"What has he done to himself? what is the matter with mother's glory?" Wiping his face, which was dirty, with her apron, she continued:
"What is the matter? Sweet little face, covered with mud. Bless his pretty eyes and his mouth, and his poor little hands!"
And covering him with kisses, passionate caresses, she took him and his sister into her mother's house. Returning presently she went into the back-yard to wash.
It has already been said that this yard was next to that of uncle Pedro, separated from it by a low wall.
Rita according to the popular custom began to sing.
Among the people of Andalucia, one can hardly be found whose memory is not a treasury of couplets; and these are so varied that it would be difficult to suggest an idea, for the expression of which a suitable verse would not immediately be found.
A fine voice, well modulated and dear, answered Rita from the adjoining yard; in this manner a musical colloquy was carried on, concluded by the male voice in this couplet, which indicated the wings that the preceding one had given to his desires:
"With no loss of time,
To succeed I intend;
Without sigh to the air,
Or complaint to the wind."
In the mean time Elvira sat sewing beside her mother. Her sweet and placid countenance betrayed none of the pain and anguish of her heart. Nevertheless, Anna looked at her with the penetrating eyes of a mother, and thought, "Will the hopes fail which I placed in Ventura's return? Does our Lord want her for himself?"
At this moment the children rushed in, wild with delight.