Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

UNOFFICIAL LETTERS OF

any position was, "Have you a wife? " and " Yes "
was cause for immediate rejection. So, day before
yesterday, great was my astonishment when Luis,
whom we all considered a confirmed bachelor, came
up the stairs in a state of tearful despair, dragging
a ragged little girl behind him also weeping. After
much incoherent explanation it transpired that " el
Sefior Commissionado" had given orders to the
guard that no Filipino, man or woman, who was
not employed on the place should be admitted, and
that he, Luis, had been married three weeks, and
had hidden his bride in a cubbyhole downstairs, but
that the prowling guard had discovered her and
wanted to turn her out. This was confirmed by the
guard, who had just found an ancient female and
an old man in a far-away corner of the premises,
who were acknowledged as the father and mother
of the sixteen-year-old bride. It did not seem to
occur to Luis that el Sefior had not the power
forcibly to separate man and wife, nor did he
threaten to betake himself and his relations to another, more lenient master. He only begged me not
to let " el Sefior " take her away, for he liked her
very much, and would keep her hidden all the time
so we should never see her. During the discussion
the bride was sniveling, and the two old ones,
dragged from their retreat by the big guard, were
twisting their toes and gazing at me as if I were
their judge in a trial for their lives. At last I could
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