Part 21 (2/2)
CHAPTER XXIII
She then led me to the kitchen at the end of the house It was one of those roomy, old-fashi+oned kitchens still to be found in a few _estancia_ houses built in colonial times, in which the fireplace, raised a foot or two above the floor, extends the whole width of the roohted, the walls and rafters black with a century's se, cheerful fire blazed on the hearth, while before it stood a tall, gaunt wo _mate_ This was Ramona, an old servant on the _estancia_
There also sat led tresses, which he had evidently succeeded in co down quite s as a woman's hair Another person was also seated near the fire, whose agefrom twenty-five to forty-five, for he had, I think, a mixture of Indian blood in his veins, and one of those se He was an undersized, wiry-looking man with a small, intensely black moustache, but no whiskers or beard He seemed to be a person of some consequence in the house, and when my conductress introduced him to me as ”Don Hilario,” he rose to his feet and received me with a profound bow In spite of his excessive politeness I conceived a feeling of distrust towards him from the moment I saw him; and this was because his s at ain whenever I looked at hiaze of another We drank _mate_ and talked a little, but were not a lively party Dona Deh she sat with us, scarcely contributed a word to the conversation; while the long-haired man--Santos by naarette and sipped his _th dished up the supper and carried it out of the kitchen; we followed to the large living-rooathered round a sh apparently poverty-stricken, ate their s
At the head of the table sat the fierce old white-hairedat us out of his sunken eyes as we entered Half rising from his seat, heDon Hilario, who sat opposite, he said, ”This is my son Calixto, just returned frouished hiravely Demetria took the other end of the table, while Santos and Rareatly relieved to find that the old ed; there were no more wild outbursts like the one I had witnessed earlier in the evening; only occasionally he would fix his strange, burning eyes on an the meal with broth, which we finished in silence; and while we ate, Don Hilario's swift glances incessantly flew from face to face; De her eyes cast down all the ti, Ramona?” asked the old man in querulous tones when the old woman rose to remove the broth basins
”The _master_ has not ordered me to put any on the table,” she replied with asperity, and strongly e the obnoxious word
”What does this hbour ”My son has just returned after a long absence; are we to have no wine for an occasion like this?”
Don Hilario, with a faint smile on his lips, drew a key from his pocket and passed it silently to Ra, from the table and proceeded to unlock a cupboard, fro round the table, she poured out half a tu herself and Santos, who, to judge from his stolid countenance, did not expect any
”No, no,” said old Peralta, ”give Santos wine, and pour yourself out a glass also, Raood, faithful friends to ht that you should drink his health and rejoice with us at his return”
She obeyed with alacrity, and old Santos' wooden face alrin when he received his share of the purple fluid (I can scarcely call it juice) which lad the heart of lass and fixed his fierce, insane eyes on me ”Calixto, my son, ill drink your health,” he said, ”and hty fall on our enemies; may their bodies lie where they fall, till the hawks have consumed their flesh, and their bones have been trodden into dust by the cattle; andfire”
Silently they all raised their glasses to their lips, but when they set theain, the points of Don Hilario's black moustache were raised as if by a smile, while Santos shastly toast nothing more was spoken by anyone at the table
In oppressive silence we consumed the roast and boiled meat set before us; for I dared not hazard even themy volcanic host into a , Denal that supper was over; and immediately afterwards she left the room, followed by the two servants Don Hilario politely offered arette and lit one for himself For soradually dropped to sleep in his chair, after which we rose and went back to the kitchen Even that solooot up, and, withthat he had been invited to assist at a dance at a neighbouring _estancia_, took hih it was only about nine o'clock, I was shown to a rooe,only ht chairs bound with leather and black with age The floor was tiled, and the ceiling was covered with a dusty canopy of cobwebs, on which flourished a nued house-spiders I had no disposition to sleep at that early hour, and even envied Don Hilario, away enjoying hi out to the front, was standing wide open; the full ht with itsout my candle, for the house was now all dark and silent, I softly went out for a stroll Under a clump of trees not far off I found an old rustic bench, and sat down on it; for the place was all such a tangled wilderness of great weeds that walking was scarcely practicable and very unpleasant
The old, half-ruined house in the ht a singularly weird and ghost-like appearance
Near ular row of poplar-trees, and the long, dark lines cast from them by thethorn-apples predominated In the spaces between the broad bands e appeared of a dim, hoary blue, starred over with the white blosso weed About these flowers several big, greyout of the black shadows and when looked for, noiselessly vanishi+ng again in their host-like manner
Not a sound disturbed the silence except the faint,cicada from somewhere near--a faint, aerial voice that see and floating away in its loneliness, while earth listened, hushed into preternatural stillness Presently a large owl cahs of a neighbouring tree, began hooting a succession ofof a bloodhound at a vast distance Another owl by and by responded from some far-off quarter, and the dreary duet was kept up for half an hour
Whenever one bird ceased his solemn _boo-boo-boo-boo-boo_, I foundto stir lest I should lose the me start at its sudden appearance, then passed away, trailing a line of faint light over the dusky weeds
The passing firefly served to reht then occurred toof depression that had coar, and bit the end off; but when about to strike a vesta on my matchbox, I shuddered and droppedely nervous did I feel Or possibly it was a superstitious mood I had fallen into It seeion of s The people I had supped with did not seem like creatures of flesh and blood The slances and Mephistophelian smile; Demetria's pale, sorrowful face; and the sunken, insane eyes of her old, white-haired father--were all about reenery I dared not move; I scarcely breathed; the very weeds with their pale, dusky leaves were like things that had a ghostly life
And while I was in this morbid condition ofon me, I saw at a distance of about thirty yards a dark object, which seeazed intently on it, but it was motionless now, and appeared like a black, formless shadoithin the shade of the trees
Presently it caht, revealed a huht space and was lost in the shade of other trees; but it still approached, a waving, fluttering figure, advancing and receding, but always co nearer My blood turned cold inup on er, I jumped up froure, and then I saw that it was De her by junised her, she advanced to me