AN EMBARRASSING CASE. 



363 



such tendencies, but I never before found it to my in- 

 terest to give way. The ruined city of Palenque was a 

 most desirable piece of property. 



The case was embarrassing and complicated. Soci- 

 ety in Palenque was small ; the oldest young lady was 

 not more than fourteen, and the prettiest woman, who 

 already had contributed most to our happiness (she 

 made our cigars), was already married. The house 

 containing the two tablets belonged to a widow lady 

 and a single sister, good-looking, amiable, and both 

 about forty. The house was one of the neatest in the 

 place. I always liked to visit it, and had before 

 thought that, if passing a year at the ruins, it would 

 be delightful to have this house in the village for rec- 

 reation and occasional visits. With either of these la. 

 dies would come possession of the house and the two 

 stone tablets ; but the difficulty was that there were two 

 of them, both equally interesting and equally interest- 

 ed. I am particular in mentioning these little circum- 

 stances, to show the difficulties that attended every step 

 of our enterprise in that country. There was an alter- 

 native, and that was to purchase in the name of some 

 other person ; but I did not know any one I could trust. 

 At length, however, I hit upon Mr. Russell, the Ameri- 

 can consul at Laguna, who was married to a Spanish 

 lady, and already had large possessions in the country ; 

 and I arranged with the prefect to make the purchase in 

 his name. Pawling was to accompany me to the Lagu- 

 na, for the purpose of procuring and carrying back evi- 

 dence of Mr. Russell's co-operation and the necessary 

 funds, and was to act as my agent in completing the 

 purchase. The prefect was personally anxious to com- 

 plete it. The buildings, he said, were fast going to de- 

 cay, and in a few years more would be mounds of ru- 



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