Page:The Valley of Adventure (1926).pdf/314

 "If I could do as much for poor Cristóbal!" sighed one.

"Doña Magdalena says he is safe, far away from San Fernando and the wicked soldiers," her companion said, as if in reminder of something lately discussed.

"But he is not here, he never can return. Gertrudis has Don Juan, even blind, as I would have Cristóbal if I could, both blind and deaf. I'd only ask that he could still use his tongue to tell me he loved me."

"I would want a man who could see my pretty ribbons, Inez. I think a blind man would be very tiresome in a little while."

"It is sinful to say that, Maria. Do you believe Gertrudis thinks this of Don Juan?"

"But she would rather have him with eyes to see her pretty face."

"Any girl would, of course. But between having a blind lover and a lover whose hand you never shall touch again—that is the thing, Maria. When I am old, I must sit in the sun beside the wall alone."

"Maybe another one will come in Cristóbal's place, perhaps a man from Don Juan's country."

"Why should they come here to be killed, as the soldiers want to kill Don Juan? But if one came, he could go back again; I wouldn't look at him."

"Maybe one from Mexico, then. Who knows?"

"It would not be Cristóbal, Maria. No, I am going to wait. When the cruel soldiers are gone from California, as everybody hopes to see them