"And perhaps Mercedes will come over to see her cousin. We must be sure to make her have a good time, Nan."
"Indeed we will do that. Isn't it nice to have a Spanish girl friend? Won't the girls at home be interested when we tell them about her?"
"They will think we are great on having unusual friends," said Mary Lee. "You remember how excited they were over Daniella at school last year."
"Indeed I do. How long ago that seems, and how much we have seen since then."
"And how much more we shall see before we get back."
"So far I like Spain best," decided Nan.
"I, too," returned Mary Lee.
Back again they traveled, leaving behind the creaking cow-carts, the panniered donkeys, the towering mountains, the blue sea, and above all the warm-hearted Spanish family with whom their month's stay had been all too short.
"We shall never forget you," Nan assured Mercedes, "and some day we shall meet again; I am sure of it."
Mercedes, with swimming eyes, declared she hoped so, and the whole family having gone to the train with their guests, they waved farewells from the platform of the station, the last thing they saw being Neddy's gray ears as Mercedes and Maria Isabel drove him around the corner.