Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1903-07-10
BETWEEN LOVE
DUTY. &
! BY MARGUERITE SHBLER.

~ '''p. u IGN DIii'lI'~N VI Il
l Mexican sky bent low over its
favored children. as if it would shut
way from them. on this one day,
every shadow of seriousness or care,
and must have been gratificd by til"
gorgeous pageant the Plaza Iocalo
flashed back in return. Since early
dawn the vendors from the hill dis
tricts had been pouring into the city,
and tiny booths, like mushrooms, had
been s%pringing up all over the market
quarter. Long before the first sleepy
eyes in the town had begun to open,
the Indian had started on his journey
to dispose of his wares as his Toltec
II Aztec ancestors had done Il
thousand years before. For this was
the great f~caSt-day of the spring
time, and it is only ON such II day the
v%ariegatrd City of Mexico is seer in
all its glory. 1t is then the market
place is the most brilliant scene tn"
all-bchOlding sun looks down upon in
all his course. Out of doors, the bril-
liancy of tn" colurings is somewhat
tempered by tn" atmosphere. but even
so the brain is assaulted by such
rude blasts of color as almost to
make it reel. Gay awnings, bright
rebozos, many-hucd scrapcs, cmbroid-
cries, spanglcS, flowers, deep skies,
burning suns, brilliant ycrdure. all on
spirc to intoNicatc the eye. And the
rank, primary hucs of their chosen
cOlorings suggest, to the thoughtful,
something of the primitive nature of
the Children of the Sunshine.
And yet, amid all this exterior glad
ness. hearts were aching, eyes were
weeping, hopes were falling in the
stately old house of Cardenas. The
warmth of the sunshine and the
brightness of the skies could MOI
penetrate the gloom in the heart OF
Dolores. Her great dark eyes looked
out on an altogether bleak and cheer
less world.
The great old house OF the Car
denas family had been the home
of generations Of beautiful Car
denas daughters from time imme
mOrable. Since the first SenOrita Do
lOres, the women of this house haC
held their stately heads at the pre-
scribed angle. had felt the weight Ol
dignity of belonging tothe oldest fam
ilyin Mexico, had preserved the family
feuds and friendships %unqucstion
ably, had dutifully married the sutton
chosen by their parents; and hat
lived, died. and been gathered to theiI
fathers. with never IA thought of re
volt against the family traditions.
But Dolores. the youngest of the
family, the e%rstwhilc pettcd darling
of the household. with the blood OF
such an ancestry in her veins, the ex
ample of countless progenitors be
fore her eyes, now arose in open re
volt against every tradition OF thu
family.
The assembled hosts stood nghas'
ut this uncNamplrd waywardness. ant
declared she was not worthy to beal
the sacred name of Cardcnas. Thu
sutton they had chosen for her was
to the mind of the family, in ever.
way "A worthy alliance for II Garden
as, and, as they argued, IL he please'
them, why should he not please her
Miguel, who since the death of TIN
old senior, his father. had taken tn
reins as the head OF the family, hat
no thought OF being overridden by
slip Of a girl; but the old senora
when she realized her daughters will
was as infexible as her own. was al
most ut the point Of being lenient.
Now, however, when it was dis
covered that Dolores Cardenas ha'
deRed them all-nOt because she wa
too young to marry or had any tan
pible objection to the choice OF he
family, but because she had clandes