the gentleman came along the pathway
with the lady. Random, who had been looking at them intently, suddenly
started, having at length recognized them.

"Don Pedro and his daughter," he said in an astonished voice, and sprang
forward to welcome the unexpected visitors.

"Now, my dear," whispered the widow in Lucy's ear, "we shall see the
kind of woman Sir Frank prefers to you."

"Well, as Sir Frank has seen the kind of man I prefer to him," retorted
Lucy, "that makes us quite equal."

"I am glad these new-comers talk English," said Hope, who had risen to
his feet. "I know nothing of Spanish."

"They are not Spanish, but Peruvian," said Mrs. Jasher.

"The language is the same, more or less. Confound it! here is Random
bringing them here. I wish he would take them to the Fort. There's no
more work for the next hour, I suppose," and Hope, rather annoyed, began
to pack his artistic traps.

On a nearer view, Don Pedro proved to be a tall, lean, dry man, not
unlike Dore's conception of Don Quixote. He must have had Indian blood
in his veins, judging from his very dark eyes, his stiff, lank hair,
worn somewhat long, and his high cheek-bones. Also, although he was
arrayed in puritanic black, his barbaric love of color betrayed itself
in a red tie and in a scarlet handkerchief which was twisted loosely
round a soft slouch hat, It was the hat and the brilliant red of tie and
handkerchief which had caught Mrs. Jasher's eye at so great a distance,
and which had led her to pronounce the man a stranger, for Mrs. Jasher
well knew that no Englishman would affect such vivid tints. All the
same, in spite of this eccentricity, Don Pedro looked a thorough
Castilian gentleman, and bowed gravely when presented to the ladies by
Random.

"Mrs. Jasher, Miss Kendal, permit me to present Don Pedro de Gayangos."

"I am charmed," said the Peruvian, bowing, hat in hand, "and in turn,
allow me, ladies, to introduce my daughter, Donna Inez de Gayangos."

Archie was also presented to the Don and to the young lady, after which
Lucy and Mrs. Jasher, while not appearing to look, made a thorough
examination of the lady with whom Random was in love. No doubt Donna
Inez was making an examination on her own account, and with the
cleverness of the sex the three women, while chatting affably, learned
all that there was to be learned from the outward appearance of each
other in three minutes. Miss Kendal could not deny but what Donna Inez
was very bea