en on her face. A flash of her mad passion for Tonet had come back
to her. She was afraid he was to be killed. "Wait, Pascualo! Wait! It
may be all a lie! I may have been deceived! You know how people talk!
And Tonet is your brother!"

But the Rector smiled in a cold sinister way. "I've heard enough from
you. And you're right. I know you're right! And when I'm sure, I'm sure.
And you're scared because you know I'm right, too. And you're afraid for
your Tonet, aren't you! You love him, don't you! Well, yes, and I love
Dolores, in spite of everything! Remember, whatever I do, that that girl
has got me here, here, and I shall never get the stab of it out of my
heart. But you're going to see, Rosario, and this whole town is going to
see, how Pascualo _el llanut_ goes about things like this!"

"No, Pascualo, no," begged Rosario, seizing him by his powerful hands.
"Wait ... not to-night ... to-morrow ... some other day!"

"Oh, I know what you are thinking about! You know where Tonet is
to-night! But don't worry. You're right! Not to-night! Not to-night!
Besides, I've left my knife at home. And I'm not going to kill them with
my teeth! But for God's sake, get out of my way, woman. A fellow can't
breathe in here!" And he brushed Rosario aside with a rude thrust, and
dashed out into the dark.

The Rector's first sensation on finding himself alone was one of relief
and pleasure, as though he had just escaped from a furnace. And he
breathed deeply and deliciously of the cold breeze that was growing
noticeably stronger. Not a star was shining now. The sky was overcast,
and Pascualo, in spite of his situation, with the instinct of a sailor,
first took account of the weather. "Bad day to-morrow!" he commented.
Then the sea and the storm passed from his mind. He began to walk, and
he walked and walked, moving his legs mechanically, indifferent to
direction, hardly knowing that he was walking, though each footstep
seemed to ring in his brain with a grating irritating echo. He was as
unconscious, almost, as he had been back there in Tenet's cabin after
his fall. He was asleep, but standing up, and his feet going, in a
dream, but going rapidly, in spite of the paralysis of all his senses.
He did not notice that he was walking round and round over the same
streets.

Then a feeling came back to him, and again it was one of pleasure. How
nice it was to be walking around in the dark over roads that would seem
too ugly to be worth while