It was at San Sebastian that the various members of the party became an integral. When separated they were quite as dissimilar as the constituent parts of certain chemical combinations. The company was headed by Dr. Juan Estradas who, when a lad, had rushed to the war in Cuba, had later gone to the United States to study medicine and had there married an American girl, known in this tale as Doña Martina. Number three is represented by Don Tomás, the doctor’s younger brother, who, having always remained upon Spanish soil, spoke no language but Castilian, unless the two expressions, “Shocking” and “Awful badth form,” may be said to display some knowledge of English. Number four may be discerned in the person of Miss Patience Blake, commonly known as Patty, the pretty sister of Doña Martina. A schoolmate of Miss Patty’s, one Paulette Delambre, completes the number. The two girls had just arrived from a convent in France, where they had been learning various branches supposed to be useful to young ladies: a little embroidery, some music and water-color sketching; to these, in Patty’s case, was added French. Neither girl knew more than three words of Spanish and generally addressed one another in French, although Paulette spoke English fairly well. They had but just reached their hotel, Patty in a heated frame of mind because the customs officers at Irun had kept them so long over their luggage that they had nearly missed their train, and furthermore had questioned the presence of so many new frocks. “They actually assailed my veracity,” she explained to her sister, “and it didn’t help a bit when some one said that probably they thought we were dressmakers. Do we look like dressmakers, I want to know? I wish we had never seen your stupid old Spain.” She turned to Don Tomás, who simply beamed upon her, not understanding a word she said. But seeing a fitting occasion to air his English, he remarked, “Shocking! Awful badth form.” Then every one laughed, which cleared the air, and the five entered their hotel in better spirits. Patty’s first act, after reaching her room, was to take off her hat and fluff out her dark hair; it was Paulette who displayed rings of red gold about her forehead and whose eyes were blue. “They always take me for the French one,” remarked Patty, “and Paulette is always supposed to be the American by everyone but her own countrymen. It is rather convenient sometimes, for I hear very free criticisms of things United States. By the way, Tina, you haven’t told us one word about your plans. You simply wrote that we were to spend the summer in the north of Spain and that I needn’t be afraid of melting. You’ve prinked enough, Polly, let me come.”