This profane sally was followed by another burst of laughter; then she said saucily:
“I should like to see their faces,” said Pilar stuffing her handkerchief into her mouth; and she wiped the tip of her tongue as the tip of a weapon is polished after being dipped in poison. “I will find some pretext.”
It was dusk by the time Pilar called for her carriage; she ordered the coachman to drive her to the Fúcar’s house in Madrid.
She went in. Don Pedro and his daughter were just sitting down to dinner with Don Onésimo and Doña Vera. Fúcar invited Pilar to join them, but she excused herself, saying that she had only just time to give them the good news of which she was the bearer. She kissed Pepa, she gave her hand to Onésimo and then began to pet Monina.
“That María is really almost well again. And it is quite certain that a reconciliation would be effected--Milagros herself told me so. I am so glad! I cannot bear marriages that turn out badly.--My little Monina, will you not give me a kiss?”
“No,” said Monina decidedly, turning away and covering her face with her little hands.
Repulsed on this quarter Pilar turned to Pepa, and glancing at her compassionately she said:
“Good-bye dear ... you know I feel deeply for all your troubles.”
She rustled out on Don Pedro’s arm, whispering a few words in his ear which had the effect of a pistol-shot. As she parted from him at the carriage door, the lady fired a parting shot.
“I wished to warn you, that you might be on your guard. Resignation, Señor Marqués, Christian submission is what is wanting.”
Pepa meanwhile, lost in painful meditation, did not know what to think nor to what possible issue to look. Her spirit was torn by dark presentiments and wild conjectures. This news of a reconciliation had pierced her soul like a three-edged blade.
The quartette sat gloomily enough through the meal; to Pepa food was a nauseous mixture that she simply could not swallow, and her father hardly eat anything either. In the midst of her utter misery, Pepa, who had noticed her father’s strange look of worry and vexation since the day before, saw that this evening he was almost beside himself. Don Joaquin too, the partner of all the marquis’ secrets was irritable; what was happening?