big nose was purple with rage.  He swore that he would turn every guest away from the door; he swore that he would be taking a bath on the corridor when they came up, and throw insults in their faces.  Ay, Pomposa!  I went down on my knees.  I thought I should not have my ball—­such cakes as I had made, and such salads!  But Diego saved me.  He went into Don Polycarpo’s room and cried ‘Fire!’ Of course the old man ran there, and then we locked him in.  Diego had screwed down the window first.  Dios de mi vida! but he is terrible, that man!  What have I done to be punished with him?”

“Thou art too handsome and too cruel, my Luisa.  But, in truth, he is an old wild-cat.  The saints be praised that he is safe for the night.  Did he swear?”

“Swear!  He has cursed the skin off his throat and is quiet now.  Come, my little ones, are you ready?  The caballeros are dry in Diego’s clothes by this time, and waiting for their waltzes;” and she drove them through the door into the sala with a triumphant smile on her dark sparkling face.

The rest of the party had been dancing for an hour, and all gathered about the girls to hear the story of the accident, which was told with many variations.  Eulogia as usual was craved for dances, but she capriciously divided her favours between Abel Hudson and Don Tomas Garfias.  During the intervals, when the musicians were silent and the girls played the guitar or threw cascarones at their admirers, she sat in the deep window-seat watching the ponderous waves of the Pacific hurl themselves against the cliffs, whilst Hudson pressed close to her side, disregarding the insistence of Garfias.  Finally, the little Don from the City of the Angels went into the dining room to get a glass of angelica, and Hudson caught at his chance.

“Senorita,” he exclaimed, interrupting one of her desultory remarks, “for a year I have loved you, and, for many reasons, I have not dared to tell you.  I must tell you now.  I have no reason to think you care more for me than for a dozen other men, but if you will marry me, senorita, I will build you a beautiful American house in San Luis Obispo, and you can then be with your friends when business calls me away.”

“And where will you live when you are away from me?” asked Eulogia, carelessly.  “In a cave in the mountains?  Be careful of the bandits.”

“Senorita,” he replied calmly, “I do not know what you mean by the things you say sometimes.  Perhaps you have the idea that I am another person—­John Power, or Pio Lenares, for instance.  Do you wish me to bring you a certificate to the effect that I am Abel Hudson?  I can do so, although I thought that Californians disdained the written form and trusted to each other’s honour, even to the selling of cattle and lands.”

“You are not a Californian.”

“Ah, senorita—­God! what is that?”

A tremendous knocking at the outer door sounded above the clear soprano of Graciosa La Cruz.