“It’s such a relief to hear someone who is altogether innocent of Spanish, and altogether unashamed,” she said. “My father had us all speaking four languages by the time we were twelve, and we have none of us ever quite recovered. My stockings were all dyed blue for me before I put my hair up. By the way! How have you been for walking, Judge? You heard of the time I had with my ankle?”
“Of course we heard!” cried Mrs Burlap, seeing dry land at last. “I’ve been trying so hard to get out to see you, to ask about it. We were so grieved about it.”
“What happened?” said Kate.
“Why I foolishly slipped on a piece of orange peel in town—just at the corner of San Juan de Latrán and Madero. And I fell right down. And of course, the first thing I did when I got up was to push the piece of orange peel into the gutter. And would you believe it, that lot of Mex—” she caught herself up—“that lot of fellows standing there at the corner laughed heartily at me, when they saw me doing it. They thought it an excellent joke.”
“Of course they would,” said the Judge. “They were waiting for the next person to come along and fall.”
“Did nobody help you?” asked Kate.
“Oh no! If anyone has an accident in this country, you must never, never help. If you touch them even, you may be arrested for causing the accident.”
“That’s the law!” said the Judge. “If you touch them before the police arrive, you are arrested for complicity. Let them lie and bleed, is the motto.”
“Is that true?” said Kate to Don Ramón.
“Fairly true,” he replied. “Yes, it is true you must not touch the one who is hurt.”