“And the bust of a woman leaning from a balcony as though taking the air?”
“A ladies’ hair-dressing salon: but they don’t have as many here as they do in Madrid. And a horse-shoe?”
“You’re the one that ought to be horse-shoed,” ejaculated Señora Patrocinio. “Are you going on with the story or not, Don Gil?”
“But you two are confusing me! You make me lose the thread. Where was I?”
“You were telling us,” said Señora Patrocinio, “about how they fixed up the store with the Marquis’ money.”
“Ah! That’s so.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
They widened the store; left off several articles that were not very productive, and devoted themselves exclusively to selling comestibles. They bought casks of Montillo wine, Montero oil, sugar, coffee, and hired some chocolate makers to make chocolate.
Palomares, whom El Pende had engaged as a clerk when he saw the prosperity of the establishment, spent the day wrapping up cakes of chocolate, toasting coffee, and mixing peanuts and chicory.