The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LI 234
CHAPTER LI
Exchanges
The bashful Linares was anxious and ill at ease. He had just received from Doña Victorina a letter which ran
thus:
DEER COZIN within 3 days i expec to here from you if the alferes has killed you or you him i dont want
anuther day to pass befour that broot has his punishment if that tim passes an you havent challenjed him ill tel
don santiago you was never segretary nor joked with canobas nor went on a spree with the general don arseño
martinez ill tel clarita its all a humbug an ill not give you a sent more if you challenje him i promis all you
want so lets see you challenje him i warn you there must be no excuses nor delays yore cozin who loves you
VICTORINA DE LOS REYES DE DE ESPADAÑA
sampaloc monday 7 in the evening
The affair was serious. He was well enough acquainted with the character of Doña Victorina to know what
she was capable of. To talk to her of reason was to talk of honesty and courtesy to a revenue carbineer when
he proposes to find contraband where there is none, to plead with her would be useless, to deceive her
worse--there was no way out of the difficulty but to send the challenge.
"But how? Suppose he receives me with violence?" he soliloquized, as he paced to and fro. "Suppose I find
him with his señora? Who will be willing to be my second? The curate? Capitan Tiago? Damn the hour in
which I listened to her advice! The old toady! To oblige me to get myself tangled up, to tell lies, to make a
blustering fool of myself! What will the young lady say about me? Now I'm sorry that I've been secretary to
all the ministers!"
While the good Linares was in the midst of his soliloquy, Padre Salvi came in. The Franciscan was even
thinner and paler than usual, but his eyes gleamed with a strange light and his lips wore a peculiar smile.
"Señor Linares, all alone?" was his greeting as he made his way to the sala, through the half-opened door of
which floated the notes from a piano. Linares tried to smile.
"Where is Don Santiago?" continued the curate.
Capitan Tiago at that moment appeared, kissed the curate's hand, and relieved him of his hat and cane, smiling
all the while like one of the blessed.
"Come, come!" exclaimed the curate, entering the sala, followed by Linares and Capitan Tiago, "I have good
news for you all. I've just received letters from Manila which confirm the one Señor Ibarra brought me
yesterday. So, Don Santiago, the objection is removed."
Maria Clara, who was seated at the piano between her two friends, partly rose, but her strength failed her, and
she fell back again. Linares turned pale and looked at Capitan Tiago, who dropped his eyes.
"That young man seems to me to be very agreeable," continued the curate. "At first I misjudged him--he's a
little quick-tempered--but he knows so well how to atone for his faults afterwards that one can't hold anything
against him. If it were not for Padre Damaso--"
Here the curate shot a quick glance at Maria Clara, who was listening without taking her eyes off the sheet of
music, in spite of the sly pinches of Sinang, who was thus expressing her joy--had she been alone she would