artners.
That was not difficult; one blonde head moving among so many dark ones.

Thea had not meant to dance much, but the Ramas boys danced so well and
were so handsome and adoring that she yielded to their entreaties. When
she sat out a dance with them, they talked to her about their family at
home, and told her how their mother had once punned upon their name.
RAMA, in Spanish, meant a branch, they explained. Once when they were
little lads their mother took them along when she went to help the women
decorate the church for Easter. Some one asked her whether she had
brought any flowers, and she replied that she had brought her "ramas."
This was evidently a cherished family story.

When it was nearly midnight, Johnny announced that every one was going
to his house to have "some lil' icecream and some lil' MUSICA." He began
to put out the lights and Mrs. Tellamantez led the way across the square
to her CASA. The Ramas brothers escorted Thea, and as they stepped out
of the door, Silvo exclaimed, "HACE FRIO!" and threw his velvet coat
about her shoulders.

Most of the company followed Mrs. Tellamantez, and they sat about on the
gravel in her little yard while she and Johnny and Mrs. Miguel Ramas
served the ice-cream. Thea sat on Felipe's coat, since Silvo's was
already about her shoulders. The youths lay down on the shining gravel
beside her, one on her right and one on her left. Johnny already called
them "LOS ACOLITOS," the altar-boys. The talk all about them was low,
and indolent. One of the girls was playing on Johnny's guitar, another
was picking lightly at a mandolin. The moonlight was so bright that one
could see every glance and smile, and the flash of their teeth. The
moonflowers over Mrs. Tellamantez's door were wide open and of an
unearthly white. The moon itself looked like a great pale flower in the
sky.

After all the ice-cream was gone, Johnny approached Thea, his guitar
under his arm, and the elder Ramas boy politely gave up his place.
Johnny sat down, took a long breath, struck a fierce chord, and then
hushed it with his other hand. "Now we have some lil' SERENATA, eh? You
wan' a try?"

When Thea began to sing, instant silence fell upon the company. She felt
all those dark eyes fix themselves upon her intently. She could see them
shine. The faces came out of the shadow like the white flowers over the
door. Felipe leaned his head upon his hand. Silvo dropped on his back
and lay looking at the moon,