"Mrs. Jasher, Miss Kendal, permit me to present Don Pedro de Gayangos."

"I am charmed," said the Peruvian, bowing, hat in hand, "and in turn,

allow me, ladies, to introduce my daughter, Donna Inez de Gayangos."

Archie was also presented to the Don and to the young lady, after which

Lucy and Mrs. Jasher, while not appearing to look, made a thorough

examination of the lady with whom Random was in love. No doubt Donna

Inez was making an examination on her own account, and with the

cleverness of the sex the three women, while chatting affably, learned

all that there was to be learned from the outward appearance of each

other in three minutes. Miss Kendal could not deny but what Donna Inez

was very beautiful, and frankly admitted--inwardly, of course--her own

inferiority. She was merely pretty, whereas the Peruvian lady was truly

handsome and quite majestic in appearance.

Yet about Donna Inez there was the same indefinite barbaric look

as characterized her father. Her face was lovely, dark and proud in

expression, but there was an aloofness about it which puzzled the

English girl. Donna Inez might have belonged to a race populating

another planet of the solar system. She had large black, melting eyes,

a straight Greek nose and perfect mouth, a well-rounded chin and

magnificent hair, dark and glossy as the wing of the raven, which was

arranged in the latest Parisian style of coiffure. Also, her gown--as

the two women guessed in an instant--was from Paris. She was perfectly

gloved and booted, and even if she betrayed somehow a barbaric taste for

color in the dull ruddy hue of her dress, which was subdued with black

braid, yet she looked quite a well-bred woman. All the same, her whole

appearance gave an observant onlooker the idea that she would be more

at home in a scanty robe and glittering with rudely wrought ornaments of

gold. Perhaps Peru, where she came from, suggested the comparison, but

Lucy's thoughts flew back to an account of the Virgins of the Sun, which

the Professor had once described. It occurred to her, perhaps wrongly,

that in Donna Inez she beheld one who in former days would have been the

bride of some gorgeous Inca.

"I fear you will find England dull after the sunshine of Lima," said

Lucy, having ended a swift examination.

Donna Inez shivered a trifle and glanced around at the gray misty air

through which the pale sunshine struggled with difficulty.

"I certainly prefer the tropics to this," she said in musical English,

"but my father has come down here on business, and until it is concluded

we shall remain in this place."

"Then we must make things as bright as possible for you," said Mrs.

Jasher cheerfully, and desperately anxious to learn more of the

new-comers. "You must come to see me, Donna Inez--yonder is my cottage."




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