ympathetic, and appeared to be absolutely
idolised by every man, woman, and child upon the estate.

She received me in her drawing-room, a fine, lofty, spacious apartment
occupying approximately half the width of the front part of the house,
the other half being occupied by the dining-room, between which and the
drawing-room there was a fine hall, roomy enough to be used as a lounge,
and very cool and pleasant, since the house stood on the slope of a
hill, facing north, and overlooking the sea, while the wide front door
stood always open, freely admitting the sea-breeze. The drawing-room
was a really handsome room, the floor being of some very beautiful
native wood, polished to the brilliancy of a mirror, and covered here
and there with mats, rugs, and skins; the walls, of polished satin-wood,
arranged in panels, were hung with a few very fine pictures; a few small
tables, loaded with miniatures and native curiosities, were arranged
apparently haphazard about the room; there was a large, low couch, and
about a dozen lounging chairs, and a piece of fancy work and a very
handsome guitar lay upon the couch.

The large French casement was wide-open, giving access to a wide gallery
reaching right athwart the house from side to side, and shaded from the
direct rays of the sun by an overhanging veranda; and into this gallery
I was taken, inducted into a low, spacious basket chair, well equipped
with cushions, and made thoroughly comfortable: the Senora seating
herself on one side of me, and Don Luis establishing himself on the
other, each of them obviously doing their utmost to make me feel
thoroughly at home. And oh! it was good to sit out there feeling the
soft, warm breeze playing about me, to drink in the perfume-laden air,
and to gaze abroad upon the sun-bathed, gently sloping lawns
interspersed here and there with neat, symmetrically shaped flower-beds,
gay with luxuriant, rainbow-tinted blooms, to watch the tall palms
swaying as the wind swept through their clashing fronds, to note the
magnificent butterflies and the brilliant-plumaged birds flitting hither
and thither, with the blue foam-flecked sea, mottled with rich purple
cloud shadows, stretching away to the far horizon. I was allowed to sit
there for two hours, drawing in renewed health with every breath; and
then Mama Elisa and Teresita, her lieutenant, swooped down upon me,
declaring that I must not be further fatigued, and marched me back to my
room, put me