, and in her delirium she pronounced no name but that of her
mother, whom she had never known. Her friends, her father, her aunt,
watched her, and heaped with gifts and with silver for masses the
altars of miraculous images. At last, slowly and regularly, the fever
began to abate.

The Doctor de Espadana was stupefied at the virtues of the syrup of
marshmallow and the decoction of lichen, prescriptions he had never
varied. Dona Victorina was so satisfied with her husband that one
day when he stepped on her train, in a rare state of clemency she
did not apply to him the usual penal code by pulling out his teeth.

One afternoon, Sinang and Victorina were with Maria; the curate,
Captain Tiago, and the Espadanas were talking in the dining-room.

"I'm distressed to hear it," the doctor was saying; "and Father Damaso
must be greatly disturbed."

"Where did you say he is to be sent?" asked Linares.

"Into the province of Tabayas," replied the curate carelessly.

"Maria Clara will be very sorry too," said Captain Tiago; "she loves
him like a father."

Father Salvi looked at him from the corner of his eye.

"Father," continued Captain Tiago, "I believe her sickness came from
nothing but that trouble the day of the fete."

"I am of the same opinion, so you have done well in not permitting
Senor Ibarra to talk with her; that would only have aggravated her
condition."

"And it is thanks to us alone," interrupted Dona Victorina, "that
Clarita is not already in heaven singing praises with the angels."

"Amen!" Captain Tiago felt moved to say.

"I think I know whereof I speak," said the curate, "when I say that
the confession of Maria Clara brought about the favorable crisis
that saved her life. I do not deny the power of science, but a pure
conscience----"

"Pardon," objected Dona Victorina, piqued; "then cure the wife of
the alferez with a confession!"

"A hurt, senora, is not a malady, to be influenced by the conscience,"
replied Father Salvi severely; "but a good confession would preserve
her in future from such blows as she got this morning."

"She deserved them!" said Dona Victorina. "She is an insolent woman. In
church she did nothing but look at me. I had a mind to ask her what
there was curious about my face; but who would soil her lips speaking
to these people of no standing?"

The curate, as if he had not heard this tirade, continued: "To finish
the cure of your daughter, she should receive the communion