All hastened to her assistance. The girl, who was still seated on Ricardo's knees, had grown pale without any one noticing it. When Don Mariano casually glanced at her, she was white as a sheet of paper.
"What is it, my daughter?"
"What is the matter, Martita?"
"I don't feel quite well. Give me a glass of water." Maria ran to get it for her. Don Maximo felt of her pulse and said,—
"It's only a little giddiness, which water will cure."
In point of fact, as soon as she drank the water, and had sat down on the sofa, she began to feel better, and in a few moments was perfectly well. The conversation went on.
CHAPTER IX.
EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND.
FOR a fortnight at least there had been talk of an excursion to El Moral and the island. During the spring the young ladies[43] who went to the parties at the house of the Elorzas had been anxious to form a capital with the products of the tax and lottery to defray the expenses. Don Mariano allowed them to do so, smiling roguishly every time that he was told the state of the funds; but when the time came which was fixed for the excursion, in presence of the whole tertulia, he took the handful of silver from the little box in which it was kept and handed it to the parish priest of Nieva to divide among the parishioners who most needed it.
"Why!" exclaimed the noble caballero at the same time, "is it not a hundred-fold better to spend this money in alleviating the hunger of one or two poor people than in a frivolous and unnecessary amusement?"
"Certainly, certainly," said the girls, putting on an expression which in truth did not give evidence of the purest delights of virtue and the joys of the righteous.