The Golden Fleece: A Romance

e there is no frost, walls of adobe last as long as granite. The house consisted, practically, of but one story; for although there were rooms under the roof, they were used

of the rooms also communicated directly with each other, and, through low windows, gave on the veranda in front; for the house was merely

ly, which so much resembles it. Nevertheless, there are compensations. The soil is inexhaustibly fertile, and its fertility expresses itself in the most inveterate beauty. Such colors and varieties of flowers exist nowhere else, and they continue all the year round. Climbing vines storm the walls, and toss their green ladders all over it, for beauty to walk up and down. Huge jars, standing on the verandas, emit volcanoes of lovely blossoms; and vases swung fr

note. It is like conversing with a person whose every word is an epigram. The senses have their limitations, and imagination and expectation are half of beauty and delight, and the better half; otherwise we sho

est limits, like a prisoner in his cell, or a meadow-lark hopping to and fro in a seven-inch cage. The plan and aspect of the buildings are monotonous, and so is the way of life of those who inhabit them. Fortunat

u can stand with one foot planted in everlasting sterility and the other in immortal verdure. In the midst of an arid and hopeless waste, you come suddenly upon the brink of a narrow ravine, sharply defined as if cut out with an axe, and packed to the brim with enchantin

ted the blood in the veins, and stopped the beating of the heart. Underfoot were fine dust, and whitened bones; the air was prismatic and magical, ever conjuring up phantom pictures, whose characteristic was that they were at the farthest remove from any possible reality. The azure sky descended

poised overhead, tottering to a fall; a shiver of earthquake, a breath of hurricane, and they come crashing and splintering in destruction down. Along the sides of these acclivities extend long, level lines and furrows, marks of where the ocean flowed ages ago. But sometimes the hills are but accumulations of desert dust, which shift slowly from place to place under the

oeless, for this side of the house is frequented chiefly by the servants of the place, who are Mexican Indians. Ancient wooden settles are bolted to the walls; from hooks hang Indian baskets of bright colors; in one corner are stretched raw hides, which serve as beds. Small brown children, half naked, trot, clamber, and crawl about. Black-haired, swarthy women squat on the tiled floor, pursuing their vocations, or, often, doing nothing a

opening on opposite sides, one on the court-yard, the other on an orange grove at the south end of the house. Besides being, in itself, a cool and pleasant spot, it is full of interest to any one who cares about the relics and antiquities of

. Try it. It fits you perfectly, you see. There c

ed to turn their regard inward, and to traverse strange regions, not of this world. "I see some one who is myself, though I can never have been she: she is surrou

emperament; and every one knows how impressions are transmitted. If feat

great mysteries,-or else nothing." She now removed from her head the curious cap or helmet, ornamented with gold and with the green feathers of the humming-bird, which her companion had crowne

ome when you will feel

e spoke, "and yet you are not. There is one of you that thinks, and another that speaks

an beings except to tak

iam, after a little pause. She never spoke hurriedly, o

a good part of my life has been spent with people who couldn't be trusted; and perhaps the habit of protecting myself against them

t the Gold

can imagine a Medea; b

e, the Dragon

feared than Medea's eyes. But this fleece seems to have los

ere the gold

ething now, Miss Trednoke. How ca

g her fingers caressingly over the soft tunic. "Then, when the right

ut who is the right person? The thing seems

am, gravely. "And if you wanted to find the gold, yo

paid for more than once, before it is found. Besides, there is something

iriam, turning her tr

indications of a character which a lifetime might not be long enough wholly to explore. Marriage had never been among the enterprises he had, in the course of his career, proposed to himself: he did not propose it now: yet he dared not risk the utterance of a word that would lead Miriam to look at him with an offended or contemptuous glance. It was not that she was, from the merely physical point of view, transcendently beautiful. His first impression of her, indeed, had been that she was merely an unusually good example of a type by no mean

entirely oblivious of the existence of such a person as Grace Parsloe, when, much to his irritation, he heard the voice of that young lady, mingled with others, approaching along the veranda. At the same

vening, and who was called Don Miguel de Mendoza. The senor, to judge from his manner, had already fallen violently in love with Grace, and was almost dislocating his organs of speech in the effort to pay her romantic compliments in En

was a creature of violent extremes, tempered, but not improved, by a thin polish of subtlety. She was now about to give an illustration of the passion of jealousy. But it was not her jealousy that Freeman minded: it was the prospect of Mir

e deserved. Grace's attack was too impetuous. She stopped just inside the threshold

nce to widen the breach to the utmost e

huckle, "you're no diplomatist, Harvey! What are

eturned Freeman, who wished to quarrel with somebody, and had promptly decided that Seno

r, stepping forward with a polite g

senor," interrupted Freeman, in Spanish. "I was just remarking that the

Don Miguel, stiff

y upon him, "I judge only from such specimens o

ould make a reply, Meschines, who scented mischief in the air, and divi

and Torquemada. For my part, I brought him here in the hope that he might be able to throw some light on the mystery of this embroidered garment, which I

s of that abyss which has no bottom. Miriam, who was not fond of Don Miguel, but who felt constrained to exceptional courtesy in view of Free

she was flirting with him. In other words, Freeman was jealous; and to be jealous is to love. Now, Grace was so constituted that, though she did not like to

fest jealousy of Don Miguel. As a matter of fact, he was not jealous, and he was unfaithful; but fate had dec

u were so savage,

" replied Freema

still more softly: she fancied he was referring to

e can get," said Freeman

he, meaning that Freeman and herself

observed Freeman, too indiff

eriously," she went on: "these Mexicans are absur

eaning that if Don Miguel attempted to interfere b

you," said Grace, spa

how you can help it

nage a creature like that

ange of attitude puzzled him a little,-"I'm glad you look a

proaching the point where their eyes might have been opened, in

s, and his bearing was animated,

ht news of a cloud-burst in that direction. I rode far enough to ascertain that there has really been something of the kind, and I think it has affected the arroyo on the farther side of the li

"I imagine I can stand as much of the desert

d you, Mr

act, I had been intending to gratify my curiosity

to show you something more curious than you anticipate.-And now, Senor de Me

ity to have Grace all to himself, and he meant to improve it. He also wished leisure to think over some plan for getting rid of Senor Free