ance. On the eve of his departure .a farewell dance
for him was improvised with the pianola and with Rebeca he
put on a skillful demonstration of modern dances. Arcadio
and Amaranta matched them in grace and skill. But the exhibition was interrupted because Pilar Ternera, who was at the door with the onlookers, had a fight, biting and hairpulling, with a woman who had dared to comment that Arcadio had a woman''s behind. Toward midnight Pietro
Crespi took his leave with a sentimental little speech, and he
promised to return very soon. Rebeca accompanied him to
the door, and having closed up the house and put out the
lamps, she went to her room to weep. It was an inconsolable
weeping that lasted for several days, the cause of which was
not known even by Amaranta. Her hermetism was not odd.
Although she seemed expansive and cordial, she had a solitary character and an impenetrable heart. She was a splendid adolescent with long and firm bones, but she still insisted on
using the small wooden rocking chair with which she had
arrived at the house, reinforced many times and with the
arms gone. No one had discovered that even at that age she
still had the habit of sucking her finger. That was why she
would not lose an opportunity to lock herself in the bathroom and had acquired the habit of sleeping with her face to the wall. On rainy afternoons, embroidering with a group of