The finca to which the Chamulas were bound (La Constancia, property of a German, Don Adolfo Homel) was five leagues from Tapachula. In the big house, spacious and well-ventilated, fans hissed, there was a small machine that made ice, and wire screens protected all openings from invasion by insects. Thanks to these comforts, life could be pleasant there. But Don Adolfo’s family could bear no more than brief stays and day-long excursions. They lived in the city, where the Homel girls—white-skinned and blue-eyed, with merry dispositions—were one of the most sought-after and enthusiastic elements in clubs, charitable societies and other such organizations.

Their mother, Doña Ifigenia, kept back in a discreet shadow. She had had the good sense not to pass on the color of her skin (the dark skin of a Zoque Indian), the rawness of her intellect or the crudeness of her manners to her descendants. She had also had the prudence not to make herself visible as Don Adolfo’s wife when wealth came to crown his efforts and aristocracy rewarded his virtues. Doña Ifigenia moved from the kitchen to the ironing room, happy with the large gold earrings that dangled from her ears and her filigreed necklaces, waiting to become a grandmother in order to be useful once more.

Don Adolfo, for his part, never regretted having made such an unequal marriage. He had needed a docile, submissive woman who would live in awe of her husband’s superiority. Who could better satisfy those criteria than Doña Ifigenia? She never tried to compare herself to him and the language barrier had placed a tangible limit on their intimacy from the beginning. This distance was soothing to Don Adolfo because direct personal relations made him uncomfortable. He was incapable of establishing them even with his daughters, for whom he was content to fulfil the role of provider.

Scrupulous in the management of his affairs, exacting, active and well-informed about the branch of business he was in, Don Adolfo was a difficult patrón. Administrators often resigned from his employ, disappointed at being unable to rob with impunity and command without supervision. Despite these difficulties, Don Adolfo refused to do without an intermediary in dealing with his peons. It enabled him to be unscrupulous in his demands for more work and to enjoy his earnings without remorse.

For Don Adolfo had a sensitive heart. Although on his finca recourse was had, when it was deemed necessary, to the stocks, the calaboose, the whip, it was only because he appreciated discipline. And if, in the finca’s store, aguardiente was sold on credit at higher prices than in the market, if the workdays lasted from sunup to sundown, it was only because he respected tradition.