The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-01

| ten old door soon gave way, and she
rushed into the room. sobbing with fear
| and calling imploringly for Pope.
Pepe was not there, and the room was
| empty-distressingly bare, in fact. Be-
4 yond the gaudy ceiling, bare walls and
tiled brick floor nothing remained-of a
verify was the place swept and gar
| nished!' To be sure, the tattered picture
Of La Virgin" still hung on the wall,
and underneath 1t fickered a cheap
"mariposa' light, in small olla-there is
| among the poems superstition that 1t Is
| not lucky to steal pictures of the Virgin!
| But the table and cheap chairs were gone,
| also the ollas and blue plates and cups
that had been the joy of Gertrudis heart
even the pot of violets that she had so
| faithfully tended in the deep-barred win
| dow. A cyclone could hardly have swept
| the room cleaner, and Gertrudis stared
| aghast. What could have happened? The
rent she had paid In advance so thatPepe
| could not have changed houses while she
was away. 1t never occurred to her that
! Pepe had deserted her; he had been too
dependent upon her for that-without the
money from her washing he would not
have had eevn food Dazed. stupidity
wondering and tired. she flung herself
down on the cold bricks and wept bitter
ly. She had hoped and expected to find
Pepe awaiting her, and now
Some one tapped softly at the door. and
the withered old porteress, Manuela,
came In, her face very sad and sympa-
thetio, for Gertrudis had been good to
her, while every one knew Pope to be
worthless creature. And, as delicately
as a better woman could have done 1t,
she broke to Gertrudis the news Of Pepe's
elopement with Anita, that "muchacha
del diablo.'' and the shameless fashion In
which they had take nall the furniture
and washing to the pawnshop-yes. even
the clothes of the American sonora and
her husband. Later, when the old woman
hobbled down stairs, she informed the as
sembled group Of curious women that ia
pobre" had taken the news well-of a
truth, she had not wept even a single
tear! Who would have thought tt?-and
all the furniture gone-not even a petate
to sleep on, or q cup out Of which to take
ones chocolate. And all the clothes Of
the American lady gone-how could they
ever be paid for2 Alas, poor thing! But.
then, she would never heed warnings
against Pepe And now. after all, with
out mat or cup for her chocolates!
Many weeks had passed since the loot
ing Of Gertrudis and the elopenent OF
Pepe and Anita, and (otd Manuela to
the contrary Notwithstanding the val
uahIe clothes of the American sonora had
been redeemed by Gertrudis, and she
had once more bed to sleep. on and
cup to drink her chocolate from. Not
only this, but another pot of violets had
been brought for the window; in one
corner a green and-yellow parrot scold-
ed and shrieked from his tin cage, and
opposite him hung a rev and brilliantly
coored picture of the Virgin. The room
had regained its former clean, bright
look, and every one said how much hap
pler Gertudis should be, now that she
had no shiftless husband to support and
fetch home, drunk and quarreling, from
the pulque shop. To which Gertrudis
essented, indifferently: Eyes; Pope had
been worthless, and Anita was welcome
to him
The absence of the shameless ones was
not for long, however; 1t is difficult for
a peon to stay away from his native
town. This Gertrdis we'll knew, and she
had been quietly biding her time. For
this had she toiled by night and day
over the washing stones, boarding and
saving her every centavo. She had an.
ttcipated the return OF the sinners and
long since made plans accordingly. If
one does keep silent mouth in ones
head 1t does not mean that one will fore
go the revenge so dear to the heart of
Late one Saturday, evening old Manuela
appeared almost bursting with news.
She had come to tell Gertrudis that Pope
and Anita had returned, poor and almost
starving-in fact, Pope had endeavored
to borrow a few centaVos from her to
buy their supper. They both looked so
AFFECT and starved that 1t would have
been charity to give them some money
or supper, but such wretches deserve to
r.to r10f q actr 1ja
After the old woman had departed,
Gertrudis sat quietly, her face very ugly
to look at, until it was dark; then she
muffled her face In a tapalo, took all her,
money (as much as 800 and went stealth
lily out of the house and down the Gale
de los T'escaditos. 1t was q bad street
and not safe for any woman, at that time
Of night, but Don Eduardo, the magician,
lived in house No. Is, and Gertrudis
wished to see him; little did dark or lone
fy streets matter to her.
He was an ugly, repulsive-looking In
dian, this Don Eduardo, with his flat
face and yellow, Chinese eyes. But no
one questioned his powers, and people
Of many classes and degrees went to
him for love charms and marriage charms
and other charms too dark and mysteri-
GUS to speak Of For one Of the latter
SORT Gertudis had now come--it vas full
had brought with her ten silver dollars
and very fearful heart; what If Don
Eduardo refused to give her what she
wanted? But she went away with an
empty purse and two sman flat packages
carefully hidden in her dress one of
them containing queer, dried herbs, With
villainous ordor, while the other was
merely q bottle of colorless, innocent
looking hquid-Don Eduardo had given
1t no name!
In the great plaza of San Juan, beyond
the Alameda, you will find, upon looking
carefully, a most remarkable collection
of Indian-made dolls. They are of man
ia, cotton-stuffed painted with funny
Indian pigments, and of the most as
tonishing makeup. For cents you
can buy an deliberately tilmaed and
sombreroed peon gentleman; a clown in
tight, silver-buttoned trousers and
braided jacket; buccaneers and bandits,
with fierce mustaches and murderous
swords; or even, if you like, up-to-date,
check-clad Englishmen. with cams,
Knockers, monocles and deerstalker-
caps. Or, if you are purchasing lady
doll, you can find anything from man
tillaed Spanish lady of high degree to
the strong minded American person in
boomers and spectacles; or a criadagirl,
in rebozo and cheap skirt
Toward these dolls GertTudis aimessly
wendell her way the morning after his
visit to Don Eduardo. She had been
buying her dinner, and had only stopped,
as she told the doll-vender, to get doll
for Manuela's grandchld-the poor little