All of Uncle Patas' friends tried to
convince him that it was a monstrosity for a man of his years to wed,
and such a young girl at that; but he persisted in his notions and
married.
Within two months after the marriage the son had come to an
understanding with his step-mother, and shortly after this the elderly
husband made the discovery. One day he played the spy and saw his son
and his wife leave an assignation house in Santa Margarita Street.
Perhaps the man intended to take harsh steps, to speak a few
unvarnished words to the couple; but as he was soft and peaceful by
nature, and did not wish to disturb his business, he let the time go
by and grew little by little accustomed to his position. Somewhat
later, Uncle Patas' wife brought from her town a sister of hers, and
when she arrived, between the wife and the son she was forced upon the
old man, who concluded by taking up with his sister-in-law. Since that
time the four had lived in unbroken harmony. They understood one
another most admirably.
Manuel was not in the least astonished by this state of affairs; he
was cured of fear, for at La Corrala there was more than one
matrimonial combination of the sort. What did make him indignant was
the stinginess of Uncle Patas and his people.
All the scrupulousness which Uncle Patas' wife did not feel in other
matters she reserved, no doubt, for the accounts.
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