t take my eyes off her for some
moments; until a sharp glance from her husband, and (as I fancied) the
somewhat uneasy looks of the other ladies, made me aware that my gaze
might be deemed somewhat too free and republican in its duration. I
transferred my attention, therefore, to the breakfast, which, to my no
small satisfaction, was now smoking on the table, and to which we at
once sat down. The strangers appeared grave and thoughtful, and ate
little, although the steaks were delicious, the young quails
incomparable, and the Chambertin worthy of an imperial table.

"Who are those foreigners?" said I to Menou, when the meal was over, and
we were leaving the room.

"Mexicans," was the reply; "but who they are I cannot tell you."

"What! do you not know them?"

"I know them perfectly well," he answered, "or they would not be in my
house. But even my family," whispered he, "does not know them."

Poor wretches! thought I, some more sacrifices on freedom's altar;
driven from house and home by the internal commotions of their country.
Things were going on badly enough in Mexico just then. On the one hand,
Guerrero, Bustamente, Santa Anna; on the other, a race of men to whom,
if one wished them their deserts, one could desire nothing better than
an Austrian schlague or a Russian knout, to make them sensible of the
value of that liberty which they do not know how to appreciate.

Meanwhile Julie and Louise were busy, in the next room, passing in
review, for the third or fourth time at least, the thousand-and-one
purchases they had made at New Orleans. It was a perfect picture of
Creole comfort to see the mamma presiding at this examination of the
laces, gros de Naples, Indiennes, gauze, and other fripperies, which
were passed rapidly through the slender fingers of her daughters, and
handed to her for approval. She found every thing charming; every
thing, too, had its destination; and my only wonder was, how it would be
possible for those ladies to use the hundreds of ells of stuffs that
were soon spread out over chairs, tables, and sofas, and that, as it
appeared to me, would have been sufficient to supply half the women of
Louisiana with finery for the next five years. This Creole family was
really a model of a joyous innocent existence; nothing constrained or
artificial; but a light and cheerful tone of conversation, which,
however, never degenerated into license, or threatened to overstep the
limits of the strictest pro