grounds it rested, and whether the son was certainly in
fault.

I had been about ten days in the residencia, when there sprang up a high
and harsh wind, carrying clouds of dust. It came out of malarious
lowlands, and over several snowy sierras. The nerves of those on whom it
blew were strung and jangled; their eyes smarted with the dust; their
legs ached under the burthen of their body; and the touch of one hand
upon another grew to be odious. The wind, besides, came down the gullies
of the hills and stormed about the house with a great, hollow buzzing and
whistling that was wearisome to the ear and dismally depressing to the
mind. It did not so much blow in gusts as with the steady sweep of a
waterfall, so that there was no remission of discomfort while it blew.
But higher upon the mountain, it was probably of a more variable
strength, with accesses of fury; for there came down at times a far-off
wailing, infinitely grievous to hear; and at times, on one of the high
shelves or terraces, there would start up, and then disperse, a tower of
dust, like the smoke of in explosion.

I no sooner awoke in bed than I was conscious of the nervous tension and
depression of the weather, and the effect grew stronger as the day
proceeded. It was in vain that I resisted; in vain that I set forth upon
my customary morning's walk; the irrational, unchanging fury of the storm
had soon beat down my strength and wrecked my temper; and I returned to
the residencia, glowing with dry heat, and foul and gritty with dust. The
court had a forlorn appearance; now and then a glimmer of sun fled over
it; now and then the wind swooped down upon the pomegranates, and
scattered the blossoms, and set the window shutters clapping on the wall.
In the recess the Senora was pacing to and fro with a flushed countenance
and bright eyes; I thought, too, she was speaking to herself, like one in
anger. But when I addressed her with my customary salutation, she only
replied by a sharp gesture and continued her walk. The weather had
distempered even this impassive creature; and as I went on upstairs I was
the less ashamed of my own discomposure.

All day the wind continued; and I sat in my room and made a feint of
reading, or walked up and down, and listened to the riot overhead. Night
fell, and I had not so much as a candle. I began to long for some
society, and stole down to the court. It was now plunged in the blue of
the first darkness; but the