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Updated: May 2, 2025
"For you," answered Sarrion. Juanita turned and looked out of the window, with bright and thoughtful eyes. She asked no more questions and they drove to the Palacio Sarrion in silence. There they found Cousin Peligros awaiting them. Cousin Peligros was a Sarrion and seemed in some indefinite way to consider that in so being and so existing she placed the world under an obligation.
Cousin Peligros lived in a little apartment in Madrid, which she fondly imagined to be the hub of the social universe. "They all come," she said, "to consult the Senorita de Sarrion upon points of etiquette." And she patted the air condescendingly with her left hand. There are some people who seem to be created by a far-seeing Providence as a solemn warning.
Which, perhaps, had a double meaning, for when she closed the door not without emphasis Cousin Peligros sat upright with a start. Juanita hurried out of the house and ran down the road winding on the slope to the village. The smoke choked her; the air was impregnated with sulphur. It seemed impossible that anybody could have lived through these hellish minutes that were passed.
"Do you ever go to Primes at six o'clock in the morning, Cousin Peligros?" "No," was the grave answer. "Such things are not expected of ladies." "How thoughtful of Heaven!" exclaimed Juanita, with a light laugh. "Then I do not mind being grownup and putting up my hair if you will lend me two hairpins."
Those white hands played so large a part in her small daily life that they were always in evidence, and it did not seem out of place that they should cover her foolish face. "I found all your clothes ready packed at the school," he said, addressing Juanita. "Sor Teresa brought them with her from Pampeluna. You will find them in your room." "Oh ..." groaned Cousin Peligros.
But Juanita emphasised each item of her late education with a jerk which gradually deranged Cousin Peligros' prim mantilla. Then she danced her round an impalpable mulberry bush until the poor lady was breathless. "No more Primes at six o'clock in the morning," concluded Juanita, suddenly allowing Cousin Peligros to sit again.
Cousin Peligros rose rigidly and walked towards the door. "I will go," she said. "I will see that your room is in order. I have never before been made an object of ridicule in a gentleman's house." "But we may surely laugh and be happy in a gentleman's house, may we not?" cried Juanita, running after her, and throwing one arm round her rather unbending and capacious waist.
The soldiers of Juanita's dream seemed to have vanished like the shadows to which she compared them. "I am sure," said Cousin Peligros, while they were still at the table, "that the sound of firing approaches. I have a very delicate hearing. All my senses are very highly developed. The sound of the firing is nearer, Marcos."
"I heard him cross the bridge a few minutes ago," Sarrion said quietly. "He might have said good-bye." Sarrion turned slowly in his chair and looked at her. "He probably did not wish his comings and goings to be talked of by Cousin Peligros," he suggested. "Still, he might have said good-bye ... to me."
After dinner, Juanita discovered that there was a new piano in the drawing-room, in addition to a number of those easier chairs which our grandmothers never knew. Cousin Peligros protested that they were unnecessary and even conducive to sloth and indolence.
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