Turning to Jos, she said gently, "I know very little English. I
am so sorry I cannot understand. Will it tire you to interpret to me
what your mother said?"
Jos was as full of humor as his mother. "She wants me to tell her
what you wuz sayin'," he said, "I allow, I'll only tell her the part
on't she'll like best.-- My mother says you can stay here with us till
the storm is over," he said to Ramona.
Swifter than lightning, Ramona had seized the woman's hand and
carried it to her heart, with an expressive gesture of gratitude and
emotion. "Thanks! thanks! Senora!" she cried.
"What is it she calls me, Jos?" asked his mother.
"Senora," he replied. "It only means the same as lady."
"Shaw, Jos! You tell her I ain't any lady. Tell her everybody round
where we live calls me 'Aunt Ri,' or 'Mis Hyer;' she kin call me
whichever she's a mind to. She's reel sweet-spoken."
With some difficulty Jos explained his mother's disclaimer of the
title of Senora, and the choice of names she offered to Ramona.
Ramona, with smiles which won both mother and son, repeated
after him both names, getting neither exactly right at first trial, and
finally said, "I like 'Aunt Ri' best; she is so kind, like aunt, to every
one.
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