At a sign from the Mother Superior, Doña Anita withdrew to the other end of the bench on which she was seated, folded her arms on her chest, and let her head droop.
"Are you looking for our mother, sister?" Doña Helena asked a rather elderly lay sister, who was looking to the right and left as if really seeking somebody.
"Yes, sister," the lay sister answered, "I wish to deliver a message with which I am entrusted for our mother."
"Then enter this arbour, sister, and you will find her reposing there."
The lay sister entered the arbour, approached the Mother Superior, stopped modestly three paces from her, folded her arms on her breast, looked down respectfully, and waited till she was spoken to.
"What do you desire, daughter?" the Mother Superior asked her.
"Your blessing, in the first place, holy mother," the lay sister answered.
"I can give it you, daughter; and now what message have you for me?"
"Holy mother, a gentleman of lofty bearing, called Don Serapio de la Ronda, wishes to speak with you privately; the sister porter took him into the parlour, where he is waiting for you."
"I will be with him directly, daughter; tell the sister porter to apologize in my name to the gentleman, if I keep him waiting longer than I like, owing to my advanced age. Go on, I follow you."