his family to their homes.

Josefina must remain a mystery to us as she was to Rizal. While she
was in a delicate condition Rizal played a prank on her, harmless
in itself, which startled her so that she sprang forward and struck
against an iron stand. Though it was pure accident and Rizal was
scarcely at fault, he blamed himself for it, and his later devotion
seems largely to have been trying to make amends.

The "burial of the son of Rizal," sometimes referred to as occurring at
Dapitan, has for its foundation the consequences of this accident. A
sketch hastily penciled in one of his medical books depicts an
unusual condition apparent in the infant which, had it regularly
made its appearance in the world some months later, would have been
cherished by both parents; this loss was a great and common grief
which banished thereafter all distrust upon his part and all occasion
for it upon hers.

Rizal's mother and several of his sisters, the latter changing from
time to time, had been present during this critical period. Another
operation had been performed upon Mrs. Rizal's eyes, but she was
restive and disregarded the ordinary precautions, and the son was
in despair. A letter to his brother-in-law, Manuel Hidalgo, who was
inclined toward medical studies, says, "I now realize the reason why
physicians are directed not to practice in their own families."

A story of his mother and Rizal, necessary to understand his
peculiar attitude toward her, may serve as the transition from
the hero's sad (later) married experience to the real romance of
his life. Mrs. Rizal's talents commanded her son's admiration, as
her care for him demanded his gratitude, but, despite the common
opinion, he never had that sense of companionship with her that he
enjoyed with his father. Mrs. Rizal was a strict disciplinarian and
a woman of unexceptionable character, but she arrogated to herself
an infallibility which at times was trying to those about her, and
she foretold bitter fates for those who dared dispute her.

Just before Jose went abroad to study, while engaged to his cousin,
Leonora Rivera, Mrs. Rivera and her daughter visited their relatives in
Kalamba. Naturally the young man wished the guests to have the best of
everything; one day when they visited a bathing place near by he used
the family's newest carriage. Though this had not been forbidden,
his mother spoke rather sharply about it; Jose ventured to remind
her that guests wer