who was an accomplished musician, was improvising, and,
as he was alone, gave free rein to the sadness in his heart.

For the truth was that the old man was very sad. His good friend, Don
Tiburcio de Espadana, had just left him, fleeing from the persecution
of his wife. That morning he had received a note from the lieutenant
of the Civil Guard, which ran thus:

MY DEAR CHAPLAIN,--I have just received from the commandant
a telegram that says, "Spaniard hidden house Padre Florentino
capture forward alive dead." As the telegram is quite explicit,
warn your friend not to be there when I come to arrest him
at eight tonight.

Affectionately,

PEREZ

Burn this note.

"T-that V-victorina!" Don Tiburcio had stammered. "S-she's c-capable
of having me s-shot!"

Padre Florentino was unable to reassure him. Vainly he pointed
out to him that the word _cojera_ should have read _cogera_,
[77] and that the hidden Spaniard could not be Don Tiburcio,
but the jeweler Simoun, who two days before had arrived, wounded
and a fugitive, begging for shelter. But Don Tiburcio would not be
convinced--_cojera_ was his own lameness, his personal description,
and it was an intrigue of Victorina's to get him back alive or dead,
as Isagani had written from Manila. So the poor Ulysses had left the
priest's house to conceal himself in the hut of a woodcutter.

No doubt was entertained by Padre Florentino that the Spaniard wanted
was the jeweler Simoun, who had arrived mysteriously, himself carrying
the jewel-chest, bleeding, morose, and exhausted. With the free and
cordial Filipino hospitality, the priest had taken him in, without
asking indiscreet questions, and as news of the events in Manila had
not yet reached his ears he was unable to understand the situation
clearly. The only conjecture that occurred to him was that the General,
the jeweler's friend and protector, being gone, probably his enemies,
the victims of wrong and abuse, were now rising and calling for
vengeance, and that the acting Governor was pursuing him to make him
disgorge the wealth he had accumulated--hence his flight. But whence
came his wounds? Had he tried to commit suicide? Were they the result
of personal revenge? Or were they merely caused by an accident, as
Simoun claimed? Had they been received in escaping from the force
that was pursuing him?

This last conjecture was the one that seemed to have the greatest
appearance of pr