The Pearl of Lima: A Story of True Love

in Paz, pressed his marriage: he was impatient to parade t

ce; but he cared not for it, considering her as an article

dishonorable, the contractors were still more so. So the mestizo wished to have

ming, prohibited at Lima, is perfectly tolerated elsewhere. The passion of the Lima

e was a perpetual movement of the populace on the road from Lima: some came on foot, who re

pleasures. The reveries of the young Indian had more nob

t danger for him; little known by the inhabitants of the city, like

lbow on the window, pass long hours in allowing his tumultuous thoughts to wander over the Paci

ian truths; he feared to re-animate sentiments which he wished to extinguish-for the poor Indian, unknown and proscribed, must renounce all hope of happiness! Father Joachim kept Don Vegal informed of the progress of affairs: the po

nks to his Spanish costume, he could glide into a gaming-saloon, and listen to the conversation of its various frequenters.

ver the high rocks on which the principal habitations of Chorillos are built; a

e among them, exhausted with the fatigues of the preceding n

wo lines, which intersected each other at the centre in right angles; on each of these co

were animated; a mestizo was pursuing t

d piasters!"

ice, and the player bu

rs!" said he, again.

ty of the saloon, could look the pla

André

s standing t

or André," said Samuel to hi

of yours?" replied

nt down t

usiness to break off these habits durin

piasters!" res

suppressed a curse and th

even deposited it on one of the tables, and the banker, shaking his dice, was about to have decided its

conclude our bargain, it sha

is shoulders, took up

the banker; "you may ruin thi

under and proprietor of the games of Chorillos. Wherever

and finding him on the

nce to communicate. Where

lease," replied

secret to the most carefully closed chambers, nor the most lonely plains. If y

estined for the use of the bathers. They knew not that they were seen, h

go out into the open sea; the sharks m

guardian. Samuel embarked with him, and the mestizo pushed off. He vigoro

a crevice of the rock, hastily undressed, and precipitat

in the waves of the ocean, and darknes

t dangerous species frequented these fatal shores. He st

the daughter shall I carry to the f

m the circumstances un

these cir

tened without understanding. In a girdle atta

y. Obliged to come to Lima on business, he set out alone, leaving at Concencion his wife, and child aged fifteen months. The climate of Per

in the boat, but at sight of the furious waves, the marchioness refused to enter it; she pressed her infant in her arms, and remained in the ship. I remained with her-the boat was swallowed up at a hundred fathoms from the San-José, with all her crew. We were alone-the tempest blew with increasing violence. As my fortune w

details a

work, se?or; since she is worth to me the hundred thousand piasters whi

d Martin Paz of himself, st

red thousand piasters-take it, Master

his receipt in exchange-I pledge myself to restore you double this sum,

d the approach of the boat, and his eyes could see a shapeless mass g

a shark of the most

t again. The stars sparkled above his head; the tintorea continued to approach. A vigorous blow with his tail struck the swimmer; Martin Paz felt his slimy scales brush his breast. The shark, in order to s

s' distance-thought of the daughter of Samuel; and seeing nothing more of the boat of the me

return, was anxiously awaiting him. Paz made no allusion to his recen

Chorillos, and Don Vegal, tortured wi

se?oras had not given themselves a moment's rest; they had exhausted their ingenuity to invent some pretty

en newly painted; the richest hangings fell in large folds at the windows and doors of the habitation. Furniture carved in the latest fashion, of precious or fragrant wood, was crowded in vast saloons, impregnated with a delic

pe, since he wore no sign of hope! The negro Liberta had watched the steps of the old Indian; he had seen nothing. Ah! if the poor child could

er Joachim, she had been won over to a religion more in accordance with her feelings than that in which she had been educated. If Samuel had des

elieve in the death of Martin Paz. The conversion of the young girl was the most important thing to him; he saw it assured by her un

e families, who excused themselves on various pretexts. The mestizo, meanwhile, proudly held up his head, and scarcely looked at those of his own class. The little M

he brilliant saloons of the Jew, and the crowd of guests thronged a

d; the sun had long been set, and

the choice of an ornament. Perhaps, that enchanting timidity which so beautifully

anner; a sort of embarrassment was depicted on the countenance of more than one guest, while t

ing in mortal anxiety; it