For you have seen the joyous, happy Ramón,
Lady in the blue skirt, happy Ramón.
But, oh, the Lord, the saucepan burn my fingers!”
Hilary and Margaret watched the dance from the kitchen door. They had heard that miraculous visitations were frequent along the coast and that when they came they filled the lives of those visited for two days.
“So they have seen the Virgin,” Margaret said. “They will need us no more to-night. We had better take a few more Naciones and go off to Paco’s.”
“Yes, indeed.”
As he stooped to gather up the pile of newspapers, he heard distinctly a noise of whistling within the closed sitting-room at the end of the passage. A man was whistling “Charmante Gabrielle” in the stumbling way of a man who does not sing well. Margaret heard it at the same time. The suddenness and nearness of it startled them both.
“Somebody in the sitting-room,” Hilary said.
As it happened, the sudden startling of the two made an impression on the two ecstatics in the kitchen. Ramón came out of his trance and became, in part, the old butler of daily life.
“Why,” he said, “I believe, Señor, that I never told you that a gentleman has called to see you. He is in the sitting-room.”