668
RAMON SENDER
sacred and that is understandable, don't you think so, Dr.
Amer?"
The orchestra was playing again, but they remained seated
at their table. The director was eyeing them from a distance. He
no longer had the silver pencil
in
his mouth.
Pursuing the neutral theme, Arner remarked that the Zufiis
have not only abandoned nomadism and the hunting of wild
animals, but they also have household gods like the Greeks and
Romans do. Before dwelling
in
a room the Zufiis wait for the
Indian lares to bless it. The most important of those lares is the
one they call Shalako.
"I can't go into a new house either," she said, "unless some–
body else, a relative or friend, is there to receive me. The same
thing happens to me as to the Zunis. But that doesn't matter. I
have confidence
in
things, really. When a serious problem comes
up and there seems to be no solution, everything can still be
ar–
ranged. Everything can always be arranged."
"How?" Arner asked, uneasily.
. "Very simple. By making the night longer. Because time is
elastic and nothing is easier than to stretch or shrink time."
She said this lightly, looking at the lamp and thinking about
the profile of the Zurn bird.
Just then Miss Slingsby's former chauffeur came up to
invite Matilda to dance. Arner thought: "Dr. Smith has sent
him over to keep Matilda from being too long with me, or with
the same person, at least." But it was not true. Dr. Smith him–
self came over shortly and sat down at Arner's table. Matilda
and the chauffeur were dancing.
"Have you talked to Mrs. Strolheim about her husband?"
asked the director.
"No;
no."
Out on the dance floor the chauffeur was saying to
his
partner:
"I will always come to these dances and my wife will come
to those organized for the men. Out of respect to Miss Slingsby's
