"Good children," approved Doña Prudencia, patting her daughter's hand. "For a little niña as fond as you are of ornaments it is a good spirit you show, you and Rodrigo also."
They sat volubly discussing plans, one offering this suggestion another that, till finally Doña Prudencia proposed that they should make an attempt to see this Pilar, the widow of their Uncle Marcos. "She may not be willing to give us any satisfaction; it would be like her to refuse to receive us, but it will do no harm to try," she said. "I have not crossed the threshold of her house since my uncle's death. I have felt always that it was she who stirred up discord, that it was she who kept my uncle from a reconciliation, that it was her harsh treatment which sent the boy away. I should forgive, perhaps, but my father was cheated out of much that was rightfully his, and it is hard not to bear resentment, yet I will go with you, my cousin."
"I could not ask so much of you," declared Mrs. Beltrán. "We will go alone if some one will direct us."
"Why should either thing be necessary?" spoke up Amparo. "To-morrow is the fiesta of Carmen. That Pilar will be there. She goes each year. Why can we not all go to this fiesta?"
"A good thought, my child," cried Doña Prudencia. "Thy little head is a wise one. At a fiesta she cannot well run away from us, and we can force an interview which elsewhere she might be able to avoid. We will do this thing. You understand that you are all to remain with us."
"But so many of us there are," protested Doña Benilda, but Doña Prudencia would listen to no excuse, and finally it was arranged to the satisfaction of all.
Amparo and Rodrigo took Anita off into the garden while the others sat in solemn conference. It was still light enough to see a glow upon the hills and lingering color in the sky. Amparo piloted her new cousin all over the place, showed her the orio where corn was stored, the pigeons so tame they would eat from her hand, the pet lamb and the prideful pig. She gathered brevas for her from the fig tree, tucked a clavel in her dark hair and begged that she would allow herself to be dressed in Spanish costume for the fiesta. "I shall wear my peasant dress, aldeana we call it, and you can wear my manton de Manila which will be vastly becoming, do you not think so, Rodrigo?"
Of course Rodrigo must agree, and say that he would be the envy of all with two such lovely maidens to escort.
"And we must teach her the jota, Rodrigo," Amparo went on. "It will never do for her not to dance. I should be disconsolate to see her stand aside while others danced."
"There is no time like the present," returned Rodrigo.