. Quick!"
kiss me. You'd better, for your OVID
sake"
| "No."
"Then don't"
"Oh! hide that ring-do, for me-"
| kiss me-"
"Well, kiss me, then"
He put his hands on her shoulders
and bent his head. He did not see
Valera step into the French window
but he knew that the woman pulled
away from him with loud "How dare
you!" and scream: Carlos, Carlos.
help mel"
And then he felt something SHARP
driven deep between the shoulders, and
as he fell backward Sonora Valera
! grasped at the ring and caught it from
his hand. She put her own hand to
her throat in the accepted fashion OF
the conventional faint, and as she did
so, dropped the jewel into the bosom OF
her gown Then she lost conscious
ness.
The story she told her husband was
one of unprovoked impertinence on the
part of an utter stranger, man she
had never seen before, and the story he
told the world was much the same, but
slightly cmbellished. 1t was not plaus-
ible, yet it passed. 1t excused the muir
der without any great difficulty, and it
was something Of feather in the car
OF the beautisIl Mexiean-for this was
in the early days.
Sonora Valera ground the opal skull
TO bits with heavy stone, and kept the
chips in a locket, until one day she
! found an excuse TO drive to the Gem
etery and scatter them upon Lovell's
gravc-Gwendolen Overton, in San
Francisco Argonaut.
How II Happened.
"And so you are engaged TO Cholly