rosy from the exercise, spirals of hair escaped from her hat, streaming
out behind, the folds of her skirt swinging above her skates--handsome,
athletic and Amazonian, with the rude health of a child who, according
to her father, "had been weaned on beefsteaks."

Finally Dona Luisa rebelled against this troublesome vigilance,
preferring to accompany her husband on his hunt for underpriced riches.
Chichi went to the skating rink with one of the dark-skinned maids,
passing the afternoons with her sporty friends of the new world.
Together they ventilated their ideas under the glare of the easy life
of Paris, freed from the scruples and conventions of their native land.
They all thought themselves older than they were, delighting to discover
in each other unsuspected charms. The change from the other hemisphere
had altered their sense of values. Some were even writing verses in
French. And Desnoyers became alarmed, giving free rein to his bad humor,
when Chichi of evenings, would bring forth as aphorisms that which she
and her friends had been discussing, as a summary of their readings and
observations.--"Life is life, and one must live! . . . I will marry the
man I love, no matter who he may be. . . ."

But the daughter's independence was as nothing compared to the worry
which the other child gave the Desnoyers. Ay, that other one! . . .
Julio, upon arriving in Paris, had changed the bent of his aspirations.
He no longer thought of becoming an engineer; he wished to become
an artist. Don Marcelo objected in great consternation, but finally
yielded. Let it be painting! The important thing was to have some
regular profession. The father, while he considered property and wealth
as sacred rights, felt that no one should enjoy them who had not worked
to acquire them.