Sixty Two

When he reached Kim, she greeted him in her perfect Madrid Spanish. The gentleman’s eyes were brown and as piercing as those of a hawk. When she spoke, he fixed her very briefly with a stare, then shifted his stick from his right hand to his left. Taking her extended hand in his right, he brought it to his lips and kissed her fingertips in a most gallant fashion.

In his finest classical Spanish, he greeted Kim and added, “It is little wonder that Maria speaks my language as fluently as she does. With friends like you with whom she can converse, how could she speak otherwise?” Then he added in an undertone, “Such stunning beauty, too! How utterly marvelous.”

Kim was introduced to Jaime, and then escorted the two men into the living room where Donna and Maria were seated, waiting side by side on the sofa. Señor Garçia looked at the two and smiled. “Maria, you never cease to amaze me. No other woman would dare sit beside the fabulous Donna Douglas for fear that beside Donna’s beauty, she