hop was summoned from San Luis,
and Don Victor and Don Vincente Sepulvida, with the Donas Carmen and
Inez Alvarado, and a former alcalde, gathered at a family council the
next day. In this serious conclave the good Father Felipe once more
expounded the alienated condition and the dangerous reading of the
absent man. In the midst of which the ordinary post brought a letter
from Don Jose, calmly inviting the family to dine with him and Roberto
at San Mateo on the following Wednesday. The document was passed
gravely from hand to hand. Was it a fresh evidence of mental
aberration--an audacity of frenzy--or a trick of the vaquero? The
archbishop and alcalde shook their heads--it was without doubt a
lawless, even a sacrilegious and blasphemous fete. But a certain
curiosity of the ladies and of Father Felipe carried the day. Without
formally accepting the invitation it was decided that the family should
examine the afflicted man, with a view of taking active measures
hereafter. On the day appointed, the traveling carriage of the
Sepulvidas, an equipage coeval with the beginning of the century, drawn
by two white mules gaudily caparisoned, halted before the hotel at San
Mateo and disgorged Father Felipe, the Donas Carmen and Inez Alvarado
and Maria Sepulvida, while Don Victor and Don Vincente Sepulvida, their
attendant cavaliers on fiery mustangs, like outriders, drew rein at the
same time. A slight thrill of excitement, as of the advent of a
possible circus, had preceded them through the little town; a faint
blending of cigarette smoke and garlic announced their presence on the
veranda.

Ushered into the parlor of the hotel, apparently set apart for their
reception, they were embarrassed at not finding their host present.
But they were still more disconcerted when a tall full-bearded
stranger, with a shrewd amused-looking face, rose from a chair by the
window, and stepping forward, saluted them in fluent Spanish with a
slight American accent.

"I have to ask you, gentlemen and ladies," he began, with a certain
insinuating ease and frankness that alternately aroused and lulled
their suspicions, "to pardon the absence of our friend Don Jose
Sepulvida at this preliminary greeting. For to be perfectly frank with
you, although the ultimate aim and object of our gathering is a social
one, you are doubtless aware that certain infelicities and
misunderstandings--common to most families--have occurred, and a free,
dispassi