Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/69

Rh bare subsistence, and his visions of fashionable independence all melted away. Throwing down the articles he has brought, with an air of recklessness and offended dignity, he replies to the interrogations of the clerk on duty in a curt and insolent manner. He receives the amount advanced to him with an oath and a bitter smile of contempt, letting the money fall into his pocket as if it were an offering of propitiation to an offended deity; then, scowling upon the assembled multitude, he retires, muttering maledictions and vowing to revenge himself upon society in general.

Presently the hasty rush of footsteps and a roar of voices are heard approaching from the direction of the outer passage. The hubbub is caused by our friend the ladrone, who just now presented the miscellaneous bundle of stolen goods: he is surrounded by an indignant crowd, grasping his limbs, and pushing him before them, struggling and protesting, to the doorway. Encouraged by his recent success, he has been plying his vocation upon the persons of several visitors in different parts of the building, and has been taken in the act: a small box of jewels, a watch, and an embroidered sash, have been