Page:The Valley of Adventure (1926).pdf/172

 Juan, and Cristóbal—Cristóbal could not be held in iron."

"There would not be a river of tears, the walls of San Fernando would stand," Juan laughed, but uneasily, with a poor pretense.

Doña Magdalena studied him in silence a moment, tender sympathy in her soft dark eyes.

"A man like you should have a wife, and little-ones around his knee," she said. "What injustice in laws which condemn a kind stranger, and let Sebastian Alvitre walk free!"

"But it is that way, doña. A man does not want to be shot for being nothing worse than a stranger."

"I heard Padre Ignacio tell Don Geronimo that he had sent to the capital to get a paper for you, something that will make you a free man, Juan. Stay at the mission until it comes, then you can find a wife without looking far, and make a home. There was a grant of land to Don José Sinova, father of our little Tula, which now comes to her. She has gold in a box, too, plenty of it. When the day comes, and you have your paper, Juan, Padre Ignacio will give her to you for the asking."

"Doña Magdalena, she wouldn't have me for the taking, or at any price, no matter how cheap," said Juan, seeming to despise himself, his words were so pointed with disdain.

"That's what a man always thinks when he adores a woman," Magdalena returned, superior by