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164 an hour after, a dead silence pervaded the whole village of Amatitañ. Just as I was dropping to sleep, I heard the sound of music, at a distance: at first, it seemed but the vibrations of harmony which the ear carries away with it from a ball, and which, like other doubtful-gotten property, is often very troublesome: it presently became more distinct, and, at last, stopped before our house, where it continued to play for an hour. It consisted of two guitars and a violin; and, by the peculiarity of some of the notes, I concluded it was executed by gentlemen-performers. This proved to be the case: they were serenading the black-eyed, amiable, little daughter of our hostess, whom I could, now, hear bustling about in her apartment, and acknowledging the compliment, which was paid to her, by a short parley held between her and her Lotharios through the iron-barred lattice of her balcony window.