rrative.

On the very morning after my flight from Lima, a servant of the
government paid my mother a visit of official importance. He brought
with him a notable document full of curious legal phrases, which, put in
simple language, meant that all my father's vast estates had been
confiscated and given over to that loyal and worthy Spaniard Don Felipe
Montilla. As an act of mercy, my mother was permitted to retain the
house and grounds at Lima during her lifetime.

In presenting this famous letter, the messenger was, of course, only
doing his duty, but it is certain that in some way he failed in the
respect due to a noble lady. He may have been one of those mean-spirited
people who delight in trampling on the fallen. There are, strange to
say, many such in the world.

My mother never alluded to the incident, which was related to me by Tomas
Peraza, an old and faithful servant, next in importance to Jose himself.

"The man had been with my lady nearly an hour," said he, in describing
the event, "when her bell rang, and I went into the room. She stood in
the centre of the apartment, her cheeks very red, and her eyes flashing
like summer stars.

"'Peraza,' she exclaimed, 'our house has fallen very low, but even so its
members brook insolence from no man. Bid my servants bring stout sticks
and chastise this rude fellow back to the place from which he came!'

"You may be sure that I lost no time in obeying. The fellow drew his
sword even in the presence of a lady; but it was knocked from his grasp,
and we drove him from the grounds with blows and buffets. It was a
strange spectacle, and the people came flocking to us in crowds. At
first they would have interfered, but on hearing me cry, 'This for
insulting the Donna Maria Crawford!' they desisted. And in this way we
pursued him right to the Government House, where he flung himself upon
the protection of the soldiers."

It was a harsh measure, perhaps; but then no man should be wanting in
respect to a woman, and the fellow had but himself to blame.

Jose, as I have said, withheld the news, or I should have gone at all
risks to Lima. As it was, I stayed contentedly in the valley, waiting
until the Indians received the signal to move.

From that time we heard rumours of hard fighting in various parts of the
country, and about the middle of March 1821 a messenger arrived from
Raymon Sorillo. He brought the order for thirty men to march to Pisco,
on the sea-