"And ruder words will soon rush in
To spread the breach that words begin;
And eyes forget the gentle ray
They wore in courtship's smiling day;
And voices lose the tone that shed
A tenderness round all they said."

MOORE.


Inez de Garcia was an only child, and in San Antonio considered quite
an heiress. Her wealth consisted in broad lands, large flocks, and
numerous herds, and these valuable possessions, combined with her
beautiful face, rendered her the object of considerable attention.
Inez was endowed with quick perceptions, and a most indomitable will,
which she never surrendered, except to accomplish some latent design;
and none who looked into her beautiful eyes could suppose that beauty
predominated over intellect. She was subtile, and consciousness of her
powers was seen in the haughty glance and contemptuous smile. Her hand
had been promised from infancy to her orphan cousin, Mañuel Nevarro,
whose possessions were nearly as extensive as her own. Inez looked
with indifference on her handsome cousin, but never objected till
within a few weeks of her seventeenth birthday (the period appointed
for her marriage), when she urged her father to break the engagement.
This he positively refused to do, but promising, at Father Mazzolin's
suggestion, that she should have a few more months of freedom, she
apparently acquiesced. Among the peculiar customs of Mexicans, was a
singular method of celebrating St. ----'s day. Instead of repairing to
their church and engaging in some rational service, they mounted their
half wild ponies, and rode furiously up and down the streets till