To his children he was always recommending simplicity and economy. "We
are not as rich as you suppose. We own a good deal of property, but it
produces a scanty income."
And then, after refusing a domestic expenditure of two hundred francs,
he would put five thousand into an unnecessary purchase just because
it would mean a great loss to the seller. Julio and his sister kept
protesting to their mother, Dona Luisa--Chichi even going so far as to
announce that she would never marry a man like her father.
"Hush, hush!" exclaimed the scandalized Creole. "He has his little
peculiarities, but he is very good. Never has he given me any cause for
complaint. I only hope that you may be lucky enough to find his equal."
Her husband's quarrelsomeness, his irritable character and his masterful
will all sank into insignificance when she thought of his unvarying
fidelity. In so many years of married life . . . nothing! His
faithfulness had been unexceptional even in the country where many,
surrounded by beasts, and intent on increasing their flocks, had seemed
to become contaminated by the general animalism. She remembered her
father only too well! . . . Even her sister was obliged to live
in apparent calmness with the vainglorious Karl, quite capable of
disloyalty not because of any special lust, but just to imitate the
doings of his superiors.
Pages:
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121