Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/35

Rh from the rue de la Paix, for its discreet shadow is too discreet to be correct at nightfall. It was the hour at which all fashionable Lima was driving or walking, or gossiping in the tea-rooms, where one loiters happily over helados in an atmosphere of chiffons, flirting and politics. When they reached the Plaza Mayor, the first stars had risen on the horizon. The crowd was dense, and carriages advanced only at a walking pace. Women dressed as for the ball, with flowers in their dark curls, passed in open carriages. Young men grouped round a fountain in the center of the square, raised their hats and smiled into passing victorias.

"It really is strange," murmured Maria-Teresa, "not an Indian in sight!"

"Do they generally come to this part of the city, then?"

"Yes, there are always some who come to watch the people come past...."

Standing in front of a café was a group of half-breeds, talking politics. One could distinctly hear the names of Garcia and Vointemilla, the president, neither of them treated over gently. One of the group, evidently a shop- keeper, was moaning his fears of a return to the era of s.

The car turned at the corner of the cathedral, and entered a rather narrow street. Seeing the