Nani—as already mentioned—slept in her granddaughter's room. She also not infrequently took her meals there, and her manner of eating was a complete revelation to the beholder, who never wearied of the spectacle. Nani loved curry and rice—oh, such curry and rice as never was tasted on sea or shore in the Western hemisphere! The meal was served in two bowls—the curry, consisting of pieces of meat or fowl, thick rich yellow gravy, charged with all manner of spices and condiments, so hot. Verona once ventured to taste a mouthful, and the result was a gasping, a spluttering, and several irrepressible tears. For here was the real true and only curry (no English make-believe), but such as was eaten by the natives on the West Coast. One bowl contained the notable comestible, and the other was filled with flaky rice. Into the curry Mrs. Lopez plunged a plump and eager hand, seized a morsel, then she dipped the same hand into the rice; in a moment it became a neat and shapely ball; the next instant it had disappeared for ever in her mouth.
Nani continued the process until both bowls were empty, not a trace of curry or even a grain of rice remained. It was all assimilated with extraordinary dexterity and despatch. When the meal had ended and the bowls had been removed, Nani would declare:
"After such food one can seat oneself like a king! Now, that is how we are intended to eat; it is the best way, and see, I make no mess—no more than you and your bread and butter. I can use a knife and fork as well as any one, but the fingers are best. Wash them, and there is no trouble. Some day you will like it too, child."
But Verona only shook her head and smiled incredulously.
"How old are you, Nani?" she asked.
"Not so old as you think—about sixty-three, and how life flies. 'It is as a swift horse passing a crevice,' so says the proverb. It seems but yesterday, and I was young."
"You must have seen some strange things, Nani."
"Oh, yess; thatt is so," assented Mrs. Lopez, with gentle deliberation.
"What sort of things—do tell me?"
"Well, I have seen an enchanted well; this is true, true, true. No matter how the water failed, it was always full. When the rains came it remained just as before—never overflowed, the water always stopping in the same place. All the learned people see it and marvel. I have also seen a Mahommedan missionary preaching in the city to a crowd of English soldiers; also I have seen strange people in the bazaar too—Europeans who became natives, and forgot their own speech and country."