"Grandma, give me a chocolate," said the child, interrupting them.
"I haven't any, my dear. Have you any caramels, Ventura?"
"No."
"Jaime has some, and he is here."
Venturita turned dreadfully pale.
"What Jaime, child?" asked Doña Paula.
"Nobody, nobody; some nonsense. Well, these pills suit you, then? Suppose Don Rufo heard of it. Suppose he heard of it!" Ventura repeated in such a trembling voice and looking so confused that her mother gazed at her in astonishment.
"Jaime is here—he has chocolate; come and see, grandma."
Whereupon the child dragged Doña Paula by the dress, and the lady, vaguely apprehending something terrible, let herself be led without knowing what she was doing.
"Cecilia!" cried Ventura in a voice unlike that ever heard by her mother.