"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."