uld hardly condescend to
look at her at all. He spoke little to his father, and what he said was
rough and harsh. The worst boy in the world could not have acted with
more insolence. His wild spirit, lusting pleasure, seemed to burn with
an instinctive flame of hate.

One night when Amadeo came home from the Casino where he and Don Adolfo,
with the druggist and a few other such-like worthies, were wont to meet
every Saturday, he found the door of his shop ajar. This astonished him.
He raised his voice and began to call:

"Manolo! You, Manolo!"

Rafaela answered him, from the back room of the house:

"He's not here."

"Do you know whether he's going to come back soon? I want to know,
before locking up."

A short silence followed. After a bit, Rafaela answered:

"You'd better lock up, anyhow."

There seemed to be something like a sob of grief in the voice of the
poor woman. The old engineer, alarmed by a presentiment of something
terrible, strode through the shop and went on into the house. Rafaela
was sitting in front of the stove, in the kitchen, her hands humbly
crossed on her lap, her eyes full of tears, her white hair rumpled up,
as if some parricide hand had furiously seized her head. Zureda took
hold of his wife by the shoulders and forced her to get up.

"What--what's happened?" he stammered.

Rafaela's nose was all bloody, her forehead was bruised and her hands
bore lacerations.

"What's the matter with you?" repeated the engineer.

Old and dull as were his eyes, now they blazed up again with that red
lightning of death which, twenty years before, had sent him to prison.
Rafaela was terrified, and tried to lie out of it.

"It's nothing, Amadeo," she stammered. "Nothing, I tell you. Let me tell
you! I--I fell--that's the living truth!"

But Zureda shook the truth out of her with threats, almost with
violence.

"Manolo's been beating you, eh? He has, hasn't he?"

She began to sob, still trying to deny it, not wanting to accuse her
heart's darling. The old engineer repeated, trembling with rage:

"He beat you, eh? What?"

Rafaela took a long time to answer. She was afraid to speak, but finally
she confessed everything.

"Yes, yes, he did. Oh--it's terrible!"

"What did he beat you for?"

"Because he wanted money."

"God! The swine!"

The rage and pain of the old convict burst out in a leonine roar, that
filled the kitchen.

"He told you that?" demanded Amadeo. "Said he wanted money?"