"I have been listening to the cooks quarrelling over the olla,
Roberto. But what can my poor Manuel say when your Irishwoman
attacks him. Listen to her! `Take your dirty stew aff
the fire then! Shure it isn't fit for a Christian to ate at
all!'"

"I hope it is, Maria, for we have a visitor to-night."

"Who, then, my love?"

"Mr. Houston."

"Sam Houston? Holy Virgin of Guadalupe preserve us! I will
not see the man."

"I think you will, Maria. He has brought this letter for you
from our son Thomas; and he has been so kind as to take charge
of some fine horses, and sell them well for him in San
Antonio. When a man does us a kindness, we should say thank
you."

"That is truth, if the man is not the Evil One. As for this
Sam Houston, you should have heard what was said of him at the
Valdez's."

"I did hear. Everything was a lie."

"But he is a very common man."