Lastly,
he removed a rather fancy spread from the bed and substituted therefor
an ancient silk crazy-quilt that had been made by Don Mike's
grandmother. Things were now as they used to be, and Pablo was
satisfied.
When he came out, Kay had gone in to dinner; so he returned to his own
_casa_ and squatted against the wall, with his glance fixed upon the
point in the palm avenue where it dipped over the edge of the mesa.
VII
At seven o'clock, dinner being over, Kay excused herself to the family
and Mr. Okada, passed out through the patio gate, and sought a bench
which she had noticed under a catalpa tree outside the wall. From this
seat, she, like Pablo, could observe anybody coming up the palm-lined
avenue. A young moon was rising over the hills, and by its light Kay
knew she could detect Don Mike while he was yet some distance from the
house.
At seven-thirty, he had not appeared, and she grew impatient and
strolled round to the other side of the hacienda. Before Pablo's
_casa_, she saw the red end of a cigarette; so she knew that Pablo also
watched.
"I _must_ see him first," she decided. "Pablo's heart is right toward
Don Mike, but resentful toward us. I do not want him to pass that
resentment on to his master."
She turned back round the hacienda again, crossed down over the lip of
the mesa at right angles to the avenue, and picked her way through the
oaks.
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