Part 11 (2/2)
”Of course!” cried Belle.
”Mamma was going to take Janet for a maid,” Cora resumed, ”but Janet isn't very keen on going. I fancy she thinks the West Indian Islands are inhabited by cannibals.”
”The idea!” laughed Bess.
”Well, I found her reading some books on African travel,” Cora went on, ”and she asked me if the climate wasn't about the same. She seems to think all hot countries are the homes of cannibals. So I imagine Janet will refuse to go--at the last moment.”
”Would Inez go, as a maid?” asked Belle.
”I fancy so. She says she has done so before, since the change in her fortunes. And mother and I like her very much. Besides, she speaks Spanish, and that would be a great help.”
”Why, Walter said--” began Bess, wonderingly.
”He knows just two words of Spanish, and he speaks them as though he were a German comedian,” declared Cora. ”Wally is all right otherwise, but as a translator of the Castilian tongue, I wouldn't trust him to ask what time it was,” she laughed. ”But Inez would be such a help.”
”Then why don't you take her?” asked Bess. And, when it had been talked over with Mrs. Kimball, it was practically decided upon.
”Lets go tell Inez,” proposed Belle, ”when the decision had been reached. It will be such a surprise to her.”
The Spanish girl, though not fully recovered from the long period of insufficient food and weary toil, had insisted upon taking up some of the duties, of the Kimball home. But Cora's mother required that she rest a portion of each day to recover her strength. And, as the girls sought her in her own little room (for Inez was anything but a servant), they found her just awakening from a sleep.
”Oh, Senoritas!” she exclaimed, her cheeks flushed under their olive tint. ”I have had such a beautiful dream. I dreamed I was back in my own dear country--on Sea Horse Island. Oh, but ze palms waved a welcome to me, and ze waters--ze so blue waters--zey sang a song to me. Ze blue waves broke on ze coral--as I have seen it so, often.
Oh, but, Senoritas, I was sorry to awaken--so sorry--for it was but a dream.”
”No, Inez, it was not all a dream,” said Cora, gently. ”If you like, you may go back to Sea Horse Island. We will take you to Porto Rico with us, and from there you can easily go to your own island.”
”Oh, will you--will you take me, Senoritas?” cried Inez, kneeling at Cora's feet. ”Oh, but it is magnificent of you!” and she covered Cora's hands with kisses.
CHAPTER IX
OFF TO WATERS BLUE
”Oh, Jack! Aren't you just wild to go?”
”I don't know, Cora. Anything for a change, I suppose,” was the listless answer. ”I'd go anywhere--do anything--just to get one good night's sleep again.”
”You poor boy! Didn't you rest well?”
”A little better than usual, but I'm so dead tired when I wake up--I don't seem to have closed my eyes.”
Jack's nervous trouble had taken the turn of insomnia---that bugbear of physician and patient alike--and while the others had their night hours filled with dreams, or half-dreams, of pleasant antic.i.p.ation, poor Jack tumbled and tossed restlessly.
”I'm sure you will be much better when we get to San Juan,” affirmed Cora. ”The sea voyage will do you good, and then down there it will be such a change for you.”
”I suppose it will,” a.s.sented her brother. ”But just now I don't feel energetic enough even to head a rescue party for Senor Ralcanto.”
That remark seemed very serious to Cora, for her brother was of a lively and daring disposition, always the leader in any pranks. Now, his very listlessness told how strong a hold, or, rather, lack of hold, his nerves had on him.
<script>