But this combination, which placed the entire
valley of San Antonio in the control of a single individual,
appeared to be perfectly legitimate. More than that, some vague
rumor of the Doctor's past and his early entanglements only seemed
to make this eminently practical disposition of his property the
more respectable, and condoned for any moral irregularities of his
youth.
The effect upon the collateral branches of the Guitierrez family
and the servants and retainers was even more impressive. For once,
it seemed that the fortunes and traditions of the family were
changed; the female Guitierrez, instead of impoverishing the
property, had augmented it; the foreigner and intruder had been
despoiled; the fate of La Mision Perdida had been changed; the
curse of Koorotora had proved a blessing; his prophet and
descendant, Pereo, the mayordomo, moved in an atmosphere of
superstitious adulation and respect among the domestics and common
people. This recognition of his power he received at times with a
certain exaltation of grandiloquent pride beyond the conception of
any but a Spanish servant, and at times with a certain dull, pained
vacancy of perception and an expression of frightened bewilderment
which also went far to establish his reputation as an unconscious
seer and thaumaturgist. "Thou seest," said Sanchez to the partly
skeptical Faquita, "he does not know more than an infant what is
his power. That is the proof of it." The Dona Maria alone did not
participate in this appreciation of Pereo, and when it was proposed
that a feast or celebration of rejoicing should be given under the
old pear-tree by the Indian's mound, her indignation was long
remembered by those that witnessed it.
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