can produce the effect of the prettiest girl here, and without
challenging comparison. Nobody thinks of her--everybody
experiences her."

"You're an enthusiast, Mr. Raymond. As an habitue of the house, of
course, you--"

"Oh, my time came with the rest," laughed the young man, with
unaffected frankness. "It's about two years ago now."

"I see--you were not a marrying man."

"Pardon me--it was because I was."

The Scotchman looked at him curiously.

"Maruja is an heiress. I am a mining engineer."

"But, my dear fellow, I thought that in your country--"

"In MY country, yes. But we are standing on a bit of old Spain.
This land was given to Dona Maria Saltonstall's ancestors by
Charles V. Look around you. This veranda, this larger shell of
the ancient casa, is the work of the old Salem whaling captain that
she married, and is all that is American here. But the heart of
the house, as well as the life that circles around the old patio,
is Spanish. The Dona's family, the Estudillos and Guitierrez,
always looked down upon this alliance with the Yankee captain,
though it brought improvement to the land, and increased its value
forty-fold, and since his death ever opposed any further foreign