Again the woman spoke to her, but Jo Ann shook her head. After the woman had repeated her words very slowly, she was able to understand a few phrases.
Disturbed by their voices, Peggy suddenly sat up in bed, opening wide her dark-fringed hazel eyes. She, too, was startled for a moment by the unfamiliar surroundings; then, noticing the servant and the expression on Jo Ann’s face, she burst out laughing. “What’s the matter, Jo?” she asked teasingly a moment later. “Can’t you understand what she’s saying?”
“I think she’s trying to tell me something about Florence, but I’m not sure. I wonder where she is.”
Almost simultaneously there burst into the room a small trim girl with smooth fair hair and gentian-blue eyes. “Good morning, sleepy-heads,” she laughed, dropping down on the foot of the bed and fanning herself with a large sun hat. “Girls, this is Juana. Did she deliver my message?”
“She tried to,” Jo Ann replied, “but I’m afraid she wasn’t very successful.”
Turning to the servant, Florence spoke rapidly in Spanish.
Juana grinned broadly, bowed to the girls, and jabbered something they could not understand.
“She’s trying to tell you how happy she is that you have come to stay with her Florencita,” explained Florence.
“Tell her that we’re delighted to be here,” put in Peggy promptly.
“How I envy you—being able to speak Spanish that way, Florence,” Jo Ann sighed. “I’d give anything to do half as well.”