and she was always grateful for whatever made her feel herself of
use. She was on kind and friendly terms with Rosita, but they did
not become more intimate than at first. The Senora was swinging in a
hammock half-asleep, with a cigarette between her lips, all the
morning; and when she emerged from this torpid state, in a splendid
toilette, she had too many more congenial friends often to need her
step-daughter in her visits, her expeditions to lotteries, and her
calls on her old friends the nuns. On a fast-day, or any other
occasion that kept her at home, she either arranged her jewels,
discussed her dresses, or had some lively chatter, which she called
learning English. She coaxed, fondled, and domineered prettily over
Mr. Ponsonby; and he looked on amused, gratified her caprices,
caressed her, and seemed to regard her as a pretty pet and plaything.




CHAPTER VI.



THE TWO PENDRAGONS.



The red dragon and the white,
Hard together gan they smite,
With mouth, paw, and tail,
Between hem was full hard batail.
The History of Merlin.