imprecation and a groan from without were heard.
"You brute. You have cut open my head!" cried his wife.
"Now unbosom yourself," said he to the curate in a quiet manner. The
latter looked at him for some time. Afterward he asked, in that nasal
and monotonous priest's voice:
"Did you see how I came running?"
"Umph! I thought something was the matter with you."
"When I leave my duties in this manner there are grave motives."
"And what is it?" asked the other, stamping his foot on the floor.
"Calm yourself!"
"Then, why did you come in such a hurry?"
The curate approached him and asked in a mysterious way:
"Don't--you--know--anything--new?"
The alferez shrugged his shoulders.
"You confess that you know absolutely nothing?"
"What! do you mean to tell me about Elias, whom your sacristan mayor
hid last night?" he asked.
"No, no! I don't speak of such matters now," replied the curate,
in a bad humor. "I am talking about a great danger."
"Then d----n it! Let it out."
"Now then," said the friar slowly and with a certain disdain, "you
will see again how important we priests are. The lowest layman is
worth a regiment, so that a curate...."
And then lowering his voice in a very mysterious manner:
"I have discovered a great conspiracy."
The alferez started and looked at the friar astonished.
"A terrible and well-laid conspiracy, which is to break out this
very night."
"This very night!" exclaimed the alferez, moving at first toward
Father Salví, and then running after his revolver and saber,
which were hanging on the wall: "Whom shall I arrest? Whom shall I
arrest?" he cried.
"Be calm. It is not yet time, thanks to my great haste. At eight
o'clock."
"I'll shoot them all!"
"Listen! This afternoon a woman, whose name I must not mention (it
is a secret of the confessional) came to me and disclosed it all. At
eight o'clock they will take the cuartel by surprise, sack the convent,
seize the Government's steamboat and assassinate all the Spaniards."
The alferez was stupified.
"The woman has not told more than that," added the curate.
"Has not told you more? Then I'll arrest her!"
"No; I cannot consent to it. The tribunal of penitence is the throne
of God of forgiveness."
"Neither God nor forgiveness count in this matter. I'll arrest her."
XXXIV. THE DISCOVERY.
Start from the beginning
