"Oh, Richard," exclaimed Paquita in the greatest excitement, "it is
Don Pantaleon Villaverde with his daughters, and they are getting out!"
"Who is Villaverde?" I asked.
"What, do you not know? He is a Judge of First Instance, and his
daughters are my dearest friends. Is it not strange to meet them like
this? Oh, I must see them to ask for _papa_ and _mamita!_" and here she
began to cry.
The waiter came up with a card from the Senor Villaverde requesting
an interview with the Senorita Peralta.
Demetria, who had been trying to soothe Paquita's intense excitement
and infuse a little courage into her, was too much amazed to speak;
and in another moment our visitors were in the room. Paquita started
up tearful and trembling; then her two young friends, after staring
at her for a few moments, delivered a screech of astonishment and
rushed into her arms, and all three were locked together for some time
in a triangular embrace.
When the excitement of this tempestuous meeting had spent itself, Senor
Villaverde, who stood looking on with grave, impressive face, spoke
to Demetria, telling her that his old friend, General Santa Coloma,
had just informed him of her arrival in Buenos Ayres and of the hotel
where she was staying. Probably she did not even know who he was, he
said; he was her relation; his mother was a Peralta, a first cousin
of her unhappy father, Colonel Peralta.
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