s,
words failed him. Standing on the balcony at the side of Maria Clara
was Linares, arranging bouquets of flowers and leaves. Roses and
sampaguitas were scattered about on the floor. Reclining in a big
chair, pale, with a sad and pensive air, Maria Clara toyed with an
ivory fan which was not whiter than her shapely fingers.

At the appearance of Ibarra, Linares turned pale and Maria Clara's
cheeks flushed crimson. She tried to rise, but strength failed her,
so she dropped her eyes and let the fan fall. An embarrassed silence
prevailed for a few moments. Ibarra was then able to move forward and
murmur tremblingly, "I've just got back and have come immediately to
see you. I find you better than I had thought I should."

The girl seemed to have been stricken dumb; she neither said anything
nor raised her eyes.

Ibarra looked Linares over from head to foot with a stare which the
bashful youth bore haughtily.

"Well, I see that my arrival was unexpected," said Ibarra
slowly. "Maria, pardon me that I didn't have myself announced. At
some other time I'll be able to make explanations to you about my
conduct. We'll still see one another surely."

These last words were accompanied by a look at Linares. The girl
raised toward him her lovely eyes, full of purity and sadness. They
were so beseeching and eloquent that Ibarra stopped in confusion.

"May I come tomorrow?"

"You know that for my part you are always welcome," she answered
faintly.

Ibarra withdrew in apparent calm, but with a tempest in his head and
ice in his heart. What he had just seen and felt was incomprehensible
to him: was it doubt, dislike, or faithlessness?

"Oh, only a woman after all!" he murmured.

Taking no note of where he was going, he reached the spot where the
schoolhouse was under construction. The work was well advanced, Nor
Juan with his mile and plumb-bob coming and going among the numerous
laborers. Upon catching sight of Ibarra he ran to meet him.

"Don Crisostomo, at last you've come! We've all been waiting for
you. Look at the walls, they're already more than a meter high and
within two days they'll be up to the height of a man. I've put in
only the strongest and most durable woods--molave, dungon, ipil,
langil--and sent for the finest--tindalo, malatapay, pino, and
narra--for the finishings. Do you want to look at the foundations?"

The workmen saluted Ibarra respectfully, while Nor Juan made voluble
explanations. "Here is the p