For the second year students.

1. Read the following text & do the exercises below.

AN EVENING IN NUEVO LEON.

(after E. Caldwell).

It was ten o’clock in the evening when we drove into Nuevo Leon. After winding through the streets for a while we found the hotel & stopped in front of the entrance. There were few persons out that late.

While we were taking some of our things from the car, the proprietor of the hotel came out bowing & smiling. He helped us with a couple of the bags & led us into the lobby.

“ It is an honour to have you come into my hotel (1), ” he said, stopping in the centre of the lobby & bowing again. “I am very pleased to have you as my guests. The Reforma Hotel is honoured.”

We smiled in return. It made us feel good to be welcomed in such a manner.

The proprietor went behind the desk. Then he placed the register in front of me & handed me the pen.

“The house is yours, senor”, he said. “Have you been long in Mexico? ”

We were tired & dusty & far from being in a talkative mood. It had been a hard trip across the desert & mountains from the coast. Although the distance was less than three hundred miles, it had taken us since five that morning to reach Nuevo Leon.

I scrawled my name on the register, adding “y Sra” (2). On the next line I wrote out my wife’s maiden name in full.

The proprietor leaned over the register & looked at the two entries closely.

“The senorita? ” he inquired, looking at us.

“There are only two of us, ” I said, indicating my wife & myself.

He bent over the register, this time taking out his glasses & putting them on his nose. After several moments he straightened up & removed the glasses, shaking his head emphatically.

“No, senor, ” he said unsmilingly.

“Here is how it is, senor”, I spoke up. “I signed my name, & added “y Sra”, for my wife. Then on this next line I wrote out my wife’s name in full, her professional name. That was to make everything plain.”

“But where is the senorita? ” he asked, unshaken (3). “I did not see her arrive here at the hotel with you.” He looked at my wife & me, counting us on two fingers of his hand. “Where is the senorita? ”

“There is no senorita”, I said quickly. “My wife & the senorita are the one & same person”.

A broad smile lightened the proprietor’s face.

“That is wonderful! ” he said, bowing to my wife.

“What is? ”

“You & the senorita are to be married! It is wonderful! ”

My wife & I leaned wearily against the desk. It was almost eleven o’clock by then & we had been up since four that morning. We were envious of all the other guests in the Reforma who had long since retired.

“Senor, let me explain, ” I began. “It is a custom of us crazy Norteamericanos. When a man’s wife has a professional name, we sometimes sign both her married name & her professional name at a time like this. She may be receiving telegrams under both names.”

“No, senor”, he spoke up. “That is impossible”.

“Why? ” I asked.

“The telegraph office is closed.”

“Never mind, then”, I said, glancing at my wife. She has dropped her head wearily on the desk. “We don’t want to receive any telegrams tonight, anyway. Just give us a room & let us go to sleep.”

The proprietor nodded his head gravely.

“It is all right now, ” he said, “I misunderstood. I offer my apologies. I am very sorry. I will now give you two rooms where you may retire to sleep immediately.”

My wife raised her head from the desk.

“One room, ” she said sleepily.

“That is impossible, ” he said sternly.

My wife held up her hand, showing him her wedding ring. He looked at it uncertainly.

“We have been married for only seven long, long years, senor”, she said wearily.

“My apologies, senora”, he said gravely. “I offer you my apologies time & time again.”

My wife & I walked away, relieved. After we had gone half way to the stairs we turned & discovered that the proprietor was still behind the desk. He was bent over the register with his glasses on his nose again, reading the entries I had made.

“ There has been made a serious mistake, ” the proprietor said, looking at us accusingly. “Senora, your husband has not yet arrived at the hotel. When do you expect him? ”

My wife & I looked at each other confusedly.

“What are talking about? ” she said, going back to the desk.

“This is my husband here, senor! ”

He looked at the name written on the register once more. Then he straightened up, shaking his head sternly.

“It is impossible”, he said.

“What in the world are we going to do? ” my wife asked, turning to me.

“I don’t know”, I told her. “I don’t know what we can do”.

While we stood there, the proprietor took two keys from the rack behind the desk & led the way to the stairs. We followed in silence, fearing to utter a word even in whisper.

When we reached the hall on the second floor, the proprietor unlocked the door & bowed my wife into the room. Before I could follow her inside he stepped into the doorway, blocking my entrance.

“No, senor, ” he said, shaking his head at time.

I could see my wife looking at me over his shoulder. She was speechless.

Dropping the luggage, I went up to him.

“Let me explain once more, senor” I began, trying my best to conceal my impatience. “We are married to each other. My wife is wearing her wedding ring. We wish to enter our room & retire for the night. We are very tired. We drove all the way across the desert from the coast today”.

He turned & looked at my wife. She looked at him appealingly. He shrugged his shoulders, & stepped aside, bowing deeply.

“I must apologize for my error, ” he said. “Sometimes I do not always understand the customs of the Norteamericanos. Please accept my apologies.”

He bowed backward down the hall (4) until he reached the stairway. I ran into the room, shut the door, & locked it securely before anything further could happen.

We stood at the door listening to his footsteps until we were certain he had gone down to the lobby.

It was not long before we were startled by a sudden knocking on the door. It could not be ignored after that.

“Who is it? ” I shouted in the darkness.

“I am the proprietor, senor, ” he said. “Please open the door immediately.”

“Don’t do it”, my wife said. “We’ ll never get any sleep tonight if we have to argue with him again”.

“But he may break down the door”, I said.

“Let him break it down, ” she said wearily. “It’s his door.”

We were quiet, not making another sound. The renewed knocking the whole building. It continued unceasingly.

“We may as well find out what he wants, ” I said. “We can’t sleep with that going on”.

“Don’t let him start another argument, whatever you do, ” my wife said. “Tell him it is too late to argue now, but that we will argue with him in the morning after breakfast”.

I turned on the light.

“What do you want, senor? ” I asked at last.

“The door must be opened immediately, ” he said raising his voice above the knocking. I got up & unlocked the door. The proprietor stood in the doorway. He did not cross the threshold.

“It is impossible! ” he said excitedly.

“What is impossible? ”, I asked.

“You may not share the room with the senorita! ” he said loudly.

“Oh, my goodness! (5)” my wife cried. “He started that again! ”

I could hear doors opening along the hall. Everybody in the hotel had been aroused by the clamour.

“Look here! ” I said crossly. “I am not sharing the room with a senorita! This is my wife! ”

“It is impossible! ” he said, raising his voice above mine.

“Why is it impossible? ” I shouted.

“You must occupy a separate room, senor! ” he commanded.

“Tomorrow you may become married to the senorita, if she wishes to be married, & then tomorrow night you will not be required to occupy separate rooms. But tonight you must! ”

I glanced towards my wife helplessly.

“What are we going to do? ” I asked. “Won’t he listen to reason at all? ”

I turned round and faced the proprietor, opening my mouth to speak. Before I could utter a sound he had already spoken.

“ It is impossible senor, ” he said, pushing himself between me & the room.

I found myself being directed down the hall, past several persons standing sleepily in the doorways of their rooms. He opened a door & tirned on the light.

“Please accept my apologies, senor”, he said, bowing low. “It is to my deep regret. But it was impossible”.

He closed the door, quickly turning the key in the lock on the outside. After he had withdrawn it, I heard him walking briskly down the hall the stairway.