Page 9 - ramona-text

It was sheep-shearing time in Southern California, but
sheep-shearing was late at the Senora Moreno's. The Fates
had seemed to combine to put it off. In the first place, Felipe
Moreno had been ill. He was the Senora's eldest son, and
since his father's death had been at the head of his mother's
house. Without him, nothing could be done on the ranch,
the Senora thought. It had been always, "Ask Seiior Felipe,"
"Go to Senor Felipe," "Sefior Felipe will attend to it," ever
since Felipe had had the dawning of a beard on his handsome
face.
In truth, it was not Felipe, but the Seiiora, who really
decided all questions from greatest to least, and managed
everything on the place, from the sheep-pastures to the
artichoke-patch; but nobody except the Sefiora herself knew
this. An exceedingly clever woman for her day and genera-
tion was Senora Gonzaga Moreno,—as for that matter, ex-
ceedingly clever for any day and generation; but exception-