Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/347

CH. XXIII.] about nineteen years of age, by name Don Eugenio: he was the youngest son of Doña Vicente, my very kind and hospitable friend: he had just returned from San Blas, where he had been on a visit, of commercial enterprise on his mother's account, to his eldest brother, the director of the customs under the Mexican government. The latter had accompanied Eugenio to Guatemala, and having ascertained that the youth was intended for a mercantile life, it occurred to me that, by taking him to England, I might benefit him as well as myself by his companionship in my travels; for he had twice passed the port of Izabal, and was in every respect an intelligent, active, youth.

The proposition to take him with me was received with great gratitude by his mother and the rest of the family, which was now augmented by the late arrival of Doña Gertrudis, the Penelope of Sonsonate; for although her brothers had both returned, her husband still remained at the port which