"Well, I swanny!" from the disgusted serving-man. "Held by a pack o' niggers! I never could stand much of that sort o' thing myself from sech critters."
Directly they were away from danger, with the life of Monterey flowing smoothly around them.
CHAPTER IX
SEÑORA VALENTINO SEEKS TO INTEREST PADRE OSUNA
The courtyard of Señor Mendoza's hacienda house was glorious in light. Patterns of Oriental network were reflected from lanterns clustered along the eaves, strung on improvised archways, or undulating from the lofty flagpole. Genial spring rejoiced everywhere, no less in rare exotic floating in miniature lakes than in the countless blooming flower species that were at home in this Eden-land. The soft air breathed content as it moved in low voice around giant palm and high-branching walnut. As the evening waxed the zephyr became a whisper, then sank to sleep on the fairy scene with a sigh as faint as the rustle of a leaf.
The courtyard gate lay open wide. Many of the fairest and of the bravest in California were to pass within after the day had ceased, to fare forth against the rebirth of another sun. Mendoza's welcome to the late-coming rains took the form of pleasure-making for the gentry of the countryside. Neither thought, nor labor, nor expense had been spared that this might be a festal night long remembered in Alta California.
The lord of the manor sat in his private library.
"A visitor, Señor Mendoza," announced a peon.
"It is who?"
"The Padre Lusciano Osuna."