ently, you must not
meddle in things that you don't understand; however, my uncle is
certainly showing symptoms that seem very suspicious, even to the
ordinary intelligence."

"Sane or insane, I want to separate from him, for my life is a hell. But
when once this subject came up, he became frantic, declaring that I
wanted a divorce so as to marry my lover, and that he would empty his
six-shooter into me if I did any such thing...."

"Poor aunt!" said Maximina, with tears in her eyes.

"How does my life seem to you?... But it is not this alone. I have still
another cause for tribulation. Eulalia's little maid is almost blind!"

"What of?" asked the young mother.

"What do you suppose, child? Of her eyes, of course!"

"No; I meant of what disease!"

"Ah! I don't know what name the doctor gives it. Then, besides,
Encarnacion the maid, who you must know has been my hands and feet, got
married last Monday. You can't imagine the state of the house since she
left us! It is a republic, children! I can't be in half a dozen places
at once. For a dozen years I have depended wholly on her.... She had the
keys to the linen closet; she kept account of the washing; she took out
the chocolate and the _garbanzos_[42]; she looked out for the
wine-closet when the wines were getting low; she ironed Carlos' and
Enrique's shirts (for Vicente sends his out to be done up). Finally, I
hardly had to trouble myself about what the servants got to eat, she had
them so under her control.... Now, whom can I put into the house? Whom
could I put in her place, the service being so turned topsy-turvy?
Thursday the lackey came to me saying that Modesta was not willing to
mend the sleeve of his livery-coat, which he had torn...."

"And Enrique? How about him?" asked Miguel, fearing that his aunt, in
talking about the servants, would never finish, as was her custom.

"That is another thing! Bent on marrying the _chula_! There is no way of
getting it out of his head. His father will not hear his name mentioned,
and has already declared that, if he continues his relationship with
her, he will send him out of the house. Vicente and Eulalia are also
just as set against him. The one who 'pays for all the broken glass in
the house' is myself, because I sympathize with him; don't you see?"

"Yes; Enrique has always been your favorite!"

"The whole family have always declared this to be the case, but it is
not true; as you see, he is the least favored..