He would make this proposition in such a gentle and coaxing voice--the
voice that Dona Luisa remembered in their first talks around the old
home. And so they would go together, but by different routes;--she in
one of the monumental vehicles because, accustomed to the leisurely
carriage rides of the ranch, she no longer cared to walk; and
Desnoyers--although owner of the four automobiles, heartily abominating
them because he was conservative and uneasy with the complications of
new machinery--on foot under the pretext that, through lack of work, his
body needed the exercise. When they met in the crowded salesrooms, they
proceeded to examine the jewels together, fixing beforehand, the price
they would offer. But he, quick to become exasperated by opposition,
always went further, hurling numbers at his competitors as though they
were blows. After such excursions, the senora would appear as majestic
and dazzling as a basilica of Byzantium--ears and neck decorated
with great pearls, her bosom a constellation of brilliants, her hands
radiating points of light of all colors of the rainbow.

"Too much, mama," Chichi would protest. "They will take you for a
pawnbroker's lady!" But the Creole, satisfied with her splendor, the
crowning glory of a humble life, attributed her daughter's faultfinding
to envy. Chichi was only a girl now, but later on she would thank her
for having collected all these gems for her.

Already the home was unable to accommodate so many purchases. In
the cellars were piled up enough paintings, furniture, statues, and
draperies to equip several other dwellings. Don Marcelo began to
complain of the cramped space in an apartment costing twenty-eight
thousand francs a year--in reality large enough for a family four times
the size of his. He was beginning to deplore being obliged to renounce
some very tempting furniture bargains when a real estate agent smelled