The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-12-15

saints. is that?" growled he, burnin:
the lady with his eye.
Dona Maria was almost a pure in
dian, yet the slight strain of foreign
blood had been enough to modify he,
color. Her broad face was a grayisl
white. chalky, without a trace of pink
Only at the roots of her hair did tn,
Indian brown begin. She had a yer,
heavy jaw. an immoyable eye, fat cheek;
and a delicate mustache. She was i'm
perial in carriage. 1.-The dress 1 shall
wear to the ball. said she, with hu
initiating elaboration. She was hold
ing the light blue thing up.
That" rasped he. .Oh, woman.
Your black skin will never go with this
Light blue! Look at yourself in thu
glass. Hold this Internal thing up with
You. See! 4 G%uanajuato mummy j.
tasty beside you!"
They say that Dona Maria used to BIZ
a charcoal woman before she became
exalted. But she ruled the ruler
Your ideas of beauty" she said, witt
Siu-iihS SdIbu. u hoi IOI hlC-
you shall not! Will this woman
hang eve round my neck. nor progress
with me? The state bows before me
Porfirio Diaz believes in me. And car
my wife exhibit no dignity? l tell you
you are hideous in hat light blue"
"Retire, Mariana replied she, her
ample bust swelling; nor cut these
capers."
BY eight of the evening his mood was
black. An all-day beating against that
rock. his wife. had rent his last nerve.
He was morose, mean. At ten min
utes to nine she swept into his presence,
surely majestic enough. and making a
tremendous display of light blue. Don
Mariana gritted his teeth as he handed
her in at the carriage. They drove
away, leaving in the corridor a trem-
bling maiden. who turned and f1uttered
to Cenobio and cried: Tomorrow.
And the good Mary will help me-"
The dance was at the American hotel.
The ballroom was gorgeous in green.
white and red bunting. y long row of
pretty senoritas sat on one side of the
room. the young men not approaching
them freely. An orchestra struck up
a tune and the ball began. The light
blue dress fioated everywhere. Like an
empress she carried it. 1t was very
ugly. She danced with the governor
governor by the grace of Senior Ortiz,
who looked bored. and carried one hand
in his trousers pocket. She danced with
n dashing young federal senator (sen-
ator by the grace of Ortiz, who wore a
brown sack coat. She danced with the
weakened, tiny old secretary of state.
who moved in a blear-eyed dream. Oc-
casionally she danced with Don Mari
ano, and looked fixedly over his bead.
And during those dances Don Mariana
could be heard muttering more and
more weakly. For the light blue seemed
to fill the room. Her chalky head above
it reminded him again of the GUIANA
juato mummies.
Between dances the young men
brought beer. cognac and other slim
to the young ladies. who drank
of all without prejudice. being trained
to it. But the treasurer acquired a
habit of retiring into NOR
bidly. Midnight coming on. he
watched the dances grimly. and his
eye could not tear itself away from
the wounding tower of blue. People
whispered that the sultan was i'll.
They longed for his merry laugh.
During n interval they saw him
drain off three bottles of beer in pain
full solitude. 1t was recalled that
many glasses of cognac as other
had gone the same way. He
refused the next dance. The old,
wheezy secretary came mumbling.
'Oh, now. what's the trouble with
said he. with a grandmother's
i~nsinuating fondness.
"What's-what's matter with the
lights?" asked Don Mariana.
Nothing" cried the secretary,
scanning the chandeliers.
Thought" muttered Don Mariana,
thickly-"thought the lights-lights,
also, were turning-hic-blue."
AT two o'clock they removed Don
Mariana to his carriage. and heard
murmuring: "Where'sh -
where'sh ma dignity? Sh'gone!"
The next morning Concha. the Ma
donna-like. kept from under the eye
of Dona Maria. In the Kitchens far
thest corner. behind a horseshoe
curve of adobe braseros burning blue
charcoal, she labored. On a
stone metate she ground separately
the following articles: Twelve ounces
Of black. dried peppers, or chiles; four
ounces of red, dried chiles; one small
of sesame seed; "a chocolate
beans: a half ounce of almonds: one
worth of black pepper; one-half
worth of cloves: a stick of Gin |
fair measure of several kinds
Of nuts; n few tomatoes: such guam |
tity of anise seed as may be taken up
with five fingers; such quantity of CO.
SEED as may be taken up with
three fingers: two or three small. |
hard loaves of bread; goodly portions :
Of garlic; goodly portions of onions;
dried tortillas. an Unstinted
amount of pumpkin seeds; and seeds
If the black chile. Every one of these
Kings had been separately fried be-
grinding. The process completed,
he mixing took place. Large quanti-
les of melted lard. with water, served