"Trust me," the Mexican assured them, confidently. "If somebody
comes I'll send them away. Oh, I can lie with the best of them."
The Garcias were not ordinary people, and they lived in rather
good circumstances for country folk. There were three rooms to
their little house, all of which were reasonably clean. The food
that Inez set before her guests, too, was excellent if scanty.
Juanito, taking the cue from his parents, flung himself whole-
heartedly into the task of entertainment, and since Alaire met his
advances halfway he began, before long, to look upon her with
particular favor. Once they had thoroughly made friends, he
showered her with the most flattering attentions. His shyness, it
seemed, was but a pretense--at heart he was a bold and
enterprising fellow--and so, as a mark of his admiration, he
presented her with all his personal treasures. First he fetched
and laid in her lap a cigar-box wagon with wooden wheels--
evidently the handiwork of his father. Then he gave her, one by
one, a highly prized blue bottle, a rusty Mexican spur, and the
ruins of what had been a splendid clasp knife. There were no
blades in the knife, but he showed her how to peep through a tiny
hole in the handle, where was concealed the picture of a dashing
Spanish bullfighter.
Pages:
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477