of the house,
a woman turned in from the highroad and paused before the Inn beneath
the great cottonwood encircled by the bench.

She was tall and slender and on one arm carried a basket of eggs
concealed beneath a layer of freshly cut roses; Padre Antonio's annual
birthday tribute to the Senora. Her heavy blue-black hair, loosely
caught up at the back of the neck and adorned with a bunch of pink
passion flowers nestled about her neck and shoulders, on one of which
was perched a small white dove that fluttered and cooed. From out the
midst of the passion flowers shone a faint glint of silver.

Her dull white shirt waist, low at the neck and with sleeves rolled back
to the elbows, exposed her long, slender neck and well rounded forearms
which, like her face, were a rich red bronze. A faded orange kerchief,
loosely knotted, encircled her neck; the ends thrust carelessly into her
breast. Her soft mauve _saya_, worn and patched and looped up at one
side, disclosing a faded blue petticoat underneath, fell to her ankles,
displaying a pair of small feet encased in dull blue stockings and low
black shoes.

Depositing the basket on the bench, she extended her right hand upon the
back of which the dove immediately hopped, cooing and fluttering as
before.

"_Cara mia!_" she murmured fondly, raising it to her lips, kissing it
and caressing it gently against her cheek.

"What wouldst thou--thou greedy little Jaquino? Knowest not thou hast
had one more berry than thy sweet little Jaquina?" But the dove only
continued to flutter and coo on her hand.

"Hearest thou not," she continued, "she already calls thee!" And
extending her lips, between which she had inserted a fresh berry, the
dove eagerly seized and devoured it.

"Ah, _querida mia_!" she murmured softly, kissing it again. "Now fly
away quickly like a good little Jaquino before some wicked senor comes
to catch thee for his breakfast!" And tossing the dove lightly into the
air with an "_a Dios_," it hovered over her head for an instant, then
flew straight away over the old _Posada_ back to Padre Antonio's garden
where its mate awaited it.

A sigh escaped her as she watched the flight of the bird. How free of
the cares and responsibilities of the world the winged creatures seemed.
She turned to the bench once more and was in the act of picking up her
basket, when her attention was suddenly arrested by the sound of
footsteps close at hand, and wheeling around, she came f