understand a word of this telegraphic language, and he stopped at the foot
of the stairs, endeavoring to comprehend the meaning of the signs which
the housekeeper was excitedly making above his head. But, naturally, he
was not very skilful in this kind of investigation, and his not very vivid
imagination was at this moment paralyzed. Finally, he shrugged his
shoulders with a sort of resigned and patient desperation, as if to say,
"What are you trying to tell me?" The housekeeper folded her arms and
shook her head three times; this meant: "Stupid! stupid! stupid!" The good
man bent his head under the triple accusation, and proceeded to ascend the
stairs. At the head Nurse Juana was waiting for him, and without further
ceremony she took him by the hand and drew him into his room; and there,
after assuring herself that no one was within hearing, she put her mouth
close to the ear of Berta's father, and in a mysterious voice, and with an
air of profound mystery, she said to him:

"He is going away!"

"He is going away!" repeated Berta's father, exhaling a profound sigh.

"Yes," she added; "we are going to be free."

"Free!" repeated the good man, shaking his head with an air of
incredulity. Then he asked:

"And where is he going?"

"He is going very far away," answered the nurse. "That is certain. He is
going very far away, to some place, I don't know where, at the other end
of the earth. It is a sudden journey."