native costume and come back to us quickly."

Barbara went to her room and Mrs. Coolidge began to tell her visitor,
with her most charming enthusiasm and with all the delighted expletives
which her knowledge of Spanish made possible, of Barbara's success, of
her love affair, and of how very desirable the match would be. The old
man listened quietly to the end, looked at her steadily for a moment in
silence, and then spoke:

"No!"

Colonel Kate's eyes opened wide in amazement at the word. "What! Don
Ambrosio! Surely--"

"He wishes to marry her?" the old man broke in.

"Indeed he does! He told me so scarcely ten minutes ago. He is very
much in love with her and she with him!"

"No!" repeated the Indian emphatically. "It cannot be!"

"Surely, señor, you do not understand! You could not find a more
desirable husband for Barbara! Why, he is a lieutenant in the army, a
first lieutenant, too, and his position will take her into any society
she wishes to enter. He has money enough to keep her well, and he loves
her devotedly!"

"No! He forgets she is an Indian! He has seen her in all these clothes
of the white women in which you have tricked her out, and he thinks she
is the same as a white woman. She is not. She was born an Indian, and