The Pearl of Lima: A Story of True Love

regnated with a refreshing coolness, which in these burning latitudes affords freedom of breath; it is the hour in which one can live a European life, and seek without on the verandas some cooling gen

o

ace on the Plaza-Mayor, that forum of the ancient city of kings; artisans were profiting by the coolness to quit their daily labors; they circulated actively among the crowd, crying their various merchandise; the ladies of Lima, carefully enveloped in the mantillas which mask their countenances, with the exception o

e Indians passed without lifting their eyes upon them, knowing themselves to be beneath their notice; betraying by no gesture or word, the bitter envy of t

the Indians whom they had conquered, and the mestizoes, born of their relations with the natives of the New World. The Indians, on the contrary, were constantly s

nd Indian in their hatred which they had vowed against the Span

cloth or cotton in the form of a parallelogram, with an opening in the middle to give passage to the head, in large pantaloons,

a very obsequious young man,

a young mestizo of swarthy complexion, whose thin

ator Lafuente, had inherited a large fortune; this he freely scattered among his

ch disturb Peru to gratify private ambition?" resumed André, in a loud voice; "

der the most republican government, could n

in a calêche drawn by mules? Have not my ships brought wealth and prosperity t

o horses! Don Fernand d'Aiquillo! He has scarcely property enough to feed his coachman and horses, and he

the Marquis Don Vegal, knight of Alcantara, of Malta, and of Charles III. He had a right to appear in this pompous equipage; the viceroy and the archbishop could alone take precedence of him; but this great nobleman came here from ennui and not from ostentation; his thoughts

man," said

not hate

e last splendors of their luxury; I can tell w

entrée with the Jew

his strong-box are piled the wrecks of great fortunes; and in the day when the

ou are about to double your fortune! When are you to marry the beautiful young daughter of old S

proudly, "there will be no fortune

"do you not espouse some Sp

people as much

been repulsed by several noble families, in

when the latter was rudely elbowed by a man of tall stature, whose gray hairs proclaimed him to

d by red garters to stockings of clay-color; on his feet were sandals made of ojotas, ox-hide prepared for this purpose; beneath his high-pointed

laimed the mestizo, rai

. Milleflores, whose face was

André! t

! to presume

dman! it is

The latter, whose anger was unbounded, had seized a poignard at his girdle, and was about to have rushed on the impassable aggressor, when a gut

owardly!" exc

ftly. "Let us leave the Plaza-Mayor; the

autiously around to see whether he was not within reac

e at the house of Jew

gro; you can offer some oranges or ananas to the charmi

re Milleflores hoped his good looks would be appreciated; but it was nightfall, and the young Limaniennes merited

. The greatest variety of trades seemed to be congregated there, and from the Portal de Escribanos to the Portal de Botoneros, there was one immense display of articles of every kind, the Plaza-Mayor serving at once as promenade, bazaar, market and fair. The ground-floor of the viceroy's palace is occupied by shops; along the first s

llar, which rises in the middle of the fountain and is surmounted with a statue of Fame, the water falls in sheets, and is discharged into a basin beneath through t

stars of night rise above the snowy summits of the Cordilleras, the t

re succeeds the murmur of prayer; the women pause in their walk and put their hands on their rosaries, invoking the Virgin Mary. Then, not a me

g multitude; she was followed by a mestizo woman, a sort of duenna, who watched every glance and step. The duenna, as if she had not understood the warning be

ghter of Satan?" sai

alarina-that i

women." (A reproachful na

last stopped, blus

d her to kneel; but he had scarcely laid his hand upon her when a vigorous arm rudely felle

gentle and respectful voice

an of tall stature, who, with his arms tranquilly folded,

, for the love of God!" and she seized the arm of the young

l, and thinking it not prudent to seek rev