The Monticellonian., 1918-07-26


 .~~~%NSsN~VsSS~VNNN VNNNe~HNN<S>tSasNSA@ one ;e coniufe with. whose lineage was of the highest She to beg: The thing was quite impossible. One crunb, so taken would have choked her. Rosa preferred to suffer proudly and await the hour when hunger or disease would at last blot out her memories of happy days and end this nightmare misery.
 Then. too, she dreaded any risk of discovery by Mario de CaStano. who was a hard, Vindictiye man. His part ing words had shown her that he would never forgive the slight she had put upon him; and she did not wish to put his threats to the test. once Rosa saw him, on her WAY to buy a few centavos' worth Of sweet potatoes; he was huddled in his victoria. a huge bladder of flesh. and he rode the streets deaf to the plaints of starving children, blind to the misery of be- Seeching mothers. Rosa Shrank into q doorway and drew her tattered shawl closer over her faee for fear Don Ma rio might recognize in this mSshapen body and in these pinehed, discolored features the beauteous blossom he had craved
 Nor did she forget Colonel Cobo. The mans memory haunted her, asleep and awake; of him she was most desperate ly afraid. When for the first time she h ri,li t1 ,f h throats she was like to swoon in her tracks, and for whole day thereafter she covered in the hut, trembling at every sound.
 In these dark hours she recalled the stories of the old Varona treasure and ESteban's interesting theory of it's whereabouts. but she could not bring herself to put much faith in either. Of course it was barely possible that there was indeed q treasure. and even that Esteban's surmise had been correct But it was little more than a remote possibility. Distance lends rosy color to reality 10 our most absurd imaginings, but. like the haze that tints a far-Off landscape, it dissolves upon approach. Now that Rosa was here, in sight of the ruined quinta itself. her hopes and half-beliefs faded
 More than once she WAS tempted to contide in Evangelina and Asensio, but she thought better of it. Although she put implicit faith in Evangelinas dis cretion, she knew that Asensio was not the sort of fellow to be trusted with secret of great magnitude-he was boastful. talkatfye. exeitable; he was just the sort to bring destruction upon all of them. Rosa had sufficient intel ligence to realize that even if she found her fathers riches they would only constitute another and greater men, ace to the lives of all of them Never thelesS, she wished to set her mind at rest once for all. Taking Evangelina with her, she climbed La Cumbre one day in search of roots and vegetables.
 It turned out to be a sad experience for both women. The negresS wept noisily at the destruction wrought by Rancho Cueto, and Rosa WAS overcome by painful memories. Little that was familiar remained; evidence of Cue to's all-devouring greed spoke from the SproutnG furrows his men had dug. from the naked trees they had felled and piled in orderly heaps. from the stones and mortar of the house itself.
 The we'll remained. although it had been planked over, but it was partially filled up with rubbish, as Rosa discov- HVbp Ch hn int it tiny pool of scum was in the bottom. After a long scrutiny the girl arose. convinced at last of her brothers delu- sion. and vaguely ashamed of her own credulity. Nc, if ever there had been a treasure. it was hidden elsewhere all of value that this well contained for RoSa was her memory of happiness departed. Of such memories. the well, the whole place. was hrimful Here, as a child, she had romped with Este ban. Here, as girl she had dreamed her first dreams. and here O'Reilly. her smiling knight. had found her. Wonder was the very spot where he had held her in his arms and begged her to await the day of his return. Well, she had waited
 But was that Rosa Varcna who had promised so freely and so confidently this pltiful Rosa whose bones pro truded through her rags? It could not be. Happiness, eententment, hope these were tictions; only misery, de- spair. and pain were real But it had been glorious dream at any rate-a dream which Rosa vowed to cherish al- ways.