sufficiently
incorrect. A grand staircase with green balustrades, carpeted at
intervals, led from the vestibule, with its squares of colored faience,
to the main floor, between Chinese pedestals ornamented with fantastic
designs, supporting vases and jardinieres of flowers.

At the top of the staircase was a large apartment, called here caida,
which for this night served at once as dining- and music-room. In the
centre, a long table, luxuriously set, seemed to promise to diners-out
the most soothing satisfaction, at the same time threatening the
timid girl--the dalaga--who for six mortal hours must submit to the
companionship of strange and diverse people.

In contrast to these mundane preparations, richly colored pictures
of religious subjects hung about the walls, and at the end of the
apartment, imprisoned in ornate and splendid Renaissance carving,
was a curious canvas of vast dimensions, bearing the inscription,
"Our Lady of Peace and of Safe Journeys, Venerated at Antipolo." The
ceiling was prettily decorated with jewelled Chinese lamps, cages
without birds, spheres of crystal faced with colored foil, faded air
plants, botetes, etc. On the river side, through fantastic arches, half
Chinese, half European, were glimpses of a terrace, with trellises and
arbors, illuminated by little colored lanterns. Brilliant chandeliers,
reflected in great mirrors, lighted the apartment. On a platform of
pine was a superb grand piano. In a panel of the wall, a large portrait
in oil represented a man of agreeable face, in frock coat, robust,
straight, symmetrical as the gavel between his jewelled fingers.

The crowd of guests almost filled the room; the men separated from
the women, as in Catholic churches and synagogues. An old cousin
of Captain Tiago's was receiving alone. Her appearance was kindly,
but her tongue not very flexible to the Castilian. She filled her
role by offering to the Spaniards trays of cigarettes and buyos, and
giving the Filipinos her hand to kiss. The poor old lady, wearied at
last, profited by the sound of breaking china to go out hurriedly,
grumbling at maladroits. She did not reappear.

Whether the pictures roused a spirit of devotion, whether the women
of the Philippines are exceptional, the feminine part of the assembly
remained silent. Scarcely was heard even a yawn, stifled behind a
fan. The men made more stir. The most interesting and animated group
was formed by two monks, two Spanish provinci