As I had not yet spotted the person I was looking for, I continued, nodding to the women I recognized, passing through the tea room with its refined Japanese-style furniture, then through the card-playing room, until I ended up in a pleasant sitting room with floral decor, where I saw her standing by a window: a tall, elderly lady who had intrigued me greatly from the first time I saw her. She would not go unnoticed anywhere because of her outfit: a soft, sunflower-yellow tasteful dress that covered her from shoulders to her shoes, while her long gray hair fell freely down her back. I did not know her name, but I really wanted to meet her because I had heard her discussing my mother with her exceptionally cultured friends. She knew my mom. So I wanted to meet her, although I did not yet wish to reveal who I was – because if I told her my last name, then I would have to mention that my mother had died, whereas what harm was there in letting the world believe that Lady Yundoria Vernet Holmes was alive and free, enjoying her life to the fullest somewhere?

This was the first time I happened to meet the tall woman with the comfortable, airy dress alone, which made it easier for me to approach her, although I felt shy like a child. "Excuse me for the disturbance," I dared to say. She turned around, quite flexibly for someone so elderly, to examine me with her impressively large eyes, gray-green in color – but, no, I realized with surprise mixed with pleasure, her eyes appeared large and like jade jewels because she had used Spanish Papers or something like that on them. How bold! But the forbidden facial cosmetics had not gone to waste on her, because even with her parchment-like skin that folded over the bones of her face, she was strikingly beautiful.