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another in his own words, placed it in the same envelope, and dribbled sealing wax over the broken seal. In San Francisco his aunt Paulina was waiting for him on the dock, accompanied by two servants and Williams, her pompous butler. She was attired in an outrageous hat with so many veils flying in the wind that had she not been so heavy she would have blown away. She burst into gales of laughter when she saw her nephew descending the gangplank with the Christ in his arms, then clasped him to her soprano's bosom, suffocating him in the mountain of her breasts and her gardenia perfume.
    "The first thing we do will be to get rid of that monstrosity" she said, pointing to the Christ. "And we'll have to buy you some clothes; no one here goes around in an outfit like that:'
    "This was my father's suit," Severo clarified, humiliated.
    "You can tell, you look like a grave digger," Paulina commented, and as soon as she said it remembered that the boy had lost his father only a short time before." Forgive me, Severo, I didn't mean to offend you. Your father was my favorite brother, the only one in the family I could talk to."
    "They altered several of his suits to fit me, in order not to waste them," Severo explained, his voice quavering.
    "We got off to a bad start. Can you forgive me?"
    "It's all right, Aunt."
    At the first opportunity, the young man gave his aunt the purported letter from his grandfather Agustin. Paulina gave it a cursory look.
    "What did the other one say?" she asked.
    Severo's ears turned red, and he tried to deny what he had done, but his aunt didn't give him the opportunity to trip himself up in lies. "I would have done the same, nephew. I want to know what my father's letter said so I can answer him, not to pay any attention to what he says."
    "It said to send me to a military school, or to war, if you have any around here."
    "You came too late, they already had it. But now they're massacring Indians, in case you're interested. The Indians are doing a pretty good job defending themselves; they just killed General Custer and more than two hundred soldiers of the Seventh Cavalry in Wyoming. That's all anyone is talking about. They say that an Indian named Rain in Your Face—now there's a poetic name for you!—had sworn vengeance against General Custer's brother, and that during the battle he tore out his heart and ate it. Are you still interested in being a soldier?" And Paulina del Valle laughed quietly.
    "I've never wanted to be in the military—those are my grandfather Agustin's ideas."
    "In the letter you forged you say you want to be a lawyer; I see that the advice I gave you years ago did not fall on barren ground. I would like that, dear boy. American laws are different from Chilean ones, but that doesn't matter. You will be a lawyer. You will read law with the best firm in California—my influence should be good for something."
    "I will be indebted to you for the rest of my life, Aunt," said Severo, impressed.
    "Of course you will. I hope you don't forget that; after all, in a long life you never know when I might need to ask you a favor."
    "Count on me, Aunt."
    The next day Paulina del Valle appeared with Severo in the offices of her lawyers, the same who for more than twenty-five years had been earning her enormous commissions, and without preamble announced to them that beginning the next Monday she expected to see her nephew working with them and learning the profession. They could not deny her. The aunt took the youth into her home, gave him a sunny room on the second floor, bought him a good horse, provided an allowance, hired an English teacher for him, and proceeded to introduce him to society, because according to her there was no better capital than good connections.
    "I expect two things from you: loyalty and good humor."
    "Don't you also expect me to study?"
    "That's your problem, my boy. What you do with your life is not incumbent on me."
    Nevertheless, in the next months Severo was aware