This time Joam had fixed his eyes on his wife and looked at her for some time without saying anything.
What ailed him? Why this hesitation to grant a request which was so just in itself—to say “Yes,” when it would give such pleasure to all who belonged to him? His business affairs could not afford a sufficient reason. A few weeks of absence would not compromise matters to such a degree. Hi manager would be able to take his place without any hitch in the fazenda. And yet all this time he hesitated.
Yaquita had taken both her husband’s hands in hers, and pressed them tenderly.
“Joam,” she said, “it is not a mere whim that I am asking you to grant. No! For a long time I have thought over the proposition I have just made to you; and if you consent, it will be the realization of my most cher
