Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/200

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180
OFFICIAL VISIT
[CH. XII.

formed, girl, something of a creole, but showing more of Indian caste than any other; about eighteen years of age: she was very chatty, and communicated many anecdotes of the different families who had been present at the revels: she told me of all the matches which were on the tapis, and hinted at some little pieces of scandal which it would be ungenerous and unnecessary for me to put down: she reminded me, as we jogged along, of a pretty, ambling paragraph of "The Morning Post," which nobody would like to be seen looking at, but which every body would like to see. What she was I knew not, but found that, although not a lady, she was a lady's maid,—a personage who is generally, and as it proved to be in this case, a finer lady than her mistress; she was servant to the amiable little daughter of Doña Vicente, the lady of whose hospitality I was partaking. The girl had now, it seemed, a lawful right to my protection; and I, therefore, hastened on to join the family; but as