The sister rapped on the table with her thimble, raising her eyes.
"You are too noisy and too frivolous," she said, with severity.
They kissed each other good-by.
"I wish we could come over and see you," Juana whispered. "We always had such a good time. Perhaps you will come to Monterey," wistfully.
"Oh, I think I shall," was the hopeful reply.
Carmen was so glad to hear about them, and how they looked, and if they seemed happy. She had considered writing letters to them a great hardship, now she felt she could fill pages and pages. She wondered how it was that her heart was so overflowing with love. And the thought that she might never see them again filled her eyes with tears.
"Oh, I do wonder if Pascuel will desire to marry either of the girls?" she cried in half affright.
"But if he is so old——"
"That doesn't seem to matter where there is money. And Papa Estenega wanted both branches of the family united. And if I had not had a son!"
She shuddered, thinking of the poor wife who had drowned herself.