"
While this plot was being hatched in the corridor, Petra was preparing
breakfast in the obscurity of the kitchen. There was very little to
prepare, for the meal invariably consisted of a fried egg, which never
by any accident was large, and a beefsteak, which, in memories
reverting to the remotest epoch, had not a single time by any
exception been soft.
At noon, the Biscayan, in tones of deep mystery, told Petra about the
conspiracy, but the maid-of-all-work was in no mood for jests that
day. She had just received a letter that filled her with worriment.
Her brother-in-law wrote her that Manuel, the eldest of Petra's
children, was being sent to Madrid. No lucid explanation of the reason
for this decision was given. The letter stated simply that back there
in the village the boy was only wasting his time, and that it would be
better for him to go to Madrid and learn a trade.
This letter had set Petra thinking. After wiping the dishes, she
washed herself in the kneeding-trough; she could not shake the fixed
idea that if her brother-in-law was sending Manuel to her it was
because the boy had been up to some mischief. She would soon find out,
for he was due to arrive that night.
Petra had four children, two boys and two girls; the girls were well
placed; the elder as a maid, with some very wealthy religious ladies,
the younger in a government official's home.
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