No one shall cheat the best friend of the
panaderia, that feeds our babies so long--all winter and now."
Evidently the woman supposed that the Zanjero was still the
principal regular customer of the panaderia. Rosa and her
grandmother had never told about his ceasing to buy bread, and the
neighbor thought that he was still considered their very chief
customer.
That evening Rosa and Joseph took the long-unused path to the
Zanjero's house. His wife came to the door.
"Oh," she said, "it's the two little bread-bringers! No, I don't
want any bread. Are you trying to get orders?"
"May I see the Zanjero?" asked Rosa gravely.
The Zanjero's wife, whose name in plain English was Mrs. Craig, led
the two children into her husband's presence. Rosa, very pale with
the thought of being in the presence of so great a man, told her
story in trembling tones, and held out the key.
The Zanjero took it, and looked at it curiously.
"Will you forgive?" asked Rosa timorously. "The poor, sick woman
asks you to forgive. She says it was the mescal that made her
husband do it."
"I presume so," returned the man grimly. "They're all thieves."
But the Zanjero's wife was wiser than her husband. She dropped into
a chair and put an arm around Rosa.
"You have not told all the story yet, or else I do not understand,"
she said gently.
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