They regularly find
their way there on saints' days and festas. THEY are not rubbish,
Monsieur Garnier; they are propitiatory sacrifices. Pereo would
believe that a temblor would swallow up the casa if we should ever
forego these customary rites. Is it a mere absurdity that forced
my father to build these modern additions around the heart of the
old adobe house, leaving it untouched, so that the curse might not
be fulfilled even by implication?"
She had assumed an air of such pretty earnestness and passion; her
satin face was illuminated as by some softly sensuous light within
more bewildering than mere color, that Garnier, all devoted eyes
and courteous blandishment, broke out: "But this curse must fall
harmlessly before the incarnation of blessing; Miss Saltonstall has
no more to fear than the angels. She is the one predestined
through her charm, through her goodness, to lift it forever."
Carroll could not have helped echoing the aspirations of his rival,
had not the next words of his mistress thrilled him with
superstitious terror.
"A thousand thanks, Senor. Who knows? But I shall have warning
when it falls. A day or two before the awful invader arrives, a
coyote suddenly appears in broad daylight, mysteriously, near the
casa. This midnight marauder, now banished to the thickest canyon,
comes again to prowl around the home of his ancestors. Caramba!
Senor Captain, what are you staring at? You frighten me! Stop it,
I say!"
She had turned upon him, stamping her little foot in quite a
frightened, childlike way.
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