ght simply have invited
him to accompany you," answered Elias naturally.

"What about you?"

"He wouldn't have recognized me, since the only time he ever saw me
he wasn't in a position to take careful note of my appearance."

"I'm in bad luck," sighed Ibarra, thinking of Maria Clara. "What did
you have to tell me?"

Elias looked about him. They were already at a distance from the
shore, the sun had set, and as in these latitudes there is scarcely
any twilight, the shades were lengthening, bringing into view the
bright disk of the full moon.

"Sir," replied Elias gravely, "I am the bearer of the wishes of many
unfortunates."

"Unfortunates? What do you mean?"

In a few words Elias recounted his conversation with the leader of the
tulisanes, omitting the latter's doubts and threats. Ibarra listened
attentively and was the first to break the long silence that reigned
after he had finished his story.

"So they want--"

"Radical reforms in the armed forces, in the priesthood, and in the
administration of justice; that is to say, they ask for paternal
treatment from the government."

"Reforms? In what sense?"

"For example, more respect for a man's dignity, more security for the
individual, less force in the armed forces, fewer privileges for that
corps which so easily abuses what it has."

"Elias," answered the youth, "I don't know who you are, but I
suspect that you are not a man of the people; you think and act so
differently from others. You will understand me if I tell you that,
however imperfect the condition of affairs may be now, it would be
more so if it were changed. I might be able to get the friends that
I have in Madrid to talk, _by paying them_; I might even be able to
see the Captain-General; but neither would the former accomplish
anything nor has the latter sufficient power to introduce so many
novelties. Nor would I ever take a single step in that direction,
for the reason that, while I fully understand that it is true that
these corporations have their faults, they are necessary at this
time. They are what is known as a necessary evil."

Greatly surprised, Elias raised his head and looked at him in
astonishment. "Do you, then, also believe in a necessary evil,
sir?" he asked in a voice that trembled slightly. "Do you believe
that in order to do good it is necessary to do evil?"

"No, I believe in it as in a violent remedy that we make use of when we
wish to cure a disease. Now then, the