The two boys walked through a narrow passage paved with cobblestones
until they reached a courtyard, and then, by one of the numerous
staircases they climbed to the balcony of the first floor, on which
opened a row of doors and windows all painted blue.
"Here's where we live," said Vidal, pointing to one of the doors.
They entered. Senor Ignacio's home was small; it comprised two
bedrooms, a parlour, the kitchen and a dark room. The first habitation
was the parlour, furnished with a pine bureau, a sofa, several straw
chairs and a green mirror stuck with chromos and photographs and
covered with red netting. The cobbler's family used the parlour as the
dining-room on Sundays, because it was the lightest and the most
spacious of their rooms.
When Manuel and Vidal arrived the family had been waiting for them a
long time. They all sat down to table, and Salome, the cobbler's
sister-in-law, took charge of serving the meal. She resembled very
closely her sister, the mother of Vidal. Both, of medium height, had
short, saucy noses and black, pretty eyes; despite this physical
similarity, however, their appearance differentiated them sharply.
Vidal's mother,--called Leandra,--untidy, unkempt, loathsome, and
betraying traces of ill humour, seemed much older than Salome,
although but three or four years separated them.
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