Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday the carnival continues, each year, and the children are asked to little dances at the houses of friends, and also to hear student choirs sing and to see plays. But what they most enjoy is mingling in the crowds upon the _paseo_, throwing _confetti_ at those who throw at them, seeing the flower-decked carriages, the wonderful costumes; monks, nuns, generals, court ladies, flowers, animals, all are represented,--all are laughing and throwing _confetti_ right and left. Children are selling _confetti_, crying shrilly, "_Confetti_, five _centimos_ a packet. Showers of a million colours! Only a _perro Chico_!"[10] Ah, how gay and delightful it all is! Juanita saw much, and Dolores lay down at night thanking the saints that carnival lasted but three days! But Fernando saw everything, and poor Manuel's legs were weary as he kept pace with his little master, now here, now there, now everywhere, laughing and jesting, the merriest lad in all the carnival. Alas, it was all over! Ash Wednesday dawned, dull and heavy, the weather as sad and sorry as the day. Fernando dragged himself to church, where his brow was marked with ashes according to custom, and gazed longingly at the _Entierro de la sardina_, a bit of pork the size and shape of a sardine, buried to show that the fast had begun, for no one in Spain eats meat on Ash Wednesday, and very little of it in Lent. Fernando looked so depressed at supper that his mother asked him: "What is the trouble, little son, are you ill?" "No, mamma," he said. "But it is so long till Easter." "Not if you do not think about it," said his mother with a smile. "Do your work with a will, and the days will pass quickly. If you are a good boy, you shall have a treat at Easter." "Oh, what will that be," he asked, and Juanita cried, eagerly, "Shall I have it, too?" "Both of you," the mother said. "Your father is going to take us to Sevilla, to see the grand Easter festival, and we shall see your brother and sister as well, and your cousins and your Aunt Isabella, so you must be good children." "Indeed we will," cried both, joyously, at the thought of so much pleasure. FOOTNOTE: [10] _Perro Chico_, little dog, name given to a five-_centimo_ piece because of the little lion upon it. CHAPTER VII. EASTER IN SEVILLA EASTER in Sevilla! What a gay and charming time it is! Flowers are everywhere, blooming in beauty, and all the people seem joyous in the thought that the long season of fasting is over. Fernando and Juanita had arrived in the city on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, and were wild with delight at seeing their cousins, Mariquita, Pepita, and Angel, and in looking forward to the delights of the week's holiday with its processions and fêtes. Beginning with the beautiful Procession of the Palms, on Palm Sunday, all through Holy Week are processions and celebrations, and the little folk thoroughly enjoy them.