come better then."

Isagani remained standing, with his head erect, waiting for the
professor to get to the point of the matter.

"For more than eight years I have been a professor here," resumed
Padre Fernandez, still continuing to pace back and forth, "and in
that time I've known and dealt with more than twenty-five hundred
students. I've taught them, I've tried to educate them, I've tried to
inculcate in them principles of justice and of dignity, and yet in
these days when there is so much murmuring against us I've not seen
one who has the temerity to maintain his accusations when he finds
himself in the presence of a friar, not even aloud in the presence
of any numbers. Young men there are who behind our backs calumniate
us and before us kiss our hands, with a base smile begging kind looks
from us! Bah! What do you wish that we should do with such creatures?"

"The fault is not all theirs, Padre," replied Isagani. "The fault
lies partly with those who have taught them to be hypocrites,
with those who have tyrannized over freedom of thought and freedom
of speech. Here every independent thought, every word that is not an
echo of the will of those in power, is characterized as filibusterism,
and you know well enough what that means. A fool would he be who to
please himself would say aloud what he thinks, who would lay himself
liable to suffer persecution!"

"What persecution have you had to suffer?" asked Padre Fernandez,
raising his head. "Haven't I let you express yourself freely in my
class? Nevertheless, you are an exception that, if what you say is
true, I must correct, so as to make the rule as general as possible
and thus avoid setting a bad example."

Isagani smiled. "I thank you, but I will not discuss with you whether
I am an exception. I will accept your qualification so that you
may accept mine: you also are an exception, and as here we are not
going to talk about exceptions, nor plead for ourselves, at least,
I mean, _I'm not_, I beg of my _professor_ to change the course of
the conversation."

In spite of his liberal principles, Padre Fernandez raised his head
and stared in surprise at Isagani. That young man was more independent
than he had thought--although he called him _professor_, in reality
he was dealing with him as an equal, since he allowed himself to
offer suggestions. Like a wise diplomat, Padre Fernandez not only
recognized the fact but even took his stand upon it.

"Good enough!" he