Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-21

shall enlist Father Uria and Father de la
Cueva as well. They also have great in
fuence with my parents. and as they re-
turn to San Jose In two days to prepare
for the visit Of the most estimable DR..
Langsdorf there is no time to lose shall
go this morning. One more cigarito. senior,
and when that treaty is drawn remember
the conversion of your brother to Russian
tobacco"
Rezanov thanked him so warmly, assured
him with SO convincing an emphasis that
| with his fate in such competent hands his
mind was at peace, that the ardent heart
Of the Californian exulted; Rezanov, with
his splendid appearance and typical of the
highest civilizations of Europe, had de-
scended upon his narrow sphere with the
authority OF demi-god, and he not only
thirsted to serve him, but to fasten him to
California with the surest of human bonds.
AS he dropped over the side of the ship
Rezanov's hand fell lightly on the shoulder
of Santiago.
Il can wait no longer to see your sister,"
he whispered. mindful of the sterner re-
i sponsibilities of the older brother. do you
think you could"
Santiago nodded. while Luis is at the
! Moraga's. You will dine with US at the
Preside and 1 shall escort you back to the
ship"
1t was 10 o'clock when Rezanov, who had
supped on the Juno, met Santiago in a
sandy valley half a mile from the Preside
and mounted the horse his young friend
himself had saddled and brought. The long
ride was a silent one The youth was not
laxative at any time, and Rezanov was
conscious of little else save an overwhelm-
| ing desire to see Concha again One secret
| Of his success in life was his gift of yield
| ing to one energy at time, oblvious at
the moment to aught that might distract
P1oI>11 ~.
toward the mission on romantic quest
as ever came the way of a lover, the diplo-
mat, the anxious director of a great COM
pany. the representative of one Of the
merged, forgotten, in the thrilling antici-
patton Of his hour with the woman for
whom every fiber of his being yearned
NOT ever was there more appropriate a
setting for one Of those inaugural chapters
in mating, half appreciated at the time,
that glmmer as a sort Of morning twilight
on mountain tops over the mild fluctuations
Of matrimony. The moon rode without a
! masking cloud across the ambiguous night
blue of the CALIFORNIA; sky, a blue that
looks like the fire of strange elements,
where the stars glow like silver Goals, and
out of whose depths intense shadows of
blue and black fall; shadows in which all
the under world seems to float and recon-
bne where houses are ghosts of ancient
selves and men but the eidola of forgotten
dust. Tonight the little estate of Juan
Moraga, the most isolated and eastern of
the settlement, surrounded by it's high
white wall, looked as unreal and formless
as the blue oval of water and black trees
behind 1t, but ReZanov knew that 1t enfold-
ed warm and palptating womanhood and
was STEPPED in the sweetness of Castilian
roses.
The riders, who had taken a path far to
the east of the mission, dismounted and
tied their horses among the willows, then,
in their dark cloaks but part of the
shadows, stole toward the wall designed
to impress hostile tribes rather than to re-
sist an onslaught; at the first warning the
settlement invariably fled to the church,
where walls were massive and windows
high.
In three of Moraga's four walls was a
grille, or wicket Of slender iron bars,
whence the open could be swept with glass.
ing eastward went Rezanov as swiftly as
the uneven ground would permit. AS
Concha watched him gather form in the
moonlight and saw him Jerk his cloak off
impatiently, she flung her soft body against
the wall and shook the bars with her
strong little hands. But when he faced her
she was erect and smiling; in a sudden
uprush of spirits, almost Indifferent. She
wore white gown and rose in her hair.
rosebush as dense as an arbor spread it's
prickly arms between herself and the win
dows Of the house.
Good evening"" she whispered.
ReZanov gave the grille an angry shake.
Santiago had considerably retiredD Come
out" he said peremptorily. "or let me in
1hcIo 10 pul OU6 Sdte, ScIOT, ana IndI
is directly in front Of the house door, that
stands open -"
Then shall get over the wall ="
''Madre de Diosl You would leave your
fine clothes and more on the thorns My
cousin planted those roses not for orna-
ment, but to let the blood Of defiant lovers.
Not one has come twice -''
DO you think came here to talk to you
through q grating? I am no serenading
Spaniard."
His eyes were blazing. Adobe is not
stone. Rezanov took the light bars in both
hands and wrenched them out; then, as
Concha, divided between laughter and a
sudden ttmidity, would have retreated, he
dexterously elapsed her neck and drew her
who had watched Rezanov from a distance
with some curiosity, saw his sisters beau
tiful face emerge from the wall to disap-
pear at once behind another rampant he
turned abruptly on his heel and could have
wept as he thought of Pillar Ortego of
Santa Barbara. But there was a hope that
he would be a cadet of the Southern COM
pany before the year was out and his par
sighed. his own impending happiness In
fused him with an almost patronizng SYM
pathy for the twain with the wall between,
and he concealed himself among the will
lows that they might feel to the full the
blessed isolation of lovers. His pillar pre-
scented him with twenty-five hostages, and
he lived to enjoy an honorable and pros
porous career. but he never forgot that
night and the part he had played in one
of the poignant and happy hours Of his
sisters life.
Day and night a great silence reigned in
the mission valley, broken only by the boot
of the owl, the singing of BIRDS the flight
Of horses across the plain. Even the low
huddle of mission buildings and the few
homes beyond looked an anomaly In that
vast quiet valley asleep and unknown for
so many centuries in the wide embrace of
the hills Its jewel oasis alone made 1t ac-
ceptable to the Spaniard, but to Rezanov
the sandy desert, with its close companion
able silences, its cool night air sweet with
the light chaste fragrance of the roses, the
simple, almost primitive. conditions envi-
roning the girl, possessed a power to stir
the depths of his emotions as no artful re-
enforcement to passion had ever done. He
forgot the wall. His ego melted in sense
Of cc<plete union and happiness. Even
when they returned to earth and discussed
the dubious future, he was conscious of
an odd resignation, very alien in his nature.
not only to the barrier but to all the
strange conditions Of his wooing. He had
felt something Of this before, although less
definitely, and tonight he concluded that
she had the gift Of clothing the Inevitable
with the semblance and the sweetness of
choice: and wondered how long 1t would be
able to skirt the arid steppes of philosophy
She told him that she had talked daily