Besides the reasons he offered for not going with them, don Carlos, who was by this time the leading citizen of the region, felt that he would lose his importance in those gringo countries where nobody knew his name and where no one would make a fuss over him. He had even avoided trips to Buenos Aires since the friends of his youth had died. Their sons and grandsons showed only too plainly that they didn’t know who he was! But at La Presa, where he was known as the wealthiest land-owner of the district, every one treated him with a respect verging on reverence. Moreover, he was a municipal judge there, and the immigrants, the cultivators of chacras or small farms, in recognition of his authority and wisdom consulted him on all sorts of subjects and accepted his decisions as gospel.
“What would I be doing in Paris?... Bragging about all I had left at home?... No, no, leave me with my own people. Let every steer chew his own cud!”
But it cost the old man something to part with his grandchildren, although the separation was not to be a long one. And when Celinda, and the gringo, her husband, came back, the oldest boy would be just old enough for his grandfather to teach him how to ride, as every good creole should.
This particular grandchild was now playing with Robledo, climbing onto his knees and delightedly diving off backwards on to the carpet.
“Carlitos, darling!” implored his mother. “Do let your uncle Manuel have a little peace!”
Then she went on, in reply to what Robledo had been saying about her father,
“It’s true that he didn’t want to come. But I can’t help feeling disappointed about his not being here to see all that we see.”
A young woman, elegantly dressed, approached the group. This was the young French governess, to whom had been deputed the education of young Carlos. It was time for him now to take a walk in the Bois de Boulogne. But he didn’t want to go and all his mother’s petting did not succeed in quelling the spoiled child’s protests.
“I want to stay with uncle Manuel!”
But it seemed that uncle Manuel had to go out alone, as he told the small tyrant, quite with the air of offering him an apology.