Part 38 (2/2)

Whatever the cause, I received enough smiles and alluring glances from pretty senoritas and, I fear, senoras, to have quite turned my head, had I not been far too intent upon the hope of seeing my lady to heed these charming coquettes. What I did heed, however, was the fact that the prettier the girl, the more jealously guarded was she by a keen-eyed duenna. What hope had I of a word apart with Alisanda if she came in company with Dona Marguerite?

Between the thought of this and the need to scan the scores of approaching ladies, I was not in a favorable frame of mind to appreciate the grandeur and beauty of the _Parroquia_. Yet so splendid were the two pillared towers, which reared against the sapphire sky a full hundred feet above the front corners of the high edifice, and so ornate was the white stone _facade_ with its carvings and numerous statues of saints, that even my brief and preoccupied glances brought me a strong consciousness of the church's magnificence. I even looked twice at the carvings of the great round-arched entrance, so different in design from the pointed style of our Gothic ecclesiastical architecture.

That was as far as my observations went at the time, for as I again glanced out, I saw approaching among the throng of Moorishly draped figures one so tall and graceful that I knew her on the instant. I sprang from the entrance to meet her, but checked myself at the thought that it would be as well first to see who it was that accompanied her.

Alisanda wore her black lace mantilla, her companion a _rebozo_ of finest silk, and both walked with heads reverently bowed. Yet I needed no second glance to feel a.s.sured that the duenna had not so portly a figure as that of Senora Vallois. If not Dona Marguerite, who then?

I was not long kept waiting for my answer. Standing with my stiff hat in hand, I looked eagerly for a sign of recognition from my lady. She did not so much as raise her head. But her companion straightened a little and parted a fold of her _rebozo_ to bestow on me the mischievous flash of a sparkling eye. It was hardly the glance of an instant, yet it left me pleased and wondering why I had not at once recognized that plump, pet.i.te figure. The duenna I had so feared was none other than the wife of my friend Malgares, Dona Dolores. What was more, her look gave me the impression that she knew all, and, with the national love of intrigue, if not because of friends.h.i.+p for Alisanda, would aid us in our plans.

Vastly relieved at this discovery, I followed them at a respectful distance into the lofty domed interior of the _Parroquia_. As my eyes were fixed upon my lady, that I might not lose her in the throng which moved up the centre of the stone-flagged nave, I gathered at first only the vaguest of impressions with regard to the church's interior. But when she and Dona Dolores piously knelt upon the hard flagstones, in the midst of the peon women and the filthy beggars, I could not resist the impulse to look up and around.

At once, in place of the vague impression of magnificence, there burst upon my vision a glory of ornamentation almost dazzling. In all the Republic we have no church or other edifice to approach the _Parroquia_ of Chihuahua in richness and splendor of ornamentation. The windows were filled with pictures of saints and angels wrought in stained gla.s.s, which cast over all a rich coloring well in keeping with the gold-and-silver-bedecked altar, the bra.s.s screens and railings, the silver candelabra, and the brightly colored and gilded images and pictures and crucifixes on the walls.

Add to this splendor of decoration the rich vestments of the officiating priests, the incense and wax tapers, and the solemn service of music and prayer,--and the effect was one to impress the most frivolous of believers in the Romish faith.

Yet as I stood beside one of the carved pillars and watched the devout bendings and prayers of Alisanda, I could not but compare her real wors.h.i.+p with the formal movements and parrot-like invocations of those about her. Her religion was of the heart; theirs mere outward display.

So at least I surmised from the manner in which, between times, they whispered and nibbled at _dulces_, and stared about at one another. Of course Alisanda and her friend were not alone in their real devotion, but I speak of the crowd.

I followed the service as closely as the different accenting and p.r.o.nunciation of the Latin by Spanish tongues permitted. In justice to Alisanda, it was my duty to learn all I could with regard to her religion. I felt an added interest from the fact that the foremost of the priests was none other than Father Rocus.

Yet the closing of the ceremonies came as a vast relief to me. When for the last time the congregation crossed themselves and rose to leave, I leaned against my pillar and watched them pa.s.s out with as idle and careless a gaze as I could a.s.sume. All the time I kept the mantilla upon Alisanda's gracefully bowed head within the rim of my circle of vision.

But I was certain she never once cast a glance in my direction, nor did Dona Dolores.

Untrained as I was in the intricacies of Spanish courts.h.i.+p, I might have been discouraged had I not observed that in their advance toward the exit the two were drifting, so to speak, sideways. This brought them angling through the crowd toward my pillar. Senora Malgares was on the nearer side, and I fancied it was her purpose to speak to me. Instead, they both swept by without so much as a glance.

Only, as she pa.s.sed, the senora raised an arm beneath her _rebozo_ as though to adjust its folds, and the fringed edge swept over my hat, which I was holding at my hip. A slight tug at its brim induced me to look down, after a moment's prudent wait. Within the hat's crown lay a sc.r.a.p of paper upon which was written, in French, the single word, ”Follow.”

My height and dress, and the fact that I was one of the _Americanos_ about whom the city was so curious, made me a marked man in the crowd.

But if any among the hundreds of interested eyes that followed my movements had for owners some who suspected the purpose of my visit to the church, I flatter myself the sharpest were unable to distinguish which one of the ladies it was I followed into the open. To divert attention I glanced about at the peeping senoritas with feigned interest, until one angel-faced little coquette who could not yet have seen her sixteenth springtime fairly stared me out of countenance.

Once in the plaza, I had more room to man[oe]uvre, and started off at an angle to the course taken by Alisanda and her friend. To my chagrin I was at once surrounded by a tattered crowd of filthy _leprosos_, who exposed their sores and whined dolefully for alms. I flung them the few coppers I chanced to have with me, but that served only to whet the edge of their persistent begging. Suddenly I remembered that Don Pedro had given me the Spanish method for relieving oneself from these _caballeros de Dios_.

”Gentlemen,” I addressed them in my best Spanish, ”for G.o.d's sake, excuse me this time.”

Even a few drops of Spanish blood carries with it appreciation of ceremonious courtesy. My words and the bow with which I accompanied them acted like magic upon the clamoring rabble. All alike bowed in response, with a great flouris.h.i.+ng of greasy, tattered sombreros, and all alike stepped politely aside for me to pa.s.s.

The delay had given Alisanda and Dona Dolores several yards' start of me, but they were now sauntering so slowly that nearly all the members of the congregation who had turned in the same direction had gone by them. I followed several paces behind the last chattering, giggling group. As they pa.s.sed Dona Dolores she dropped her rosary. This I judged was intended as a signal for me to join them. I picked up the string of polished beads, and hastened forward beside their owner.

”Pardon me, madame,” I said in French, holding out the rosary, ”you dropped your necklace.”

”_Santisima Virgen!_” she exclaimed in mock surprise. ”They are indeed my beads. _Maria purisima!_ it is Senor Robinson! How fortunate that you should have chanced to find them for me, senor!”

I gave no heed to this mischievous raillery, for I was gazing across into the tender eyes of Alisanda. I started to go around beside her.

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