the implied reproach, Carroll felt relieved. He began to
be impatient of Garnier's presence, and longed to renew his suit.
Perhaps his face showed something of this, for Maruja added, with mock
demureness, "It's always dreadful to be the eldest sister; but think
what it is to be in the direct line of a curse! Now, there's
Amita--SHE'S free to do as she likes, with no family responsibility;
while poor me!" She dropped her eyes, but not until they had again
sought and half-reproved the brightening eyes of Carroll.

"But," said Garnier, with a sudden change from his easy security and
courteous indifference to an almost harsh impatience, "you do not mean
to say, Mademoiselle, that you have the least belief in this rubbish,
this ridiculous canard?"

Maruja's straight mouth quickly tightened over her teeth. She shot a
significant glance at Carroll, but instantly resumed her former manner.

"It matters little what a foolish girl like myself believes. The rest
of the family, even the servants and children, all believe it. It is a
part of their religion. Look at these flowers around the pear-tree,
and scattered on that Indian mound. They regularly find their way
there on saints' days and festas. THEY are not rubbish, Monsieur
Garnier; they are propitiatory sacrifices. Pereo would believe that a
temblor would swallow up the casa if we should ever forego these
customary rites. Is it a mere absurdity that forced my father to build
these modern additions around the heart of the old adobe house, leaving
it untouched, so that the curse might not be fulfilled even by
implication?"

She had assumed an air of such pretty earnestness and passion; her
satin face was illuminated as by some softly sensuous light within more
bewildering than mere color, that Garnier, all devoted eyes and
courteous blandishment, broke out: "But this curse must fall harmlessly
before the incarnation of blessing; Miss Saltonstall has no more to
fear than the angels. She is the one predestined through her charm,
through her goodness, to lift it forever."

Carroll could not have helped echoing the aspirations of his rival, had
not the next words of his mistress thrilled him with superstitious
terror.

"A thousand thanks, Senor. Who knows? But I shall have warning when
it falls. A day or two before the awful invader arrives, a coyote
suddenly appears in broad daylight, mysteriously, near the casa. This
midnight marauder, now banished to the th