s, he instinctively felt as he turned
it over in his hands before breaking the seal, that, in some manner or
other, it was intimately concerned with his fate.

XXVII

The preparations for the _fandango_ were complete. The men and women of
the household, under Juan Ramon's supervision, had worked hard since
sunrise, stringing gayly colored lanterns and arranging tables and
chairs, palms and potted flowers and shrubs in the _patio_. It was close
on to five o'clock and they now rested in the _patio_ in the shade of
its arcades, smoking cigarettes and sipping black coffee, and chatting
and laughing as they viewed with satisfaction the results of their
handiwork. The day gave promise of a perfect night. It was to be a
typical Spanish _fiesta_, and in order that the illusion might be
complete, both the Whites and the Indians were to appear in their
national costumes. All the leading Spanish families of the town and the
neighborhood would be present. Not an invitation had been refused.

Captain Forest had agreed to take tea with Blanch in the garden, and,
true to his word, he appeared punctually, almost on the minute. The
pretty Rosita, the only one of the household excepting Senora Fernandez
and Juan Ramon who understood and spoke English after a fashion,
withdrew reluctantly after depositing her tray containing tea and
_tortillas_ upon the table. She adored the beautiful _Americana_, and
had been doing a great deal of thinking of late. The reason for her
coming might not be Don Felipe at all, but Captain Forest, the grand
Senor. Who could say? The ways of the Americano, the _gringo_, were so
different from theirs. Everything they did was exactly opposite to their
way of thinking and doing things. No well-bred, unmarried Spanish woman
would dare take tea alone with a man unless they were engaged.

The signs of autumn were visible on every hand. The long, languid,
summer travail had ceased and the season of dreams begun. Though the sky
was a clear steel-blue overhead, the horizon was veiled in a thin blue
haze into which the landscape and distant objects seemed to fade and
lose themselves. Filmy threads of gossamer floated through the air,
suffused with a soft golden glow. Most of the birds had ceased to sing
and the drone of insects became less persistent, as if fearful to
disturb the hush and calm that pervaded the land.

Captain Forest noticed, as he seated himself at the table opposite
Blanch, that the golden