Claude Lafayette was laid upon his improvised bed while Betty went off to wash out his clothes, leaving two girls as watchers.
“I don’t see,” said Joanne as she and Winnie followed Betty, “why we can’t make him some clothes; it will give us a good chance to do what is necessary for a needlework badge.”
“But where can we get materials?”
“There is a little store, or rather quite a good-sized country store in the village. They sell all sorts of things. We’ll ask Miss Dodge to let us go there; she’ll give us permission when she knows why we want to go.”
“Brilliant idea. Let’s go and ask her now before any one else gets ahead of us, not that any number of garments wouldn’t be acceptable, but Miss Dodge doesn’t like too many of us to go out of bounds at once. We’ll ask Clausie to go, too. She’ll like the walk, and she is off duty in the kitchen this afternoon.”
They did not delay in making their request, then, after receiving consent, they went to relieve the watchers of the baby’s slumbers.
Joanne had not wasted her opportunities of improving her Spanish, and every day had a half hour’s conversation with Pablo, who, if he did not speak pure Castilian, had at least a full vocabulary, and knew the idioms so that Joanne was becoming quite voluble in the language while Pablo made great progress in his English. He was a quiet, grave little fellow, so serious, in fact, that Joanne wondered if he were happy, and if he did not long to return to his own people. She asked him one day.
“Are you happy, Pablo? Do you ever get homesick?”
He looked a little puzzled over the last word, then his face cleared. “I have the mal del pais? Si, señorita, some days I have thees, but it is not good that I return, better is that I remain where comes to me a future. No? It give me a very sad no to hear my language, but I shall accustom, yes, I shall accustom. When no longer I can endure no to hear the Spanish, then I speak to Chico, my little brother Chico, and I think he understand.”
“I think you are very brave,” said Joanne sympathetically, “and I wish you had neighbors to whom you could speak your own language. If Unc’ Aaron were not so old you could teach him, and then you two could talk together.”