Evening star., 1928-05-29

The door was thrown violently open
and man stepped In, wrapped t0the
eyes in brown cloak. He addressed
Carmen In very rough fashion, ,@but
In language did not understand He
was apparently In a very bad temper.
She seemed to try to explain my pres
ence. And as for me, I thought II
might be rather delicate, so I had
grabbed the leg of a stool for protec-
ton.
Then the man approached me. $50
It is you" he said. It was the bandit
none other--Witn whom had supped
the week before. At that moment had
a feeling Of regret that / had not let
him be caught and hanged.
The gypsy continued TO address him
in their own language. She became
more and more excited. Her eyes
flashed She stamped her foot. She
seemed trying to make him do some
thing, and he didn't seem anxious 70
do it. In fact, from motion she made
with her pretty hand across her throat,
/ gathered she wished him TO cut some
ones throat. / was even constrained
to believe that this throat was my own!
But the bandit replied only IN few
sharp words. 1T Is always the same"
he said to me, in French. always she
has some one to whom she is revealing
what you may be pleased TO call inter-
esting things And now it is you This
shall end it, once for all. am through"
I stood there, recalling how gentle and
| pretty-at first had thought Carmen
was. I had a good chance TO observe
| her as she ate her refreshments at my
| expense. She was probably not Of the
| true blood, as they say, but she was the
| prettiest gypsy had ever seen.
| To be beautiful, Spaniards say.
woman must have 30 good points They
| define these 30 points by 10 adiectives.
each TO be applied to three parts Of her
| person. For example, they say pretty
woman should have three black points
| the eyes, the eyelids, and the eyebrows.
| They say that she should have three fine
| pOintS-by which they mean delicate
the fingers. the lips. and the hair. And
so on.
Carmen could not be regarded as hav-
ing all 30 points in their perfection. Her
| skin, though very smooth, was somewhat
| coppery in tinge. Her eyes were set
rather obliquely, though they were very
| large and full. Her lips were somewhat
| thick. but well shaped. and showed her
| teeth, which were as white as almonds,
blanched almonds. Her hair was little
coarse, perhaps, but it seemed 70 have
blue sheen in It. It was in that re-
Specb ike the Wing Oh raven, anu II
was also very long and luxuriant. II
she had faults. she did have a good
point for each fault!
That Is, until saw her so angry. and
80 intent on having my throat slit. These
later circumstances were such as To
change almost any ones good opinion.
Still. had said or thought that 1t was
good to experience everything while
travelling. I was keeping up to my ideal,
indeed.
But the bandit was not Influenced by
her passionate eloquence. So she gave
him a glance of deep contempt, and
seated herself like Turk in the corner.
selecting an orange and beginning to
peel it. She ate the orange quite calmly,
ignoring me completely.
The bandit took my arm and led me
into the street We went some little dis
tance, then he held out his hand. say
ing: Last week, my friend. you sent
me safely on my way. ! now send you
safely on yours. Keep on straight and
you win soon come to the bridge"
He turned his back at once, and dis
appeared. reached my inn feeling
rather sheepish and in bad temper. I
hardly knew why. AS I undresSed
had good reason TO be-for my repeater
watch, which Carmen had SO much ad-
mired, wondering If it was really gold,
was gone!