"Oh, I'm immune!" laughed she, as she said good-night and went to seek Benita.
She found her old nurse in the kitchen, resting after an arduous day. Gertrudis, the famous cook "loaned" for the summer by a neighboring ranch, was mixing something mysterious in a wooden bowl, while her granddaughter Juanita, a nut-brown beauty, pirouetted about the room, showing off her new rosettes in a Spanish dance.
Blue Bonnet clapped her hands. "That's a pretty step, Juanita,—will you teach it to me some day?"
"Si, Señorita," she assented eagerly, showing all her white teeth in a delighted smile. "It is the cachucha."
"The girls will all want to learn it," Blue Bonnet assured her. She draw Benita into the dining-room and then gave her a hearty squeeze. "Everything's just lovely, you old dear," she cried. "The girls are crazy about the nursery, and they think you are the dearest ever!"
Benita's wrinkled face beamed. "If the Señorita is pleased, old Benita is happy," she said deprecatingly.
"Benita, I missed you dreadfully, off there in Woodford. I had to make my own bed and do my own mending!"
Benita gave an odd little sound of distress. "But Benita will do it now," she urged anxiously.
"You'll have to get around Grandmother then, Benita,—I can't."
"The Señora is kind—" Benita began.