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Rainbow's End by Rex Ellingwood Beach
page 38 of 467 (08%)
He saw himself as a splendid prince riding toward the humble home
of some obscure maiden whom he had graciously chosen to be his
mate.

His arrival threw Dona Isabel into a flutter; the woman could
scarcely contain her curiosity when she came to meet him, for he
was not the sort of man to inconvenience himself by mere social
visits. Their first formal greetings over, Don Mario surveyed the
bare living-room and remarked, lugubriously:

"I see many changes here."

"No doubt," the widow agreed. "Times have been hard since poor
Esteban's death."

"What a terrible calamity that was! I shudder when I think of it,"
said he. "I was his guest on the night previous, you remember? In
fact, I witnessed his wager of the negro girl, Evangelina--the
root of the whole tragedy. Well, well! Who would have believed
that old slave, her father, would have run mad at losing her? A
shocking affair, truly! and one I shall never get out of my mind."

"Shocking, yes. But what do you think of a rich man, like Esteban,
who would leave his family destitute? Who would die without
revealing the place where he had stored his treasure?"

Dona Isabel, it was plain, felt her wrongs keenly; she spoke with
as much spirit as if her husband had permitted himself to be
killed purely out of spite toward her.

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