Washing things were brought on demand, though I think they had expected us to wash at the public sink in the outhouse. Then we breakfasted on bread, coffee and grapes, while Mrs. Hotei sat by resting her stomach on the edge of the table and chanting in a hollow voice a pæan of her own virtues. It ran somewhat thus:
"I am la gorda, The fat one of Lorca. My stomach is ill. Of an illness which makes it Swell up like a football. But my heart has no illness; It is sound, it is loving, And makes no distinctions Between different peoples.
"I am la gorda, The fat one of Lorca. My home is well known Because of its cheapness And the love of a mother, Which I shed o'er my lodgers. Nowhere else will you Find meals of such richness Or cooking so luscious For people whose purses Are small in dimensions.
"I am la gorda, The fat one of Lorca. My house is so loved by The folk of the district That _my_ bedrooms never One moment are empty. I'll give you an instance: Last night, for example, Each bed carried double And would have contained more Could one but compress folks To smaller dimensions.
"I am la gorda, The fat one of Lorca. Those who once come here Come back again, always. My card I will give you That you may remember That Lorca possesses A kind-hearted mother, Or, anyhow, one who Will fill that position As long as you settle The bill she presents you."
In this plain song she explained both the disappearance of our second bed and the centipedal man upstairs. When she had finished we broke to her the news of our imminent departure. We lunched once again at the eating-house, which this day was full of peasants. Three women in black who might have stepped out of the pages of the Bible faced us. They were not friendly in manner. A small soldier, half tipsy, came in and, soon after him, the agency youth. The latter began to tease the tipsy soldier, and in a short while both had pulled out knives and were threatening each other in mock earnestness. But one could see that it needed little--an accidental word, a sentence misunderstood--to swing the drunken soldier over from joking to earnest. We took coffee at a café in the central street. La gorda rolled up the street, came to our table, and accepted a glass of anis dulce for the illness of her stomach.