Ibarra was placed in an embarrassing position, and the rest looked from one to the other as if fearing a disagreeable scene. He was about to say, "The dinner is nearly over and his Reverence is now satiated," but restrained himself and merely remarked to the others, "Gentlemen, don't be surprised at the familiarity with which our former curate treats me. He treated me so when I was a child, and the years seem to make no difference in his Reverence. I appreciate it, too, because it recalls the days when his Reverence visited our home and honored my father's table."
The Dominican glanced furtively at the Franciscan, who was trembling visibly. Ibarra continued as he rose from the table: "You will now permit me to retire, since, as I have just arrived and must go away tomorrow morning, there remain some important business matters for me to attend to. The principal part of the dinner is over and I drink but little wine and seldom touch cordials. Gentlemen, all for Spain and the Philippines!" Saying this, he drained his glass, which he had not before touched. The old lieutenant silently followed his example.
"Don't go!" whispered Capitan Tiago. "Maria Clara will be here. Isabel has gone to get her. The new curate of your town, who is a saint, is also coming."
"I'll call tomorrow before starting. I've a very important visit to make now." With this he went away.
Meanwhile the Franciscan had recovered himself. "Do you see?" he said to the rubicund youth, at the same time flourishing his dessert spoon. "That comes from pride. They can't stand to have the curate correct them. They even think that they are respectable persons. It's the evil result of sending young men to Europe. The government ought to prohibit it."
"And how about the lieutenant?" Doña Victorina chimed in upon the Franciscan, "he didn't get the frown off his face the whole evening. He did well to leave us so old and still only a lieutenant!" The lady could not forget the allusion to her frizzes and the trampled ruffles of her gown.
That night the rubicund youth wrote down, among other things, the following title for a chapter in his _Colonial Studies_: "Concerning the manner in which the neck and wing of a chicken in a friar's plate of soup may disturb the merriment of a feast." Among his notes there appeared these observations: "In the Philippines the most unnecessary person at a dinner is he who gives it, for they are quite capable of beginning by throwing the host into the street and then everything will go on smoothly. Under present conditions it would perhaps be a good thing not to allow the Filipinos to leave the country, and even not to teach them to read."