| Prenda de mi alma! | My soul's jewel! | |
| Botoncito de rosa! | Little rose-bud! | |
| Lucero de la mañana! | Dawn of the day! | |
| Luz de mi vida! | Light of my life! | |
| Ojitos de cocuyo! | Little fire-fly eyes! | |
| Consuelo mio! | My own joy! | |
| Mi merenguito! | My little merengue! | |
| Ojitos de pega-pega! | Eyes that rivet! | |
| Mi monona! | My lovely one! | |
| Mi tormento! | My little torment! | |
| Mi consolacion! | My consolation! | |
| Hija de mi alma! | Child of my soul! |
and a number of expressions as choice as those quoted above.
Our conversation is carried on in epigrammatic phrases. I need not waste words by making the long-winded inquiry, 'Do you love me?' It is sufficient to ask simply, 'Me quieres?' And when Cachita tells me, in reply, that her love for me may be compared to her fondness for her mother's precious bones ('Te quiero mas que á los huesitos de mi mamá'), and when, following suit, I assure my beloved that I value her as I do the apple of mine eye ('como la niña de mis ojos'), I know well enough that these are only figures of speech adopted by lovers in the Spanish tropics.
'Mi corazoncito,' says Cachita, fondly, 'I fear that your visits here must be suspended for the present.'
'Why so, mi vida?'
'Papacito (Don Severiano) suspects something. His friend, Señor Catasus, who passes here every evening, has seen us converse at the window more frequently than custom allows, and he has mentioned it to papacito.'
Old Catasus has a son whom Don Severiano employs, and I fancy that his interest in Cachita's welfare is not purely disinterested.
'Young Amador is a frequent visitor at your father's house?'
'He comes with others in the evening sometimes.'
'He danced three times with you at the Piñata ball, and he walks with you on Sunday evenings in the Plaza de Armas, when the military band plays.'