Margarita, between remorse about her
young mistress and pique and disappointment about Alessandro,
had become a very unhappy girl; and her mother, instead of
comforting or soothing her, added to her misery by continually
bemoaning Ramona's fate. The void that Ramona had left in the
whole household seemed an irreparable one; nothing came to fill
it; there was no forgetting; every day her name was mentioned by
some one; mentioned with bated breath, fearful conjecture,
compassion, and regret. Where had she vanished? Had she indeed
gone to the convent, as she said, or had she fled with Alessandro?
Margarita would have given her right hand to know. Only Juan
Can felt sure. Very well Juan Can knew that nobody but
Alessandro had the wit and the power over Baba to lure him out of
that corral, "and never a rail out of its place." And the saddle, too!
Ay, the smart lad! He had done the best he could for the Senorita;
but, Holy Virgin! what had got into the Senorita to run off like
that, with an Indian,-- even Alessandro! The fiends had bewitched
her. Tirelessly Juan Can questioned every traveller, every
wandering herder he saw.
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