He never added that he knew well that she was not weeping for the characters of the story, but for the neglect of her husband; but, as her husband was also his father, he employed this pretext in order not to condemn Julio, openly and aloud, to Carmen. Thus, there happened, what was to be expected, that between Carmen and Julito there grew up love in one of its sublimest forms, the love of mother and son, with open caresses, but caresses the most pure, with no touch of sin; and ideal love which illumines our spirit and assures us that we would have loved our mother so, had we not lost her too early. Julito’s fifteen years spent in tenements and public schools, had acquired for him an undesirable stock of had habits, of which perhaps the least was smoking, inveterate, demanding his withdrawal at the end of each chapter, to the corridor to smoke a cigarette in the open air. One night Carmen, who knew not how to show him the extreme affection, which by his treatment of her he had gained, said, unexpectedly: “If you wish to smoke, you may do it before me.” And the boy, who, on the streets, at school, and in the neighborhood, was a positive terror, could not smoke near Carmen, look you! He could not; he loved her too much to be willing to puff smoke from mouth and nostrils in her presence. He did not smoke secretly, but as before, in the corridor, after each chapter. How sadly beautiful was the sight of these two in the dismantled dining room of their miserable tenement! The immense house, the squalid quarter, so noisy and turbulent during the day, presented the silence of the tomb in the late hours of the night. Carmen and Julito, separated by a corner of the table with its tattered cover of oil-cloth, and a tallow dip, which needed snuffing every little while; Julito greatly interested in his reading and Carmen, sewing at her fastest, contemplating, with infinite love the black and curly head of her son, when she stopped a moment to thread her needle. Now and again, the coughing of the other children came to them from the adjoining room, and Julito exclaimed: “Listen to my brothers.” “Yes, I hear them; poor little things.” FOOTNOTES: [1] The word used is _espejismo_, literally, mirroring. [2] There is a hard drive here upon the old teacher, which will be understood only by those who have seen him. [3] The second is, it will be costly. [4] Little Chavero: half-affectionate, half-jocular diminutive of Chavero. [5] This and the following Aztec terms are either actually fictitious or have meanings which are ridiculous in the connections given. [6] Public granary. [7] A scourge. [8] A band or strip of wire netting with sharp points, to be bound upon the body for self-torture. [9] Mas solemne culto. [10] A pretty mestizo girl, of the common people. [11] Seller of fruit waters, including one made with _chia_. [12] Night watchman. [13] Soldier police. [14] Street cars.