"Why did you not tell me that he had been in the neighborhood?" Mrs. Beltrán turned reproachfully to Doña Benilda.
"Ah, my dear, because I could tell you so little. I thought best to let Prudencia give you such information as she had, and hoped she might have more to add to it since we talked the matter over. I did not want to raise your hopes but to have you disappointed."
"You have no idea where he went?" Mrs. Beltrán turned again to Doña Prudencia.
"We do not know whether he has left the country or has gone to some large city. We cannot tell. Ay de mi! It is so sad. I wish I had known of you; I wish I had known. I hoped when the boy was grown that we could be friends in spite of the bitter feeling which Uncle Marcos and Pilar always had for us all. There has been no intercourse between the families for years."
Such an expression of grief and hopelessness overspread her mother's face as Anita could not stand. She threw herself into her arms exclaiming. "We will not give up, mother; we will not. We know now that he was here, that he reached Spain, and that is more than we could gather anywhere else. It will not be more wonderful to find him than it was to find me. We have a clue. Do you realize that we have a clue?" She turned to her cousins and spoke in her broken Spanish. "You will help us; you all will help us to find him, I know."
Tears filled the eyes of the sympathetic company. "Ay, Ay," again sighed Doña Prudencia, "we will help all we can."
"I will make a vow to St. Joseph," declared Amparo, going over and taking Anita's hand. "If he will but find my Cousin Pepé, for a year I will wear no ornaments."
"And I," spoke up Rodrigo, "will not be outdone by my little Cousin Amparo. I will promise the good St. Joseph not to smoke cigarettes for a week."
"Ay!" cried his mother, in a surprised tone, "that is a great deal for you to promise, my son, a great sacrifice."
"Not too great if it mean a help to Cousin Catalina and her fair daughter," he responded gallantly. "I will make it a month, if necessary. Adios, cigarillos!" He blew a kiss from the tips of his fingers. "Adios, for a week, a month."