One of them terrified the occupants of the studio with her insistence.
She was a North American of uncertain age, somewhere between thirty-two
and fifty-nine, with short skirts that whenever she sat down, seemed
to fly up as if moved by a spring. Various dances with Desnoyers and
a visit to the rue de la Pompe she seemed to consider as her sacred
rights, and she pursued the master with the desperation of an abandoned
zealot. Julio had made good his escape upon learning that this beauty
of youthful elegance--when seen from the back--had two grandchildren.
"MASTER Desnoyers has gone out," Argensola would invariably say upon
receiving her. And, thereupon she would burst into tears and threats,
longing to kill herself then and there that her corpse might frighten
away those other women who would come to rob her of what she considered
her special privilege. Now it was Argensola who sped his companion to
the street when he wished to be alone. He had only to remark casually,
"I believe that Yankee is coming," and the great man would beat a hasty
retreat, oftentimes in his desperate flight availing himself of the back
stairs.
At this time began to develop the most important event in Julio's
existence. The Desnoyers family was to be united with that of Senator
Lacour. Rene, his only son, had succeeded in awakening in Chichi a
certain interest that was almost love.
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