20/32 Flora, dear, when your father and I were young, we were in love with each other, and I promised to be his wife." "So you might have been my Mamita!" exclaimed Floracita, impetuously. "You call me the Java sparrow, and Java sparrows never hatch gay little humming-birds or tuneful mocking-birds. I might tell you a long story about myself, dear; but the sun is declining, and you ought not to be out after dusk. My father was angry about our love, because Alfred was then only a clerk with a small salary. They carried me off to Europe, and for two years I could hear nothing from Alfred. |