Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-26
PART FIRST.
The Quarry and the Beach
CHAPTER I.

nance when from between the blue ana
white bales in Don Ramon's darkened store
room at Kingston 1 saw the door open De-
fore the figure OF an old man with tired,
long, white face. that day am not likely to
forget j remember the chilly smell or the
West Indian store, the smell of damp GLOOM
of locos, of pimento of olive Oil, OF new
sugar of new rum; the CLASSY double sheen
of Ramons great spectacles, the piercing
eyes in the mahogany face, while the TAP
zap. tap of a cane on the flags went on be-
hind the inner door; the click of the latch'
the stream of light.
The door, petulantly thrust inward, struck
against some barrels. 1 remember the rat
Ting of the bolts on that door and the tall
figure that appeared there, snuff box in
hand.
In that land of white clothes, that precise,
ancient Castilian in black was something to
remember The black cane that had made
the tap, tap, tap dangled by a silken cord
from the hand whose delicate blue-veined,
wrinkled wrist ran back into foam of lawn
ruffies The other hand paused in the act
OF conveying a pinch of SNUFF to the nostrils
of the hooked nose that had, on the skin
stretched tight over the bridge, the polish
of old ivory; the elbow pressing the black
cooked hat against the side; the legs, one
was the attitude of Seraphinas father.
Having lmperiously thrust the door of the
inner room open, he remained immovable,
with no intention of entering, and called In
a harsh, aged voice: "Senor Ramon! Senior
Ramon" and then twice: "Seraphina-Sera-
phinar' turning his head back.
Then for the first time 1 saw Seraphina,
looking over her fathers shoulder. 1 re-
member her face of that day; her eyes were
gray-the gray of black, not of blue. For
a moment they looked me straight in the
face. reflectively unconcerned, and then
Travelled to the spectacleS OF old Ramon.
This glance-remember 1 was young on
that day-had been enough to set me Won
dering what they were thinking of me;
what they could have seen of me.
But there he is-your Senior Ramon,
she said to her father, as If she were child
Ing him for a petulance in calling; your
sight is not very good. my poor little father
there he is, your Ramon.
The warm reflection of the light behind
her gliding the curve of her face from ear
to chin, lost itself In the shadows of black
lace falling from dark hair that was not
quite black. She spoke as If the words
chung to her lips, II she had to put them
forth delicately for fear of damaging the
frail things. She raised her long hand to
a white flower that chung above her ear
like the pen of clerk and disappeared.
Ramon hurried with stiffness of immense
respect toward the ancient grandee. The
door swung to.
/ remained alone The blue bales and the
white and the great red oil Jars doomed
In the dim light altering through the ia
lousies out of the binding sunlight of
Jamaica. moment after the door opened
once more and a young man came out to me
tall, slim, with very bright, very large |
black eyes aglow In an absolute pallor of
face. That was Carlos Riego.
Well, that is my yesterday OF romance, |
for the many things that have passed be- |
tween those times and now have become |
dim or have gone out of my mind. And
my day before yesterday was the day on
uh az w VT
myself In the tall glass, the day on which
j left my home in Kent and went, as chance |
willed 1t. out to sea with Carlos Riego:
That day my cousin Rooksby had be- |
come engaged to my sister Veronica, and
I had fit OF Jealous misery. l was raw
boned with fair hair. i had a good skin,
tanned by the weather. good teeth and
brown eyes 1 had not had very happy
life, and I had lived shut In on myself.
thinking of the wide world beyond my
reach. that seemed to hold out infinite pos
perhaps and stores of gold. In the fam
fly my mother counted; my father did not
She was the daughter OF Scottish earl
who had ruined himself again and again.
He had been an inventor, q protector, and
my mother had been poor beauty,
brought up on the farm we still lived on
the last rag of land that had remained to
her father. Then she had married a good
man in his way: a good enough catch, |
moderately well OF. very amiable. easily in
fiuenced, dilettante and a bit of a
dreamer. too, He had taken her into the
swim of the regency, and his purse had not
held out. So my mother. asserting herself, |
had insisted upon a return to our farm,
which had been her dowry. The alternative
would have been a shabby, ignomnous life |
at Calais. In the shadow of Brummel and
such.
My father used to sit all day by the fire, |
inscribing Ideas" every now and then in
a pocket book. think he was writing an
epic poem. and think he was happy in an
Intellectual way. He had thin red hair. I'M
tidy for want of valet, shining. dell
cate hooked nose narrow ldded blue
eyes. and face with the color and tex
ture Of white-heart cherry. He used to
spend his days In hooded chair. My
mother managed everything. leading an out
of-door life which gave her face the color
of a wrinkled pippin. II was the face Of
Roman mother. tight-lipped. brown-eyed.
and fierce.
AS for me. I was under her, and since
] had my aspirations, I had a rather bitter
childhood And had others to contrast
myself with First there was Rooksby, a
pleasant, well-spoken, amiable young squire
of the immediate neighborhood: young Sir
Ralph. a man popular with all sorts and
in love with my sister Veronica from early
days. Veronica was very beautiful and gen.
tie and very kind. tall, slim, with sloping
white shoulders and long white arms hair
the color OF amber and startled blue eyes
a good mate for Rooksby.
Rooksby had foreign relations The I'M
Gle from whom he inherited the priory had
peninsular war. He had died In SPAIN I
think When Ralph made the grand tour
he had made the acquaintance of his Span
fish relations; he used to talk about them,
the Riegos and Veronica used to talk of
what he said of them until they came to
stand for romance to me. One day, little
before Ralph and Veronica became engaged
these Spaniards descended out OF the blue
Il was romance suddenly dangled right
before my eyes. 1t was romance; you have
no idea what it meant to me to talk to Car
los Riego.
Carlos was dark and of a grace to set
Ralph as much in the shade as Ralph him.
self set me; and Carlos had seen a deal
more of the world than Ralph He brought
with him a short, pursy, bearded compan-
lon. half friend. half servant. who said he
had served in Napoleon's Spanish contin-
gent and had way Of striking his breast
with wooden hand (his arm had suffered
In cavalry charged and exclaiming, 'T
Tomas Castro! /" He was an An
dalusian.
For myself. the first shock of his strange
ness overcome. adored Carlos. and Veron-
tea liked him. and laughed at him, till
one day he said goodbye and rode OF along
the London road. followed by his Tomas
haA Inf