AT PUERTO MENDEZ. 
55 
to leave home. They had another daughter at 
school there, and it was wonderful how clever 
she was becoming, and how elegant, and what 
a lady! Here the sallow girl mentioned that 
she too had seen Posadas, a beautiful town, and 
full of wonderful shops. The half-caste 
remarked casually that he believed it was neces¬ 
sary to carry a revolver in those places, though 
the down-country men were poor shots. 
Most of the people in the room having thus 
asserted their superiority, there fell a little 
silence. We had en¬ 
quired the name and 
age of the baby, of the 
little boy, and of the 
tomboy, and still there 
were no signs of any 
train. My mind was 
desperately framing 
Spanish sentences to 
fling into the void. 
The native woman’s 
eyes were fixed on me, and I knew she was 
making a careful inventory of my clothes. Then 
her eyes fell on a crystal charm I was wearing, 
hung on a black ribbon, and she asked what it 
was. Here indeed was a heaven-sent topic. 
I explained it came from India. ‘India?’ 
they echoed vaguely, whilst the young store¬ 
keeper remarked importantly that he had read 
of that country. I explained that some people 
