sence!" And he started off running,
carrying his despatch and his napkin, forgetting his hat, and pursued
by exclamations and questions. The announcement of the tulisanes
could not have put him to greater confusion.

"Wait a moment! When is he coming? Tell us?"

Captain Tiago was already in the distance.

"His Excellency asks the hospitality of Captain Tiago!" the guests
exclaimed, apparently forgetting that they spoke before his daughter
and his future son-in-law.

"He could hardly make a better choice," said Ibarra, with dignity.

"This was spoken of yesterday," said the alcalde, "but His Excellency
had not fully decided."

"Do you know how long he is to stay?" asked the alferez, uneasily.

"I'm not at all sure! His Excellency is fond of surprising people."

Three other despatches were brought. They were for the alcalde, the
alferez, and the gobernadorcillo, and identical, announcing the coming
of the governor. It was remarked that there was none for the curate.

"His Excellency arrives at four this afternoon," said the alcalde,
solemnly. "We can finish our repast." It might have been Leonidas
saying: "To-night we sup with Pluto!"

The conversation returned to its former course.

"I notice the absence of our great preacher," said one of the clerks,
an honest, inoffensive fellow, who had not yet said a word. Those
who knew the story of Ibarra's father looked significantly at one
another. "Fools rush in," said the glances of some; but others,
more considerate, tried to cover the error.

"He must be somewhat fatigued----"

"Somewhat!" cried the alferez. "He must be spent, as they say here,
malunqueado. What a sermon!"

"Superb! Herculean!" was the opinion of the notary.

"Magnificent! Profound!" said a newspaper correspondent.

In the other booth the children were more noisy than little Filipinos
are wont to be, for at table or before strangers they are usually
rather too timid than too bold. If one of them did not eat with
propriety, his neighbor corrected him. To one a certain article was
a spoon; to others a fork or a knife; and as nobody settled their
questions, they were in continual uproar.

Their fathers and mothers, simple peasants, looked in ravishment to
see their children eating on a white cloth, and doing it almost as well
as the curate or the alcalde. It was better to them than a banquet.

"Yes," said a young peasant woman to an old man grinding his buyo,
"whatever my husband says, my A