"I grant you nothing, nothing. Stay away from me."
"I promise you I shall never trouble you again if you listen to me this once." She was hurrying around to the door on the other side of the house and Uncle Pio was obliged to run beside her to make sure that she heard what he was saying. She stopped:
"What is it then? Hurry. It is cold. I am not well. I must go back to my room."
"Camila, let me take Don Jaime for a year to live with me in Lima. Let me be his teacher. Let me teach him the Castilian. Here he is left among the servants. He is learning nothing."
"No."
"Camila, what will become of him? He has a good mind and he wants to learn."
"He is sick. He is delicate. Your house is a sty. Only the country is good for him."
"But he has been much better these last few months. I promise you I shall clean out my house. I shall apply to Madre María del Pilar for a housekeeper. Here he is in your stables all day. I shall teach him all that a gentleman should know,—fencing and Latin and music. We shall read all...."
"A mother cannot be separated from her child like that. It is impossible. You are crazy to have thought of it. Give up thinking of me and of everything about me. I no longer exist. I and my children will get on as best we can. Do not try to disturb me again. I do not want to see any human being."
Now it was that Uncle Pio felt obliged to use a hard measure. "Then pay me the money that you owe me," he said.