and the oldest woman ever seen out of a
pyramid.

There was an agonizing time getting us all introduced and a still
more agonizing time of stage wait afterward. Then Cousin Dudley (I
thirsted for his gore) said chirpily, "My niece has learned to speak
Spanish, you know."

My dear, it made the Tower of Babel seem like "going into the
silence." Everybody in that room talked to me at once. In my frantic
boast and foolish word about the easiness of Spanish it had never
occurred to me that people would talk to _me_! If the fiends had
only held their tongues and let _me_ ask _them_ to have the kindness
to do me the favor to show me which way was the cathedral, or
whether it was the silk handkerchief of the rich Frenchman which the
young lady's old sick father required, all would have been well, but
instead--a madhouse!

Then came rescue. The sweetest, softest pussy willow of a girl with a
delicious accent said, "So deed I also feel, in the conevent, when
they all at once spik _ingles_!" She was in pearl gray, no powder,
no mustache, slim as a reed. Her gentle name is Maria de Guadalupe
Rosalia Merced Castello, but they call her "Lupe" ("Loopie," Sally,
not Loop!) She is a penniless orphan, just visiting her kin at
present, but lives with an uncle in Guanajuato (where delves my C.E.
at his mine) and she is in disgrace because of an undesirable love
affair, so the _senora_ told Cousin Ada. They are taking us to the
_Plaza_ to-night, and meanwhile we sup.

Delightedly,

JANE.

P.S. 11.30 P.M. The _Plaza_ is still the parlor in Guadalajara and
it's enchanting! The staid background of the chaperones in _coches_,
the slow procession of youths and maidens, two and two, boys in one
line, girls in another, the eager, forward looks, the whisper at
passing, the note slipped from hand to hand, the backward glances,
all classes, and over all, through all, the pleading, pulsing call
of the music.

Sarah, never did you make melody like that, decent New Englander that
you are! It's so poignantly searching-sweet, so _sin verguenza_
(without shame!) _El profesor_ had them play _La Golondrina_, their
national anthem, really, which means merely The Swallow, to start
with, but everything else a hungry heart can pack into it. Lupe and
I walked together and she was pouring out her dewy