He was dead
drunk and could hardly move; his eyes were viscous, like those of an
angered animal; he staggered over to Leandro and took the glass, which
trembled in his grasp; he brought it to his lips and gulped it down.
"Want more?" asked the gypsy.
"Sure, sure," he drooled.
Then he began to babble, showing the stumps of his yellow teeth, but
nobody could understand a word; he drained the other glasses, rested
his forehead against his hand and slowly made his way to a corner,
into which he squatted, and then stretched himself out on the floor.
"Do you want me to tell your fortune, princess?" asked the gipsy of
Fanny, seizing her hand.
"No," replied the lady drily.
"Won't you give me a few coins for the _churumbeles_?"
"No."
"Wicked woman! Why won't you give me a few coins for the
_churumbeles_?"
"What does _churumbeles_ mean?" asked the lady.
"Her children," answered Leandro, laughing.
"Have you children?" Fanny asked the gipsy.
"Yes."
"How many?"
"Two. Here they are."
And the gipsy fetched a blond little fellow and a girl of about five
or six.
The lady petted the little boy; then she took a duro from her purse
and gave it to the gipsy.
The gipsy, parting her lips in amazement and bursting forth into
profuse flattery, exhibited the duro to everybody in the place.
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