Then he loosened his hold on my arm and dropped back moaning and
shivering into his seat. His eyes closed, his whole frame trembled,
and he looked like a person just recovering from an epileptic fit;
then he seemed to sink to sleep. It was now getting quite dark, for
the sun had been down some time, and it was with the greatest relief
that I saw Dona Demetria gliding like a ghost into the room. She touched
me on the arm and whispered, "Come, senor, he is asleep now."
I followed her out into the fresh air, which had never seemed so fresh
before; then, turning to me, she hurriedly whispered, "Remember, senor,
that what you have told me is a secret. Say not one word of it to any
other person here."
CHAPTER XXIII
She then led me to the kitchen at the end of the house. It was one of
those roomy, old-fashioned kitchens still to be found in a few
_estancia_ houses built in colonial times, in which the fireplace,
raised a foot or two above the floor, extends the whole width of the
room. It was large and dimly lighted, the walls and rafters black with
a century's smoke and abundantly festooned with sooty cobwebs; but a
large, cheerful fire blazed on the hearth, while before it stood a
tall, gaunt woman engaged in cooking the supper and serving _mate_.
This was Ramona, an old servant on the _estancia_.
There also sat my friend of the tangled tresses, which he had evidently
succeeded in combing well out, for they now hung down quite smooth on
his back and as long as a woman's hair.
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