afternoon, for no reason, Amparo Moscote asked permission to see the house. Amaranta and Rebeca,
disconcerted by the unexpected visit, attended her with a stiff formality. They showed her the remodeled
mansion, they had her listen to the rolls on the pianola, and they offered her orange marmalade and crackers.
Amparo gave a lesson in dignity, personal charm, and good manners that impressed 2rsula in the few moments
that she was present during the visit. After two hours, when the conversation was beginning to wane, Amparo
took advantage of Amaranta’s distraction and gave Rebeca a letter. She was able to see the name of the Estimable
Se orita Rebeca Buendaa,aion kina, written in the same methodical hand, with the same green ink, and the same delicacy
of words with which the instructions for the operation of the pianola were written, and she folded the letter with
the tips of her fingers and hid it in her bosom, looking at Amparo Moscote with an expression of endless and
unconditional gratitude and a silent promise of complicity unto death.
The sudden friendship between Amparo Moscote and Rebeca Buendaa awakened the hopes of Aureliano. The
memory of little Remedios had not stopped tormenting him, but he had not found a chance to see her. When he
would stroll through town with his closest friends, Magnafico Visbal and Gerineldo Mrquez?athe sons of the
founders of the same names?ahe would look for her in the sewing shop with an anxious glance,aion kina, but he saw only
the older sisters. The presence of Amparo Moscote in the house was like a premonition. “She has to come with
her,?Aureliano would say to himself in a low voice. “She has to come.?He repeated it so many times and with
such conviction that one afternoon when he was putting together a little gold fish in the work shop, he had the
certainty that she had answered his call. Indeed, a short time later he heard the childish voice, and when he
looked up his heart froze with terror as he saw the girl at the door, dressed in pink organdy and wearing white
boots.
“You can’t go in there, Remedios, Amparo Moscote said from the hall. They’re working.?
But Aureliano did not give her time to respond. He picked up the little fish by the chain that came through its
mouth and said to her.
“Come in.?
Remedios went over and asked some questions about the fish that Aureliano could not answer because he was
seized with a sudden attack of asthma. He wanted to stay beside that lily skin forever, beside those emerald eyes,
close to that voice that called him “sir?with every question. showing the same respect that she gave her father.
Melquaades was in the corner seated at the desk scribbling indecipherable signs. Aureliano hated him. All he
could do was tell Remedios that he was going to give her the little fish and the girl was so startled by the offer
that she left the workshop as fast as she could. That afternoon Aureliano lost the hidden patience with which he
had waited for a chance to see her. He neglected his work. In several desperate efforts of concentration he willed
her to appear but Remedios did not respond. He looked for her in her sisters?shop, behind the window shades in
her house, in her father’s office, but he found her only in the image that saturated his private and terrible solitude.
He would spend whole hours with Rebeca in the parlor listening to the music on the pianola. She was listening to
it because it was the music with which Pietro Crespi had taught them how to dance. Aureliano listened to it
simply because everything,aion gold, even music,buy warcraft gold, reminded him of Remedios.
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