The Press., 1916-06-28

tween GAEHI a1iN tAC AAuA WCAG q way He passed the veranda near where l sat, and I saw an unmistakable look of triumph on his face.
 Interested in the drama which was being enacted before me, determined to remain where was till the last act had been played I wondered if the girl, actuated by religious motives, had felt constrained to forgive the slayer of her lover. Had it not been for the triumphant look on the mans face as he passed me would not have dream ed of anything more than this. But had discovered that the Mexicans are a strange people, and one cannot in any event tell what woman is going to do. Was it possible that this man, like King Richard ILL, would win her whose lover he had slain?
 I had seen no sign of a burial of the first love and did not think it possible that the girl could take another until the body had been laid away. What, then, was my surprise when just before dark saw the murderer approach the house where the bereaved girl lived and stand under her window! Present ly she came out of the door, joined him, and they walked away together.
 I confess that, though by this time l was prepared for almost anything in Mexico, could not believe what my eyes revealed to me. I wished that might follow the couple and see what occurred between them, though shrank from witnessing a girl throwing her self into the arms of a man who had only the night before shot down in cold blood the man she loved.
 I lit a cigar and sat smoking on the veranda. The twilight ia Jed; the stars came out. All about me was so peace full that I could not realize I was in a country torn with anarchy and d great part of it in the hands of robber bands; that within twenty-fo hours I had witnessed an instance of the desperate condition of the country. But my mind was ever on the couple had seen go out into the darkness. l thought of the lover of the evening be- fore, a smile on his handsome lips re- turned by one on those of the girl he loved, now lying cold in death in one of the houses within the range of my vision, while the girl he loved had gone with his murderer.
 It was quite dark, o'clock perhaps. when, tired of sitting, arose to stretch my legs. l walked down a roadway on which the two persons l had been watching had disappeared. Suddenly a figure, a woman's figure, fitted by me. She was moving rapidly, and l got q glimpse only of something white. And yet I was impressed with the idea that it was the girl who had lost her lover. If so, where was the man with whom she had set out?
 Believing that nothing more of the drama which was unfolding would be revealed to me that night, l returned to the tavern and went to bed.
 In the morning everything about me was still peaceful. The inhabitants of the place went about their daily vo- cations as usual. If there was war in the neighborhood it was too far dis tant to be heard. Still I refrained from leaving the place without more information as to what interested me. l determined to remain where I was until the climax.
 In the afternoon occurred a simple funeral of the murdered man. The chief mourner was the girl who had In evidence at any time during the day. The poor girl was supported by her mother and attended by few friends. I went into the tavern and asked the landlord what had become of the sol dier.
 from here, stabbed to the heart," was the reply.
 "Who killed himY' I asked.
 The landlord shrugged his shoulders and said that this was not known.
 The climax to my drama had been played. Whether any one knew who had killed the soldier do not know to this day. One thing know. I saw him go out into the darkness with the girl whose life he had bhghted, and saw her come back without him.
 The curtain had fallen; the audience -myself-had seen the play. There was nothing more for me but to move on. The death of man shot down in the interval between two dances had not ruffled the tranquility of the ham, let, nor had the finding of the body of his murderer twenty-four hours later any noticeable effect. What were these two lives in land where bloodshed Is the order of the day?
 My curiosity as to Mexico had been satisfied. Instead of going on down to the capital turned about and jour neyed back toward home.