Part 20 (1/2)
”Did I not say that wo her hand, I kissed it ”This is the first time I have kissed a married woman's hand, but the husband of such a ill know better than to be jealous”
”Jealous--ha, ha!” he laughed ”It would have made me prouder if you had kissed her cheek”
”Juan--a nice thing to say!” exclai his hand tenderly
Then while we sipped _ it necessary, when explaining ht deviations froreed that o on to Rocha to wait there for a passport before proceeding to Montevideo But I was not allowed to leave them that day; and, while we talked over our _mate_, Candelaria deftly repaired the tell-tale cuts infriends with the children, who proved to be very intelligent and a the to their bird's-nesting, ar, and other adventures Then came a late dinner, after which the children said their prayers and retired, then we ss without an acco to sleep in a soft, clean bed
I had announced ; and when I woke, finding it already light, I dressed hastily, and, going out, found , with three other saddled horses, at the gate In the kitchen I found Don Juan, his wife, and the two biggest boys having their early _mate_ My host toldto wish ather up his cattle He at once wishedlish breakfast
I then rose and thanked the good senora for her hospitality
”Onea s froivenIt is only a sift, but while you are in this trouble and away froht be of use to you”
I did not wish to take money from her after all the kind treatment I had received, and so allowed the purse to lie on my open hand where she had placed it
”And if I cannot accept it----” I began
”Then you will hurt me very much,” she replied ”Could you do that after the kind words you spoke yesterday?”
I could not resist, but, after putting the purse away, took her hand and kissed it
”Good-bye, Candelaria,” I said, ”you have made me love your country and repent every harsh word I have ever spoken against it”
Her hand re, and did not see her there looking so sweet and loving, and re the words her husband had spoken the day before, I stooped and kissed her cheek and lips
”Adieu, my friend, and God be with you,” she said
I think there were tears in her eyes when I left her, but I could not see clearly, for rown diht of this woreasy over her work, and had called her Juno of the grease-pot! Now, after an acquaintance of about eighteen hours, I had actually kissed her--a wife and thevoice and et those eyes, full of sweet, pure affection and tender sy shall I think of Candelaria, loving her like a sister Could any woman in my own ultra-civilised and excessively proper country inspirelike that in so short a time? I fancy not Oh, civilisation, with yourprudishnesses, vain education for the little ones, going to church in best black clothes, unnatural craving for cleanliness, feverish striving after co no coether? Candelaria and that genial runaway John Carrickfergusafter happiness in the wrong way It ith us once and ours, but we despised it, for it was only the old, coives to all her children, and ent away frorander kind of happiness which some dreamer--Bacon or another--assured us we should find We had only to conquer Nature, find out her secrets, make her our obedient slave, then the earth would be Eden, and everybravely on, conquering Nature, but hoeary and sad we are getting!
The old joy in life and gaiety of heart have vanished, though we do so forcedafter perpetual h at his expense
CHAPTER XXII
After leaving John and Candelaria's ho happened till I had nearly reached the desired haven of the Lomas de Rocha, a place which I was, after all, never destined to see except froreat distance A day unusually brilliant even for this bright cli within about two hours of sunset, when I turned out of e-like su like the last sierra of a range just where it dies down into the level plain; only in this instance the range itself did not exist The solitary hill was covered with short tussocks of yelloiry grass, with occasional bushes, while near the sue slabs of sandstone appeared just above the surface, looking like gravestones in soe churchyard, with all their inscriptions obliterated by time and weather From this elevation, which was about a hundred feet above the plain, I wished to survey the country before ry, so was ht Before me the country stretched away in vast undulations towards the ocean, which was not, however, in sight Not the faintest stain of vapour appeared on the immense crystalline dome of heaven, while the stillness and transparency of the atleaues distant, I took to be the lake of Rocha; on the western horizon were faint blue cloud-like masses with pearly peaks They were not clouds, however, but the sierras of the range weirdly nath, like a person who puts his binocular into his pocket and begins to look about his over illimitable space to examine the objects close at hand On the slope of the hill, sixty yards froreen, dwarf bushes, each bush looking in that still brilliant sunshi+ne as if it had been hewn out of a block ofthe of the bees co distinctly to my ears that first attracted my attention to the bushes; for so still was the atmosphere that at that distance apart--sixty yards--two personstheir voices Much farther down, about two hundred yards fro at soe, suspiciouspauses between the bites Over the harrier hovered a brown o hawk, a vulture-like bird in its habits, that lives by picking up unconsidered trifles Envious at the other's good fortune, or fearing, perhaps, that not even the cru to be left, it was persecuting the harrier by darting down at intervals with an angry cry and ai The harrier methodically ducked its head each time its tormentor rushed down at it, after which it would tear its prey again in its uncomfortableat the foot of the hill, rasses and plants that the water was quite concealed, its course appearing like a vivid green snake,in the sunshi+ne At the point of the strearound, apparently washi+ng hi over a little pool of water, while behind hi head, occasionally switching off the flies with its tail A , which looked to e shade trees growing singly or in irregular clu at it for some time I concluded that it was uninhabited For even at that distance I could see plainly that there were no hu about it, no horse or other does or enclosures of any description
Slowly I went down the hill, and to the old ed in the see a luxuriant crop of very long hair, which had soreat confusion He had dipped his head into the water, and with an old coht teeth, was laboriously and with infinite patience drawing out the long hairs, a very few at a ti on the neck of my horse, watched his efforts for some time with profound interest He toiled away in silence for five or six ain, and, while carefully wringing the wet out, he remarked that my horse looked tired