"
"Very well, John; I'll be serious." His wife turned to Farrel. "Mr.
Farrel," she continued, "while you were away, I had a very bright idea.
You are much too few in the family for such a large house, and it
occurred to me that you might care to lease the Palomar hacienda to us
for a year. I'm so weary of hotels and equally weary of a town house,
with its social obligations and the insolence of servants--particularly
cooks. John needs a year here, and we would so like to remain if it
could be arranged. Your cook, Carolina, is not the sort that leaves
one's employ in the middle of a dinner-party."
"Would five hundred dollars a month for the house and the use of
Carolina and three saddle-horses interest you, Mr. Farrel? From our
conversation of this morning, I judge you have abandoned hope of
redeeming the property, and during the year of the redemption period,
six thousand dollars might--ah--er--"
"Well, it would be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick,"
Don Miguel replied genially. "I need the money; so I accept--but with
certain reservations. I like Carolina's cooking, too; I have a couple
of hundred head of cattle to look after, and I'd like to reserve one
room, my place at this table, and my position as master of Palomar. Of
course, I'm not so optimistic as to think you folks would accept of my
hospitality for a year, so I suggest that you become what our British
cousins call 'paying guests,' albeit I had never expected to fall low
enough to make such a dastardly proposition.
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