ry movement of which was cat-like and expressive
of treachery.

His high-crowned, broad-brimmed _sombrero_ of gray felt was richly
embroidered with gold and silver. A slender, pale yellow satin tie
adorned his soft white, heavily frilled shirt front. His soft gray
jacket and leggins of goat skin, also ornamented with gold and silver
buttons and embroidery, were slashed at the sleeves below the elbow and
knee and interlaced with filmy gold cords from beneath which shone a
pale yellow satin facing embroidered with tiny red flowers. A gay
scarlet silken _banda_ from beneath which peeped the silver hilt of a
knife, encircled his slender waist, while his feet were encased in
russet tanned boots adorned with spurs inlaid with gold and silver and
which tinkled like fairy bells with every step he took. The trappings of
his horse were also heavily inlaid with silver. Theatrical though his
costume was, it became him well and harmonized perfectly with his
surroundings, completing the picture of a Spanish Don, the
representative of a past era. A costume that was only to be seen in the
remoter parts of the country--one which was becoming rarer each day.

Four years had elapsed since he had last looked upon the familiar scenes
about him. Nothing appeared to have changed during that time as his gaze
wandered from the old _Posada_ to the garden beyond. He sighed, and a
momentary expression of pain and weariness passed across his countenance
as he silently surveyed the scene which recalled memories whose
bitterness was enough to overwhelm a man of maturer character and years.

In the Indian _pueblo_, La Jara, had lived the beautiful _mestiza_ girl,
Pepita Delaguerra, with whom he had fallen in love in early youth.

The gentle, confiding nature of Pepita was ill suited to that of the
passionate, impulsive Felipe, and proved her undoing. For, when old Don
Juan, Felipe's father, heard of his son's infatuation, he immediately
packed him off to the City of Mexico with the injunction not to return
under a year. An obscure half-caste for a daughter-in-law! Holy Maria!
the thought was enough to cause his hair to stand on end. No, the old
Don had other plans for his son. Maria Dolores, Felipe's cousin, was the
woman he had picked out for his wife, and marry her he should if he
wished to inherit his father's vast estates. In case he disregarded the
latter's wish and married Pepita, the estates were to go to the Church,
so it was stipulated in