Page:Our Neighbor-Mexico.djvu/439

Rh At the very close of the journey, in the little village of San Antonio, where the grateful husband acknowledges the lordship of his lady in the painted confession along the ceiling of his casa, I received a telegram, which drew my eyes and soul far away from the handsome family, obedient husband, and horrible breakfast. It was an electric shock in which was more than magnetic currents; for it foretold a future of unmeasured and immeasurable vastness, a future of spiritual currents of divine magnetism, that shall permeate, thrill, revive, and renew this whole land. Its enigmatic words were these: "Puebla business closed. Mexico will be today."

The brief line was inexpressibly grateful; for doubt had hung over the last purchase. Foes were many and sharp. One effort had failed through treachery, a priest appearing before the judge the day the papers were to be passed, and getting the property (the Church of Santa Inez, then used as a cotton warehouse) transferred to minor heiresses, and another portion of the estate set off to the youth to whom this church had been already assigned, and who was going to sell it to us. What might happen between the beginning of the effort to purchase these more central quarters and its completion, even to the frustration of that completion, it was impossible to tell. Had any priest suspected the possibility of this attempt, every member of his guild, and, primarily, its primate, the archbishop, would have put forth every effort to have prevented success.

And such efforts could have hardly failed of success; for there were so many parties to negotiate with, that it seemed well-nigh impossible to preserve the secret. The real owner was in Paris. His administrador was a warm Papist. The holder of the first mortgage was a widow lady, residing in San Luis Potosi. The holder of the second mortgage was a carpenter in the city. Besides these proprietary interests, a person held it under a written lease for two years, for a theatre. Here were four, if not five, parties to be consulted; for possibly the administrador might not have power to sell without a legal authorization from the actual owner.