ose fame had penetrated to
the utmost boundaries of the territories of New Spain. He had been
twenty-seven years in San Antonio. He was a familiar friend in every
home. In sickness and in death he had come close to the hearts in them.
Protected at first by the powerful Urrea family, he had found it easy to
retain his nationality, and yet live down envy and suspicion. The rich
had shown him their gratitude with gold; the poor he had never sent
unrelieved away, and they had given him their love.

When in the second year of his residence he married Dona Maria Flores,
he gave, even to doubtful officials, security for his political
intentions. And his future conduct had seemed to warrant their fullest
confidence. In those never ceasing American invasions between eighteen
hundred and three and eighteen hundred and thirty-two, he had been the
friend and succourer of his countrymen, but never their confederate;
their adviser, but never their confidant.

He was a tall, muscular man of a distinguished appearance. His hair was
white. His face was handsome and good to see. He was laconic in speech,
but his eyes were closely observant of all within their range, and they
asked searching questions. He had a reverent soul, wisely tolerant as
to creeds, and he loved his country with a passion which absence from
it constantly intensified. He was believed to be a thoroughly practical
man, fond of accumulating land and gold; but his daughter Antonia knew
that he had in reality a noble imagination. When he spoke to her of the
woods, she felt the echoes of the forest ring through the room; when of
the sea, its walls melted away in an horizon of long rolling waves.

He was thinking of Antonia as he walked slowly to his home in the
suburbs of the city. Of all his children she was the nearest to him. She
had his mother's beauty. She had also his mother's upright rectitude
of nature. The Iberian strain had passed her absolutely by. She was a
northern rose in a tropical garden. As he drew near to his own gates,
he involuntarily quickened his steps. He knew that Antonia would be
waiting. He could see among the thick flowering shrubs her tall slim
figure clothed in white. As she came swiftly down the dim aisles to meet
him, he felt a sentiment of worship for her. She concentrated in
herself his memory of home, mother, and country. She embodied, in the
perfectness of their mental companionship, that rarest and sweetest
of ties--a beloved child, wh