And in truth he did not regret it; it was not long before he became convinced of the wisdom of his decision, and congratulated himself upon it. It happened that one day after he had been superintending the arrangement of his new quarters, he met Maximina, and saw that her eyes were red as though she had been weeping. His heart told him that something had gone wrong, and he inquired with solicitude:—
"What is the matter? You have been crying!"
"No," replied the girl, with a smile. "I have just been washing my face."
"Yes; you washed your face, but you had been crying. Tell me! tell me quick, what was it?"
"Nothing."
"Very well, then," replied the young man, with determination; "I will find out."
And he did; Juana told him, though with some confusion of detail, what had taken place.
"Just listen, señorito; apparently la señora told the señorita several days ago that she did not like it for her to be so late about getting dressed, because there might be callers. Ever since, the señorita has got ready in good season, but to-day she somehow forgot about it, and la señora scolded her...."
"What did she say?"
"I don't know. La señorita did not want to tell me ... but she cried hard enough."