At this moment Concepcion glided across the room—she moved with that peculiar poetry of motion of the Spanish woman—and joined us.
“Trinidad is very distinguished, no?” This was always her highest praise. “And intelligent, and instructed; Ave Maria Purissima! she can speak three idioms.”
“You don’t understand what being en deposito means,” Pemberton went on, ignoring the interruption. “Having lately come of age, that is eighteen in Andalusia, Trinidad made application to a magistrate by means of an official document written and signed by herself stating that she wished to marry José Maria Benamiel; that her parents, with no sufficient reason, forbade the marriage; that——”
“Pobrecitos!” broke in Concepcion; “they have been making love these four years. He is a youth the most well-bred, the most distinguished——”
“Yesterday,” Pemberton continued, “the magistrate called on Trinidad’s father——”
“He came in a carriage,” Concepcion reminded him.
“And after a heated interview, took Trinidad away from her father’s house and brought her to ours. Here she will stay en deposito for three months. During this time, Concepcion is responsible for her. Trinidad is free to see Benamiel, always in the presence of some responsible third person, and her parents are free to visit her. They——”
“They are people the most egotistical, the most interested!” Concepcion burst out. “Can you imagine? they denied her clothes, por Dios! it is the truth: that is my dress she is wearing! who ever heard of so great a shame? Not one handkerchief allowed those hard-hearted ones their daughter to take away from their accursed house!”
“It is true, they all lost their tempers,” said Pemberton lightly, “and behaved foolishly. I fancy we shall see a portmanteau before night; between ourselves, Trinidad might very well have kept on the dress she came away in yesterday. It is not a bad system, the deposito; it gives time for both love and anger to cool off. The girl is out of coercion here; she has a chance to make up her mind whether or no Benamiel is really the man for her. At the end of the three months, if she still wants him, she may marry him without her parents’ consent.”
“Do you think she will?”