Cecilia could not forbear laughing.
"Confess that you missed no point."
"I don't deny it."
And both laughed merrily, joking each other affectionately, in the brotherly and sisterly way that delighted them.
At last Cecilia was about to take her departure. But before reaching the door she turned and asked, with a timidity which betrayed her strong concern on the subject:
"Would you like me to take off the blister? It must hurt you."
The young man hesitated an instant, fearful of offending his sister-in-law's delicacy.
"If you like. There is no necessity. Perhaps it will be disagreeable to you."
But Cecilia had already approached the bed and put the lint, ointment, and scissors in order. She cut a fresh piece of lint and carefully spread the ointment upon it. Gonzalo watched her somewhat shyly. She kept silent in her heroic efforts to overcome the confusion which nearly overwhelmed her. She was indeed repenting her suggestion, and she spent some minutes passing the knife numberless times over the lint, with downcast looks, feigning engrossing attention to the task. At last, with a supreme effort she took up the lint, and, raising her eyes to her brother-in-law, she said, with assumed indifference:
"Are you ready?"