“No, indeed, lady! I appreciate that it is more than liberal; but, I cannot accept it.”
“Why not?” asked Doña Socorro, thoroughly vexed.
“Because, I must not abandon my good aunts.”
“You need not do so. La Ermita is only three leagues from here; a mere nothing. You can come here in the evenings, Saturdays, to spend Sundays, and Mondays you are at your duties again. Finally, in case they are not satisfied, take them out to the place.”
“They were not made for country life; still, for my good, they would make the sacrifice. But there is another—an insuperable—difficulty.”
“What?”
“I do not understand rural affairs and one who controls should know what he commands. I would not know where to begin; there would be neither head nor foot, and you would gain nothing, with your unhappy administrator.”
“What I gain or do not gain, does not concern you; it is not your affair. If you do not know rural affairs, I will instruct you, and, as you are not stupid, you will be, within two months, more dexterous than San Ysidro[23] himself. When shall we begin, come now?”
“But, lady, I am sorry; I believe I will not go. Agriculture does not attract me. The few studies I have made do not tend thither.”