"Becoming interested in her."
As Anita believed Don Manuel's interests did not go very deep, she felt quite sure that if the Cuban young lady failed to console him there would be others. There was a little more talk upon affairs at Doña Carmen's and then the sisters Perley declared they must go. They had told the cabman to come back for them and he was waiting outside, they supposed. Their farewells were made with girlish effusion. They charged Mrs. Beltrán to notify them if she should conclude to sail, offered to do any errands in London for them, or in America, either, for that matter, and went off trippingly, their short skirts displaying the latest mode in footgear, and their high-pitched voices shrilling good-byes after the cab had started.
"I never saw such funny women in all my life," declared Lillian, exploding with the laughter she had been trying with effort to restrain. "Don't tell me there are many more like them."
"Well, there are others," admitted Anita, "but these are not a true type; they are rare specimens, but in spite of their peculiarities they are as good as gold, and as innocent as babes."
"Such voices, and such an accent!"
"So say we all of us, yet it is the vernacular of certain portions of the States."
"But not that portion from which you come."
"No, though you will come across the nasal twang and a certain shrillness there, though not just the same accent. We are rather peacocky in our tones, over in the States; that is, we are as a rule. I notice it more when I am in England. Is it the fogs which give you all such soft voices?"
"Perhaps. I wish the boys might have been here to meet your Perlitas."
"Maybe it is just as well. Aunt Manning will have enough to say about them."