ened to burst in a storm of hate. Everything
about her folded up as do the flowers at the first breath of the
hurricane, so she met with no resistance nor found any point or high
place to discharge her evil humor. The soldiers and servants kept away
from her. That she might not hear the sounds of rejoicing outside she
had ordered the windows closed and charged the sentinel to let no one
enter. She tied a handkerchief around her head as if to keep it from
bursting and, in spite of the fact that the sun was still shining,
ordered the lamps to be lighted.

Sisa, as we saw, had been arrested as a disturber of the peace
and taken to the barracks. The alferez was not then present, so
the unfortunate woman had had to spend the night there seated on a
bench in an abandoned attitude. The next day the alferez saw her,
and fearing for her in those days of confusion nor caring to risk a
disagreeable scene, he had charged the soldiers to look after her,
to treat her kindly, and to give her something to eat. Thus the
madwoman spent two days.

Tonight, whether the nearness to the house of Capitan Tiago had brought
to her Maria Clara's sad song or whether other recollections awoke
in her old melodies, whatever the cause, Sisa also began to sing in a
sweet and melancholy voice the _kundiman_ of her youth. The soldiers
heard her and fell silent; those airs awoke old memories of the days
before they had been corrupted. Dona Consolacion also heard them in her
tedium, and on learning who it was that sang, after a few moments of
meditation, ordered that Sisa be brought to her instantly. Something
like a smile wandered over her dry lips.

When Sisa was brought in she came calmly, showing neither wonder nor
fear. She seemed to see no lady or mistress, and this wounded the
vanity of the Muse, who endeavored to inspire respect and fear. She
coughed, made a sign to the soldiers to leave her, and taking down
her husband's whip, said to the crazy woman in a sinister tone,
"Come on, _magcantar icau!_" [108]

Naturally, Sisa did not understand such Tagalog, and this ignorance
calmed the Medusa's wrath, for one of the beautiful qualities of this
lady was to try not to know Tagalog, or at least to appear not to know
it. Speaking it the worst possible, she would thus give herself the
air of a genuine _orofea_, [109] as she was accustomed to say. But
she did well, for if she martyrized Tagalog, Spanish fared no better
with her, either in regard to g