FOOTNOTE:
[21] Thanks.
CHAPTER X
THE CARNIVAL
Francisco had been at home now for a week. He had returned to find Elena rosy and well and the house in a turmoil of preparation, for Guillerma was to be married. Her fiancé was a wealthy estanciero from the province of Mendoza, which lies almost at the foot of the Andes, and he had made a fortune from raising grapes for wine. His estancia, also, produced great quantities of figs, dates and sugar cane.
Guillerma was very happy, for although El Señor Conquero was older than she by fifteen years, theirs was a genuine love match. He had seen her at mass, one morning, and the following day, he had presented himself to her mother and her Uncle Juan with irreproachable credentials, and their engagement of six months was to culminate in the celebration of their marriage during the early part of March.
It would be a very quiet wedding, for Señor Conquero was in mourning for his father, who had died over a year before; and the custom of mourning in Argentina demands two years of seclusion from all social events after the loss of a parent.
Her Uncle Juan had been most generous in his allowance for her trousseau, and she, with her mother, was busy all of each day visiting the dressmakers and shops.