Tony’s Reviews > A Visit to Don Otavio: A Mexican Journey > Status Update

The barman was neither Mexican nor American; he was a barman.

Jesús had not returned.
'He sold his mother's cow,' said Don Otavio, 'so he will go to the North of North America, to Texas, to make his fortune. He has had a general disgust.'
'What about his wife?'
'She can marry Juan.'
'Divorce?'
'No, no. She and Jesús were never married enough. The Church does not like the Indios to get really married. There would be so much adultery. It would be a very great sin.'

Was he really wanted in Mexico? He was told that a plebiscite had been held on that question, and an overwhelming majority returned in his favour. A plebiscite among Indians, most of them illiterate, in a country, then occupied by a foreign army, which to this day has not known anything resembling a free, universal and secret ballot . . . Now, it seems thin. Maximilian accepted.

(She goes to a bookstore):

I bought a Manual of Conversation. In the section headed Useful Words and Phrases, I find on page one:

'Are you interested in death, Count?'
'Yes, very much, Your Excellency.'

I drew the cork with my French Zigzag. The neatest sound on earth.

Her writing is hitting me immediately, in a good way. Expect more updates.