Pablo looked at the little figure speaking so gravely, then threw back his head and shouted with laughter, but seeing Fernando's hurt expression, stopped quickly, and said:
"Bravo, little brother, thou art a good knight to care for thy mother and sister!"
"Better than thou!" His mother had regained her voice by this time.
"Thou art still the same Pablo, and will yet be the death of thy poor mother," but Pablo kissed her hand so gallantly, and begged her pardon so amiably, that she quite forgave him.
Next day, alas! it was raining, and it rained so hard all that day, and nearly all of the next, that the children were like little bears in a cage. They played with everything they could think of, but after awhile they grew restless and quarrelled so that the grown-up folk grew nervous, too.
At last, Mariquita's father, gay and charming Uncle Ruy, came to the rescue.
"Who wants to take a trip into the country with me?" he asked, and as each one squealed "I!" he said:
"Of course we can't go, really, but we can make believe, and I shall take you to a hacienda outside the old wall of Sevilla.
"It lies amidst orange and olive groves, and all kinds of flowers, and many of the things we eat come from that very place. Who knows how they pickle olives?"