he neck and shook him until he
again fell doubled over on his knees.

"Senor Ibarra! Senor Ibarra!" stammered some. But no one, not even
the alferez himself, dared to approach the gleaming knife, when they
considered the youth's strength and the condition of his mind. All
seemed to be paralyzed.

"You, here! You have been silent, now it is my turn! I have tried to
avoid this, but God brings me to it--let God be the judge!" The youth
was breathing laboriously, but with a hand of iron he held down the
Franciscan, who was struggling vainly to free himself.

"My heart beats tranquilly, my hand is sure," he began, looking
around him. "First, is there one among you, one who has not loved his
father, who was born in such shame and humiliation that he hates his
memory? You see? You understand this silence? Priest of a God of peace,
with your mouth full of sanctity and religion and your heart full of
evil, you cannot know what a father is, or you might have thought of
your own! In all this crowd which you despise there is not one like
you! You are condemned!"

The persons surrounding him, thinking that he was about to commit
murder, made a movement.

"Away!" he cried again in a threatening voice. "What, do you fear that
I shall stain my hands with impure blood? Have I not told you that
my heart beats tranquilly? Away from us! Listen, priests and judges,
you who think yourselves other men and attribute to yourselves other
rights: my father was an honorable man,--ask these people here, who
venerate his memory. My father was a good citizen and he sacrificed
himself for me and for the good of his country. His house was open
and his table was set for the stranger and the outcast who came to
him in distress! He was a Christian who always did good and who never
oppressed the unprotected or afflicted those in trouble. To this man
here he opened his doors, he made him sit at his table and called
him his friend. And how has this man repaid him? He calumniated him,
persecuted him, raised up against him all the ignorant by availing
himself of the sanctity of his position; he outraged his tomb,
dishonored his memory, and persecuted him even in the sleep of
death! Not satisfied with this, he persecutes the son now! I have
fled from him, I have avoided his presence. You this morning heard
him profane the pulpit, pointing me out to popular fanaticism, and I
held my peace! Now he comes here to seek a quarrel with me. To your
surprise, I h