New-York tribune., 1908-04-12

hardly exchanging Spanish lessons for English"
said Hunter and he fed before she could name
a price.
Two letters in perfect English had come from
No 40 FL Cid Campeador. One was upon blue
organdie papetrie, inscribed with great care,
telling him the writer knew the Casttnan
idioms and would be glad TO impart them. No
name was signed. merely Room 10" The sec
ond letter was written upon paper of the green
Of the portentous sky before a tropical hurri-
cane in the same hand made tremulous by
haste and perturbation. adjuring him not ito
tell anybody in this house that have offered TO
give Spanish lessons TO anybody,
Now how could he call to ask about Spanish
| lessons without disclosing the fact that the
maiden had offered to give them? We learned
that No. 10 FL Cid Campeador was high priced
boarding house, a sort of residence hotel, with
no American clientele. The mystery of the two
letters piQued Hunters curiosity.
u could pretend TO be delivering a bundle to
| Room 49, and. so perhaps get a word with her
without letting folks know she had written me-
| he remarked.
looked scornhlTy at his gray suit his white
silk shirt red silk stockings and patent leather
| shoes.
You look Ike a messenger, don't you?" 1
! snorted They would surely suspect you Of
| some skulIduggery and throw you out. The
only way to do is TO butt right in, as you would
at any hotel. and let things develop though
that isn't a very good plan. In fact. there isn't
any good plan"
So Hunter walked into No. 40, and. seeing a
parlor door open, looked in at seven young
| women who sat there sewing or idling.
who is Room 15?" said he. There no
fnesse about such blunt procedure, and he was
sorry the moment he had spoken, sorry he had
entered the place.
very pretty girl gave him a look Of fright
! ened appeal and then cast the same look at a
tall and homely girl, who arose and asked in
bad English if he had called about lessons. say
ing she had written a letter. Hunter knew that
one who talked English so poorly could not have
Have I the honor Of addressing Room 1872"
The tall girl hesitated; the pretty girl looked
at him in piteous entreaty.
My friend does not talk English well: she
| does not understand you. But perhaps some one
I else who could may come in, and as we are un-
/ chaperoned, viii you kindly leave us?' asked
the tail one.
Hunter stunped through the hall chagrined,
almost angry.
"Buey. buey. buey.'
Was some one insulting him by calling him
I
| boy" in English. 1t was the tall girl
You want TO marree hor?"
What? That other girl is Is. not you ?
What does she mean"
"She is engage. She wrote YOU ze letter and
zen ask hor in order to marree. So
she wrote a letter. Eef you want TO
marree hor, all rye. She itch you Spaneesh
and tell re man 70 go diablo."
Tell him to go 10 the devil? That would
| be devil Of a way to do
He ees bad, mucho bad man. but she have
no other. A bad man ees bad. but cen Cuba
no man ees worse. Comprende?"
| But may be bad for all you know"
You ees. may be, but he ees But you
look like goord man"
Thank you Sorry but this is not nv
marrying day and Hunter tumbed out and
came TO my room where our friend Bascor told
US of dozens of rich Cuban girls who had
married poor Americans and we looked at the
picture in El Mundo nlustrado Of Senorita
Rosalia de Medina heiress Of seven millions
"AH the best lads in Havana have tried for
her" said BasCon but they say her mother
wants her to marry an American For that
matter, the mother is herself worth considera-
ton. She is still a fine looking woman and
threw down three Spanish generals since De
Medina died But there is something queer
for American to think Of. There is a son
and he shows marked African features De
Medina was red headed Must ~he the sehora
They say she is Portuguese and the Portu-
guese Of the province Of Alemtejo are nkeroid
so thoroughly mixed that you don't usually
notice it. they say, but once in awhile bv
atavism you get octoroon. So though
Rosala is a dream Of beauty and wealth, she
can't have Jack Bascom. who is at present in
his own right an eight doaronaire"
Hunter baC
over the remainder Of his letters TO me
answered the letter OF Aurelia Rivero Mont
luzon 1t was punctuated and spelled cor
recty and gracefully written II asked the
sehor TO name the place where the lessons
ought to be given" requesting him To ad-
dress her at the general delivery as Aure-
la Rlverol simply, though her full en-
utiement was Riverol y Montluzon. Had
known less of the country, I might bav. re-
garded this as a hint of something cIandestine
nut had learned the Spanish love of mystery
Even In business transactions one is often lad
along through queer maze Of puerile rnvst.rv