from the bakery with freshly-baked loaves for the señorita's breakfast; half a dozen bright-plumaged parrots paraded up and down before the door of a shop, laughingly watched by a group of men; two turkeys honk-honked below the balcony, turning up an inquiring eye at the possible bestower of bounty watching from above.

Anita was called inside by a tap at the door from the little maid who summoned the ladies to their coffee, with "A comer, señoritas."

"It is all so unusual and interesting," declared Anita as she sat down to the table. "I see where I spend all my idle hours on the balcony. What are we to do to-day, mother?"

"We shall go by train to a small city near here, and from there to the little village where your father was born."

"Why didn't we go directly there?"

"Because it is not conveniently reached; there is no good fonda, and the city itself would be more expensive."

"Excellent reasons, madre mia. How lucky it is that you can speak Spanish. Scarce anyone knows English and in these out-of-the-way places how could we manage?"

"Not very well, especially with the persons whom we shall want to question. Officials, shopkeepers, as well as persons of social standing, generally know French, but the peasants and those living in remote villages, naturally, know nothing but their mother tongue. The train leaves at ten, Anita, so we must not linger. I wouldn't advise you to go again on that fascinating balcony unless you want me to leave you behind."

Anita, at this suggested possibility, did not dally, but went directly to the room which she and her mother occupied together, for there was no other available. It was exquisitely neat; clean, fine linen upon each bed, soft blankets, and mattresses the most comfortable that could be imagined; they were stuffed with wool which was picked over and washed every year. A table, two chairs, a huge washstand, a large mirror completed the furnishings. The board floor was spotless from daily scrubbing, the curtains hand-spun and home-dyed, but there was never a clothes press nor a dressing bureau in sight. The tall water jug held fresh, clear water and a like one of hot water was brought to them each morning.

"We can hang up our clothes on the floor à la Japanese, I suppose," Anita had remarked upon viewing the room. But a few nails driven in the door supplied hanging space 

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