"The deuce she does! Valentina puts her back up directly one goes near her," exclaimed the snubbed young man.
The joke made the needlewomen laugh.
"Valentina does not like young men," said Encarnacian.
"She is quite right; you get nothing from young men but promises, lost time, and often a lifetime of misery," said Doña Paula sententiously, unmindful of her own fortunate lot. "As to that, Sarrio is quite demoralized; there is hardly a girl who keeps company with one of her own class. The young man is at least expected to wear a cravat, to carry a cane and a cigarette-holder, although he may not have a plate to eat off. Young girls do not mind being seen at dusk nowadays with young gentlemen, nor do they object to returning from fairs on the arm of one of them, singing at the top of their voices."
"Poor young things! I don't know what you expect. Because the son of Don Rudesindo married Pepe la Esquilla, and the pilot of the 'Trinidad' the Mechacan girl, you think all is gold that glitters. But seeing is believing. Look at Benita, the girl at Señor Matias's, the sacristan. She does not look very pretty now, eh?"
"Benita has her marriage lines," said Encarnacian.
"Lines, eh? She will see what her lines are worth."
"Señora, the lad can not desert her; if he does, she will pursue him all her life."
"Silence, silence, chatterbox; who put such ideas into your head?"
"It is a well-known fact that Benita has gone to law."