Maruja | Page 5

makes a fellow too preposterous to fight. I see you don't
understand. You're a stranger; I'm an old habitue of the house--let me
explain. Both of these men are in love with Maruja; or, worse than that,
they firmly believe her to be in love with THEM."
"But Miss Maruja is the eldest daughter of our hostess, is she not?" said
the Scotchman; "and I understood from one of the young ladies that the
Captain had come down from the Fort particularly to pay court to Miss
Amita, the beauty."
"Possibly. But that wouldn't prevent Maruja from flirting with him."
"Eh! but are you not mistaken, Mr. Raymond? Certainly a more quiet,
modest, and demure young lassie I never met."
"That's because she sat out two waltzes with you, and let you do the
talking, while she simply listened."
The elder man's fresh color for an instant heightened, but he recovered
himself with a good-humored laugh. "Likely--likely. She's a capital

good listener."
"You're not the first man that found her eloquent. Stanton, your
banking friend, who never talks of anything but mines and stocks, says
she's the only woman who has any conversation; and we can all swear
that she never said two words to him the whole time she sat next to him
at dinner. But she looked at him as if she had. Why, man, woman, and
child all give her credit for any grace that pleases themselves. And why?
Because she's clever enough not to practice any one of them--as graces.
I don't know the girl that claims less and gets more. For instance, you
don't call her pretty?" . . .
"Wait a bit. Ye'll not get on so fast, my young friend; I'm not prepared
to say that she's not," returned the Scotchman, with good- humored yet
serious caution.
"But you would have been prepared yesterday, and have said it. She
can produce the effect of the prettiest girl here, and without challenging
comparison. Nobody thinks of her--everybody experiences her."
"You're an enthusiast, Mr. Raymond. As an habitue of the house, of
course, you--"
"Oh, my time came with the rest," laughed the young man, with
unaffected frankness. "It's about two years ago now."
"I see--you were not a marrying man."
"Pardon me--it was because I was."
The Scotchman looked at him curiously.
"Maruja is an heiress. I am a mining engineer."
"But, my dear fellow, I thought that in your country--"
"In MY country, yes. But we are standing on a bit of old Spain. This
land was given to Dona Maria Saltonstall's ancestors by Charles V.
Look around you. This veranda, this larger shell of the ancient casa, is

the work of the old Salem whaling captain that she married, and is all
that is American here. But the heart of the house, as well as the life that
circles around the old patio, is Spanish. The Dona's family, the
Estudillos and Guitierrez, always looked down upon this alliance with
the Yankee captain, though it brought improvement to the land, and
increased its value forty-fold, and since his death ever opposed any
further foreign intervention. Not that that would weigh much with
Maruja if she took a fancy to any one; Spanish as she is throughout, in
thought and grace and feature, there is enough of the old Salem
witches' blood in her to defy law and authority in following an
unhallowed worship. There are no sons; she is the sole heiress of the
house and estate--though, according to the native custom, her sisters
will be separately portioned from the other property, which is very
large."
"Then the Captain might still make a pretty penny on Amita," said the
Scotchman.
"If he did not risk and lose it all on Maruja. There is enough of the old
Spanish jealousy in the blood to make even the gentle Amita never
forgive his momentary defection."
Something in his manner made the Scotchman think that Raymond
spoke from baleful experience. How else could this attractive young
fellow, educated abroad and a rising man in his profession, have failed
to profit by his contiguity to such advantages, and the fact of his being
an evident favorite?
"But with this opposition on the part of the relatives to any further
alliances with your countrymen, why does our hostess expose her
daughters to their fascinating influence?" said the elder man, glancing
at his companion. "The girls seem to have the usual American
freedom."
"Perhaps they are therefore the less likely to give it up to the first man
who asks them. But the Spanish duenna still survives in the family--the
more awful because invisible. It's a mysterious fact that as soon as a
fellow becomes particularly attached to any one--except Maruja--he

receives some intimation from Pereo."
"What! the butler? That Indian-looking fellow?