"Here's the king of hearts! That means a dark man, of strong character, and generous."
"That's it, of course! Well, where is he?"
"This doesn't say. But here's the two of spades. That means a letter, or news, or an arrival. Either the dark man is going to write to you; or he is coming here at any moment."
Nacha gladly paid the old woman the five pesos she charged for her services. This left her penniless, but she was happy! Everything looked hopeful now. Several times during the day she thought Monsalvat was about to arrive on the scene. The following day, she felt so certain that someone was coming that she waited in the courtyard; and she was immensely surprised when some newcomers turned out to be a man and wife with their twelve year old daughter, relatives of Panchito's, and just landed from Córdoba. No sooner were they installed in their rooms than there was a general rush to Panchito's quarters for an explanation. Panchito, still half asleep, was forced to receive his callers in bed. Grajera, in the bedroom opposite, was snoring and Sara tried to rouse him with ticklings, slaps, and cold water, until there was a general protest. Meanwhile Panchito tried desperately to piece together an explanation of his relatives' arrival at his boarding house.
"Just like that donkey to come here," he was saying. "I told him what kind of a house this was, and what made him bring his family here, I don't know! Oh, I've got it! I didn't see through it before! This is some of my old woman's work, that's what it is! Of course! I wrote her that I was living in a very respectable house, with a highly religious family, and that they made me go to confession twice a month—and the old woman must have repeated all this to that bumpkin uncle of mine who lives out in the country, in Saint Joseph's Sleepy Hollow—and he took it into his head to come here...."
"Where did you say he lived?" inquired Sara, her mouth open from ear to ear.
"Saint Joseph's Sleepy Hollow—a little village over toward...."
But the name called forth a series of witticisms at which Sara was nearly beside herself with mirth. Panchito implored the girls to behave properly. He didn't want his relatives to become aware of their mistake if it could be prevented. Then he drove all his visitors out, and went back to bed.
That afternoon Grajera and Panchito presented themselves, in throes of laughter, at Nacha's door. They had just beheld Sara reclining on a couch, her long legs waving in the air, while she lent an obliging ear to a detailed account of all the troubles, sicknesses and operations of the lady from Córdoba, who had evidently taken a great fancy to this sympathetic listener.
Doña Lucía was delighted with her new boarders, though somewhat astonished when they informed her that they had selected her house because it had been recommended to them for its atmosphere. Doña Lucía could only nod and curtsey, and turn every color of the rainbow. She perceived, however, that her guests from Córdoba would require her to set a good table; and, against her will, she found herself forced to ask Nacha for her board.