The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
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CHAPTER XXVII 135<br />
<strong>The</strong> houses were beginning to show lights, and in the streets where the music was moving about there were<br />
lighted torches of bamboo and wood made in imitation of those in the church. From the streets the people in<br />
the houses might be seen through the windows in an atmosphere of music and flowers, moving about to the<br />
sounds of piano, harp, or orchestra. Swarming in the streets were Chinese, Spaniards, Filipinos, some dressed<br />
in European style, some in the costumes of the country. Crowding, elbowing, and pushing one another,<br />
walked servants carrying meat and chickens, students in white, men and women, all exposing themselves to<br />
be knocked down <strong>by</strong> the carriages which, in spite of the drivers' cries, made their way with difficulty.<br />
In front of Capitan Basilio's house some young women called to our acquaintances and invited them to enter.<br />
<strong>The</strong> merry voice of Sinang as she ran down the stairs put an end to all excuses. "Come up a moment so that I<br />
may go with you," she said. "I'm bored staying here among so many strangers who talk only of game-cocks<br />
and cards."<br />
<strong>The</strong>y were ushered into a large room filled with people, some of whom came forward to greet Ibarra, for his<br />
name was now well known. All gazed in ecstasy at the beauty of Maria Clara and some old women<br />
murmured, as they chewed their buyo, "She looks like the Virgin!"<br />
<strong>The</strong>re they had to have chocolate, as Capitan Basilio had become a warm friend and defender of Ibarra since<br />
the day of the picnic. He had learned from the half of the telegram given to his daughter Sinang that Ibarra had<br />
known beforehand about the court's decision in the latter's favor, so, not wishing to be outdone in generosity,<br />
he had tried to set aside the decision of the chess-match. But when Ibarra would not consent to this, he had<br />
proposed that the money which would have been spent in court fees should be used to pay a teacher in the<br />
new school. In consequence, the orator employed all his eloquence to the end that other litigants should give<br />
up their extravagant claims, saying to them, "Believe me, in a lawsuit the winner is left without a camisa." But<br />
he had succeeded in convincing no one, even though he cited the Romans.<br />
After drinking the chocolate our young people had to listen to piano-playing <strong>by</strong> the town organist. "When I<br />
listen to him in the church," exclaimed Sinang, pointing to the organist, "I want to dance, and now that he's<br />
playing here I feel like praying, so I'm going out with you."<br />
"Don't you want to join us tonight?" whispered Capitan Basilio into Ibarra's ear as they were leaving. "Padre<br />
Damaso is going to set up a little bank." Ibarra smiled and answered with an equivocal shake of his head.<br />
"Who's that?" asked Maria Clara of Victoria, indicating with a rapid glance a youth who was following them.<br />
"He's--he's a cousin of mine," she answered with some agitation.<br />
"And the other?"<br />
"He's no cousin of mine," put in Sinang merrily. "He's my uncle's son."<br />
<strong>The</strong>y passed in front of the parish rectory, which was not one of the least animated buildings. Sinang was<br />
unable to repress an exclamation of surprise on seeing the lamps burning, those lamps of antique pattern<br />
which Padre Salvi had never allowed to be lighted, in order not to waste kerosene. Loud talk and resounding<br />
bursts of laughter might be heard as the friars moved slowly about, nodding their heads in unison with the big<br />
cigars that adorned their lips. <strong>The</strong> laymen with them, who from their European garments appeared to be<br />
officials and employees of the province, were endeavoring to imitate whatever the good priests did. Maria<br />
Clara made out the rotund figure of Padre Damaso at the side of the trim silhouette of Padre Si<strong>by</strong>la.<br />
Motionless in his place stood the silent and mysterious Fray Salvi.<br />
"He's sad," observed Sinang, "for he's thinking about how much so many visitors are going to cost. But you'll<br />
see how he'll not pay it himself, but the sacristans will. His visitors always eat at other places."