At last Sabas returned to the world of consciousness, and asked of his mother, who was in front of him, that which has been asked so many times:
"Where am I?"
"With your wife!"
"With your mamma!"
"Who adores you!"
"Who idolizes you!"
Four feminine arms embraced him, and four lips were pressed almost at the same time above his skinned nose.
His eyes wandered about the room at all of us as if he did not know us, and were fixed at last upon his wife; then he groaned frightfully:
"Matilde! Matilde! Matilde!"
Then he hugged her and fell back in an attack of convulsive laughing. His loud laughter joined to the sobbing of his wife and the wails of Doña Amparo made a terrifying mixture that would have melted the hardest heart. More, by virtue of the contagion that all the world knows lies in this sort of an attack, I felt a shocking desire to laugh also. By hard work I managed to stifle it. I left the room and went down again to the dining-room. The others were not long in following me, leaving Sabas restored and at peace with his wife and his mother. Ten minutes later they came down also. Cristina gave the order to serve the soup, and I observed with some astonishment that Sabas dined with an excellent appetite, and during dinner showed himself as gay and disputatious and smart as ever. His wife devoured him with eyes of pure affection, and devoted herself to waiting upon him.