Wabash College - Wabash Yearbook (Crawfordsville, IN)

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that she might win some little favor from the savior' who was always so cold and distant. He cou'ld not be blamed for holding aloof from her. lxlad he not heard many, many things? She stood in a beautiful posture of hesitation, till, seeing he did not move or speak, she began timidly: Senor? lle was silent, and puffed slowly at his pipe. She moved a very little nearer. Senor? Again her soft, low voice came to him from out the darkness. This time he replied as coolly as he could: XfVhat is it? V l have a great favor to ask of the senorf' She waited a moment, then went on, There is a great fzmciou at Senor lelugo's to-night. l have no one for my C01Ilf7tllIl'tI. Will you not come, Senor? He quickly tried to think back to a certain day in June, when he and the other one had sat upon the edge of a little lake and told each other of their love. l.lut the memory would not come distinct and clear. l'erhaps he did not want it to come very badly. ln the darkness he could feel Juli- ana's presence rather than see her. To him came once more the sound of kQ'Itl'fCl'l'7'0.Y, and a clear tenor voice raised in a Spanish love-song, throbbing with emotion. He pictured to himself the gleam of the lanterns that were hung in the lnmrto where the festival was being held. He could feel the pulsation of the dance, a waltz. Just then the girl, with an impulsive movement, one full of warmth and meaning, r 1 stepped to the man's side, and throwing her soft, bare arms around his neck, repeated her question: Senor, will you come? I-Ie shoved her gently from him, and got up. Yes, Senorita. l'll go. VVait but a moment for me. And he went to his room. When he returned he was wearing for the first time the broad, brightly colored sash of the Spaniard, and a som-- brero, with a band to match it. They passed down the street-he numbly wondering what he was doing, and she garrulous and gay in a victory won. Wihen VVendell McPherson crept into his bed that night shortly after the clock in the hallway had struck one, he vaguely wondered if he were himself or someone else. lt seemed impossible that life should take on a different aspect so suddenly. He lay awake for a long time, thinking over the evening that had just passed. He closed his eyes and again he seemed to be drifting about l-Iugo's lzucrto, the throbbing music in his ears, and the living, breathing vision of love in his arms. l'le thrilled as he in fancy again stood in the court-yard without, bidding good-night to Juliana. When he at last fell asleep it was to dream alternately of the sad, appealing face of the one back home and the beauti- ful, laughing one of Juliana. That night marked the beginning of a new life for him. His hitherto serious and solemn existence was suddenly transformed into one of laughter, pleasure and never-to-be- forgotten evenings spent with Juliana. The days passed swiftly, for his mind and 'heart were care free. The work 26

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f'McP.herson, Iuliana's going to be there,'l and Carthers laughed as he went away. XVendell sat down, refilled his pipe, lit it, and imme- diately fell to thinking. Wfas not Carthers right when he said that he would go crazy if he did not get away from himself soon? A year and two months had passed since he and that other one had plighted their faith and trust and love away back at an Indiana college. All this time he had been working out here in New Mexico for a railroad that was slowly pushing its way across the mountains and the Rio Grande plateau. l-le had seen her but twice during the fourteen months, then only for a day each time. VVas he changing? Were not some of his ideals and ambitions, with which he had left college, a little bit tarnished? Did he feel just the same as he had then toward life and toward the girl who had told him he was her all? For a year and two months now he had been living among these Spaniards, In- dians, Mexicans and whites, with their loose, gay, happy life, without once yielding to any sort of a temptation. I-Ie had daily associated with his brother engineers, men of low characters and vicious habits, without, so far as any out- ward sign was concerned, tainting himself the least bit. But the restraint, the constant guard of himself, was beginning to tell upon his mentality. l-Ie was a man inherently weak and emotional. Every moral victory meant a fierce battle with him. Even now there came an impulse to get away and out from himself, and join for but one brief hour the gaiety of the plaza, an impulse to mingle and lose himself in the warmth and the color'of the life around him. The call of the country and its life came to him strongly just then. 25 lt was almost dark now. He could hear through the cool, still air the sound of guitarros, the accompanying music of the ll'tllIStl. The crowd on the plaza was becoming less dense. Senor 1-l.ugo's would be popular that night. VVhy not go, he thought, just this once? Then, as if the devil himself had planned it, there came through the door and out onto the portico an already too fa- miliar figure-that of Juliana, the daughter of his Spanish landlord. lleautiful in the extreme she was, as she stood poised upon one foot, awaiting some sign from him, that she might know of her welcome. lndeed, Juliana was known through- out the entire Rio Grande valley as the most beautiful senorita of them all. And it was this marvelous beauty of body and face that had been her fortune, also her ruin, for she had none too good a reputation among the righteous element of the town. Many noted men of wealth, of both Spanish and American blood, had come to worship her and do her homage. But she l1ad been the same Juliana to them all. She knew that it was her face and body they wor- shiped, and she acted accordingly. fljaradoxical as it might seem, she had been passionately sensuous with her body, but this had been accompanied with a coldness of heart and soul that only McPherson's coming had managed to soften. The change had been wrought all unconsciously by him. He had awakened within her that which she had never felt before-love. The true womanhood in her was being born. She had left all other men alone, and now was loving him with all the hot passion of her Spanish nature. Her past was by herself forgotten, and she lived in the present,

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at the office and field became lighter and more enjoyable. Margaret was not entirely forgotten, but he thought of her as very distant, as one that had been a part of his old life. His letters to her almost ceased, but hers came with a pa- thetic regularity, till they stopped abruptly. He did not worry about it, and considered their affair at an end. But one day there came in his mail at the office a letter bearing the familiar post-mark. lt was from Margaret's mother. It told him of the serious fever that had come to the girl. It told him of the words she had said while in her delirium. lt begged him to return, if he loved her at all. McPherson was strongly moved by the appeal, and de- cided to go, tell them the truth, and return. He did not have the courage to write. That evening he got a leave of ab- sence from the f'boss, went to his room and packed a suit- case. As he worked, his mind traveled back to the Indiana town, and he lived once more his college days. The spell of Juliana and the Spanish life to which she belonged, left him for the moment, and he began to look forward with eagerness to his meeting with Margaret. As the stage did not leave for two hours he became rest- less and decided to go for a walk. The night was perfect. A full moon shone and threw the queer,'mud-plastered houses into all sorts of fantastic shapes by reason of light and shadow. Ahead of him rose the black bulk of the Pueblo range of mountains, thirty miles away. In a few minutes he came to the bridge that spanned the little stream south of town. He came quite close before he noticed the motionless figure of a girl seated upon one of the benches, her head and arms resting upon the low guard-rail. I-Ie 27 recognized it as Juliana. All thoughts of the other one strangely left him. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. VVhat's the matter, Juliana P She turned and looked at him with a face from which all the laughter had vanished. Tears were in her eyes. They say you are going away. Senor. VVho said so? Carthers told me. VVendell was silent for a long time. He watched the glint of the moon on the stream, which flowed between great black masses of willow brush. VVell? ls it so, Senor PU Yes-to-morrow. Must you go? VVhy must you go P Because-well, you see-because- VVhy P I-I don't know. Then Senor does not have to go-Senor will stay. Will he not P VVhy, Juliana, who would care if 1 did go? and he tried to speak lightly. A soft, warm arm was slipped around his neck and a smooth cheek caressed his own. - Guess who, Senor? Wliicll was her Spanish way of answering his question. He thrilled as she said it. Her hair was touching his te-mple and forehead. Indiana seemed very, very far away as he took her in his arms and held her close. Mio Carina, she whispered.