to get macaroni, butter or coffee
at the grocer's. And what fun it all was!... However, Leonora observed
that, without a doubt, her audience was interpreting her cordial offhand
way with Rafael in the worst light possible. She gave him her hand and
took leave. It was growing late! If she stood there much longer the best
of the market would be carried off by others--if she found anything at
all left! "Down to business, then! Good-bye!"

And the young man saw her make her way, followed by the two country
women, through the crowds, pausing at the booths, welcomed by the
vendors with their best smiles, as a customer who never haggled;
interrupting her purchases to fondle the filthy, whining children the
poor women were carrying in their arms, and taking the best fruits out
of her basket to give to the little ones.

And everywhere general admiration! "_Asi, sinorita_!--Here, my dear
young lady!" "_Vinga, dona Leonor_!--This way, dona Leonora!" the
huckstresses cried, calling her by name to show greater intimacy. And
she would smile, with a familiar intimate word for everybody, her hand
frequently visiting the purse of Russian leather that hung from her
wrist. Cripples, blind beggars, men with missing arms or legs, all had
learned of the generosity of that woman who scattered small change by
the fistful.

Rafael gazed after her, smiling indifferently in acknowledgment of the
congratulations the town notables were heaping on him. The
_alcalde_--the most hen-pecked husband in Alcira, according to his
enemies--affirmed with sparkling eyes that for a woman like that he was
capable of doing almost any crazy thing. And they all joined in a chorus
of invidious praise, taking it for granted that Rafael was the
_artiste's_ accepted lover; though the youth himself smiled bitterly at
the thought of his real status with that wonderful woman.

And she vanished, finally, into the sea of heads at the other end of the
market-place; though Rafael, from time to time, thought he could still
make out a mass of golden hair rising above the _chevelures_ of the
other girls. Willingly he would have followed; but Don Matias was at his
side--don Matias, the wealthy orange exporter, father of the wistful
Remedios who was spending her days obediently at dona Bernarda's side.

That gentleman, heavy of speech and heavier still of thought, was
pestering Rafael with a lot of nonsense about the orange business,
giving the young man advice on a new bill