cted with our calling, must
be employed, especially if the object of our solicitation happen to be
young and fair. Having directed our professional gaze upon such a
Senorita, it behoves us first to visit her family, and make friends with
her parents, brothers or sisters, in order that their consent may be
easily and naturally obtained. Thus, when I cast my artistic eye upon
the pretty Perpetua, I have to proceed with extreme caution, lest her
parents should misinterpret the nature of my demand. For Perpetua
belongs to the octoroon 'species' of mulatto. Her father is a white man,
and her mother is a free-born quadroon-woman, and they reside with their
daughter in an humble dwelling near our studio. Don Ramon being a small
tobacconist, and his wife, Dona Choncha, a laundress, we have sometimes
patronised the little family, and in this manner I make the acquaintance
of my future model. It is, however, far from easy to persuade the old
lady that my admiration for her daughter is wholly confined to the
picturesque; for when I broach the model-subject, Dona Choncha smiles
incredulously, and says she will consult her friends. While she is doing
so, an extraordinary revelation respecting the brown old dame is made to
me by Mateo, the 'sereno' or watchman of our district.

Armed with a pike, lantern, revolver, and coil of rope for pinioning
purposes, the watchman wanders about our neighbourhood, halting every
quarter of an hour to blow a shrill whistle to inform the inhabitants of
the time of night, and whether it is 'sereno' (fine) or 'nublado'
(cloudy).

One dark night the sereno pauses before our balcony, and after assuring
the somnolent, in recitative, that it is 'three-quarters past eleven and
nu-bla-do!' approaches me, and in a mysterious whisper enquires whether
I carry 'contradanos,' or charms against evil, about my person. Finding
that I do not possess such articles, the watchman recommends me to apply
without delay for a talisman or two. Raw mustard, powdered glass, and
sulphur, he says, are highly effectual as charms. At that very moment
Mateo's pockets are full of these safeguards, and when threatened with
any danger, he has only to sprinkle around him some of the antidote
against evil.

The watchman then tells me that Dona Choncha is in league with 'brujas'
(witches), and that if I continue to visit at her house I shall do well
to take the precautions he has suggested.

Mateo is himself a firm believer in the Bl