The lady smiled gently.
"I believe you, I believe you, Yradier. Old women are very apt to be troublesome."
"Ah! Señora, that depends."
"We are, for the most part. But it is in itself an infirmity, and should excite compassion in those who suffer from it. I need not say so to you, for you have a charitable soul. But I beg of you to entreat those who are less forgiving, in my name, to be gentle and patient with the poor old women."
"I will, Señora, I will," replied Yradier, won by the lady's sweetness. "We shall see you on Thursday then?"
"I do not know whether my strength will allow of it."
"Oh, yes, I will answer for it." And feeling that he was not wanted, the young man then took his leave, pressing the lady's hand with affection and respect which spoke in his eyes, while he bowed ceremoniously to Clementina.
As soon as he was gone, she, who had been gazing with pain at her stepmother's worn features, and had been deeply moved by the goodness which was revealed in every word she uttered, rose from her seat and, kneeling down by Doña Carmen, took her thin white hands and kissed them in a transport of feeling. The beauty, who to all the rest of the world was so haughty, had a peculiar joy, not unlike the rapture of a mystic, in humbling herself before her stepmother. Doña Carmen's voice acted like a spell, stirring the dim sparks of virtue and tenderness which still lived in her heart, and fanning them for a moment to reviving heat. Then the elder lady gently removed her daughter's hat, and, laying it on a chair, bent down to kiss her fondly on the forehead.
"It is four days since you last came to see me, bad girl"
"Yesterday I could not, mamma. I spent the whole day over my accounts, doing sums. Oh, those hateful sums?"