Page 18 - ramona-text

RAMONA
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they had set their base, usurping feet on our necks!" And
she followed him to the gate, and stood erect, bravely waving
her handkerchief as he galloped off, till he was out of sight
Then with a changed face and a bent head she crept slowly
to her room, locked herself in, fell on her knees before the
Madonna at the head of her bed, and spent the greater part
of the day praying that she might be forgiven, and that all
heretics might be discomfited. From which part of these sup-
plications she derived most comfort is easy to imagine.
Juan Canito had been right in his sudden surmise that it
was for Father Salvierderra's coming that the sheep-shearing
was being delayed, and not in consequence of Sefior Felipe's
illness, or by the non-appearance of Luigo and his flock of
sheep. Juan would have chuckled to himself still more at his
perspicacity, had he overheard the conversation going on be-
tween the Seiiora and her son, at the very time when he, half
asleep on the veranda, was, as he would have called it, putting
two and two together and convincing himself that old Juan
was as smart as they were, and not to be kept in the dark by
all their reticence and equivocation.
"Juan Can is growing very impatient about the sheep-
shearing," said the Senora. "I suppose you are still of the
same mind about it, Felipe,—that it is better to wait till
Father Salvierderra comes? As the only chance those In-
dians have of seeing him is here, it would seem a Christian
duty to so arrange it, if it be possible; but Juan is very
restive. He is getting old, and chafes a little, I fancy, under
your control. He cannot forget that you were a boy on his
knee. Now I, for my part, am like to forget that you were
ever anything but a man for me to lean on."
Felipe turned his handsome face toward his mother with
a beaming smile of filial affection and gratified manly vanity.
"Indeed, my mother, if I can be sufficient for you to lean on,
I will ask nothing more of the saints;" and he took his
mother's thin and wasted little hands, both at once, in his
own strong right hand, and carried them to his lips as a lover
mipjit have done. "Vou wilJ spoil me, mother," he said, "you
make me so proud."
"No. Felipe, it is 1 who am proud," promptly replied the