desire to turn Las Rubertas, and the Fuentes in particular, with whom she had had several spirited encounters, green with envy as to give Rosario happiness.
But whatever her motive, the result was the same, since she supplied the knowledge of cutting and basting laboriously acquired at a mission school, which Nan lacked.
Rosario ran from school at recess for a final fitting, and at noon she all but swallowed her tortillas whole. The Fuentes, however, were too engrossed in arraying themselves in their own splendor to observe the excitement and haste of the despised little gringo.
While Nan brushed Rosario's thick hair and tied the long braid with a gorgeous satin bow, Mrs. Grallagher buttoned on the best shoes that the Señor Apedaca kept among his meager stock of groceries.
And when the yellow dress, soft and shimmering as cobwebs in the sun, was slipped over her head and buttoned up behind, Rosario stood speechless before the reflection she saw in the big mirror which Nan held up before her.
She had never hoped to look like that. She
