g the petition, without hitting upon the happy
solution. While he yawns, coughs, smokes, and thinks about Pepay's
legs and her pirouettes, let us give some account of this exalted
personage, in order to understand Padre Sibyla's reason for proposing
him as the arbiter of such a vexatious matter and why the other clique
accepted him.

Don Custodio de Salazar y Sanchez de Monteredondo, often referred
to as _Good Authority_, belonged to that class of Manila society
which cannot take a step without having the newspapers heap titles
upon them, calling each _indedefatigable, distinguished, zealous,
active, profound, intelligent, well-informed, influential_, and so
on, as if they feared that he might be confused with some idle and
ignorant possessor of the same name. Besides, no harm resulted from
it, and the watchful censor was not disturbed. The _Good Authority_
resulted from his friendship with Ben-Zayb, when the latter, in his two
noisiest controversies, which he carried on for weeks and months in the
columns of the newspapers about whether it was proper to wear a high
hat, a derby, or a _salakot,_ and whether the plural of _caracter_
should be _caracteres_ or _caracteres,_ in order to strengthen his
argument always came out with, "We have this on good authority,"
"We learn this from good authority," later letting it be known,
for in Manila everything becomes known, that this _Good Authority_
was no other than Don Custodio de Salazar y Sanchez de Monteredondo.

He had come to Manila very young, with a good position that had enabled
him to marry a pretty mestiza belonging to one of the wealthiest
families of the city. As he had natural talent, boldness, and great
self-possession, and knew how to make use of the society in which
he found himself, he launched into business with his wife's money,
filling contracts for the government, by reason of which he was
made alderman, afterwards alcalde, member of the Economic Society,
[43] councilor of the administration, president of the directory of
the _Obras Pias_, [44] member of the Society of Mercy, director of
the Spanish-Filipino Bank, etc., etc. Nor are these _etceteras_ to be
taken like those ordinarily placed after a long enumeration of titles:
Don Custodio, although never having seen a treatise on hygiene, came
to be vice-chairman of the Board of Health, for the truth was that of
the eight who composed this board only one had to be a physician and
he could not be that one.