The Beautiful Eyes of Ysidria | Page 8

that she
left me and went to her room.

I did not notice when she left, and not until the clock in the veranda
struck eleven did I become aware of the length of time I had been
dreaming awake.
The moon was shining clear and full in the blue, cloudless sky, so
bright that scarcely a star could be seen, illuminating the whole country
so that everything not in shadow could be distinguished as well as if it
were noontime.
I walked out from the garden down by the Castilian hedge and along
the road where the shadows of the oaks, with their twisted and
mistletoe-covered branches, made grotesque forms. I was very fond of
these solitary walks on moonlight nights, often going as far as the
divide, from which Bolinas and the great ocean can be seen, and where
Larsen's wayside inn now stands, but to-night there was a new
sensation of loneliness which I had never felt before, and I longed for
some one to be with me; then I began to wonder whom I would prefer
for a companion, and thought of all my friends, even to old Madre
Moreno, but none of them seemed to be the one to break the new and
undefinable loneliness. Suddenly the form of the fair stranger, with her
bright eyes and expressive face, came up before my fancy, and I
exclaimed, "Yes, it is she; it is she alone!"
"Alone!" sounded back upon my ear like a human voice, which startled
me from my reverie, and I saw that I was standing beside the old adobe,
whither I had wandered without knowing. Close at my feet lay a bit of
white cloth which attracted my attention, and I picked it up. It was a
handkerchief of fine cambric, in one corner of which was embroidered
a name, which I could easily read in the moonlight, "Ysidria."
I read the name aloud, and the great wall with its ivy glistening silver in
the light echoed back the name. At the time I was not surprised to hear
the the three syllables so fully pronounced by the echo. I enjoyed the
sound of the name, and called it again and again. "Ysidria! Ysidria!"
each time called back the ruined wall, and at last I had to laugh as I
thought of the ludicrous appearance I presented, calling aloud a name
and like a child being pleased with the voice of the unseen spirit, but as
I laughed, that too, reverberated, but the sound seemed changed, and it

made me involuntarily shudder as I remembered the scene of that very
morning, when my laugh had produced the same strange feeling, half of
awe and half of anger. I looked around as if I expected to find some one
at my side. I started at every sound, and the long, creeping shadows
made me tremble. I was certainly strong, and had often shown myself
courageous in time of danger, but the mysterious awe which fell upon
me here completely unnerved me, and a cold perspiration started, when
from the wall I heard a whisper, distinctly audible, which pronounced
the words, "Ysidria hath beautiful eyes!"
I could not move, it seemed to me as if my heart ceased beating; I
listened and strained my ears in agonizing suspense, but the voice did
not come again, and the moon dropping suddenly behind the fig trees,
cast the whole place into profound darkness.
I felt free again, and pressing the handkerchief to my lips, imprinted a
kiss upon it and then at the same moment called myself a fool for so
suddenly becoming infatuated with the stranger in whom I had not the
slightest reason for taking more than a passing interest at most, no more
than common politeness required.
Again I laughed aloud and again the same fearful, hollow echo came
back to me from the ruined wall. I could stand it no longer, and turning,
ran from the grove, over the brow of the hill to the road, fearing every
moment lest the strange spell, from which I had just recovered, should
seize me again.
As I ascended the second hill, I saw, as I looked behind me, a female
figure slowly walking down to the road from the grove of figs. I knew
at once who it was from the odd manner of wearing her reboso, and by
the lameness of her gait; it was Madre Moreno, the witch.
The thought suddenly came to me that she must have been hidden in
the ruin, and have heard me when I called the name of Ysidria, and I
mentally cursed the old hag. Then I thought of the whispered sentence,
and of the three syllabled echo; and knew they must have come from
her.

"What can the