We began our breakfast, and I gave her to understand that now that she so abhorred hypocrisy I proposed to proceed with all possible frankness.
"That is right! Entirely frank!" And she served me an enormous ration of omelette.
We went on chatting and laughing in undertones, but Doña Cristina did not neglect to serve me with fabulous quantities of food, greater, in truth, than my gastric capacity. I wanted to decline, but she would not permit it.
"Be frank, Captain! You have promised to be entirely frank."
"Señora, this surpasses frankness. Anybody might call it grossness."
"I do not call it so. Go on! Go on!"
But soon, straightening herself back in her chair a bit, and assuming a solemn tone, she spoke:
"Captain, I am now going to treat you as if you had not only saved my mother's life, but mine as well. At one and the same time I wish to pay you for her life and my own."
My eyes opened widely without my comprehending the significance of such words. Doña Cristina rose from her chair and, going to the door, opened it wide. There appeared the maid with a big dish of stewed tripe in her hands.
"Tripe!" I exclaimed.