Her fertile, diabolical imagination set to inventing torments with which to feed the hate which consumed her. The sight of suffering was a necessity to her. Josefina was sent down barefooted with a pencilled note to Concha. The missive said: "Concha, I send you this little rogue. Punish her as you think fit."
Amalia knew what an executioner the maid would be, and, in fact, she expressed satisfaction at receiving this note, which flattered her vanity and her instincts.
"Do you know what this paper says?" she asked, in an aggressive tone.
Josefina made a negative sign. She read writing badly, especially when written as carelessly as that of the señora. The sempstress, however, made her spell out the words until she quite understood them.
"There, you see, you are sent for me to punish you for what you did yesterday."
On saying this she smiled sweetly, as if she were saying that she had something nice to give her.
The child looked at her in surprise.
"Punish me? Godmother has already made me sleep on the floor."
"It does not matter, that is very little for such naughtiness as running away from home. You will have to have a whipping. I am sorry, my child, because you have never had this punishment, and it will hurt you very much. Young ladies have delicate flesh; they are not like us who are accustomed as babies to intemperance and blows. Come along!"
At the same time she drew from her stays one of the formidable whalebones then in vogue.