ou what follows that,
for it is not true." She ran her eyes over some lines and began to read
again: "'My father wishes me to go away, in spite of my entreaties. He
says that I am a man and must think of my future and my duty; that I
must learn how to live, which I cannot do in my own country, so that in
the future I may be of some use. He says that if I remain at his side,
in his shadow, in this atmosphere of business, I will never learn how
to look ahead, and that when he is gone, I shall be like the plant
of which our poet Baltazar speaks--as it always lives in the water,
it never learns how to endure a moment's heat.--He reproached me
because I wept, and his reproach hurt me so that I confessed that I
loved you. My father stopped, thought a moment and, placing his hand
on my shoulder, said in a trembling voice: "Do you think that you
alone know how to love, that your father does not love you, and that
his heart is not pained at being separated from you? It is a short
time since your mother died, and I am already reaching that age when
the help and counsel of youth are needed. And yet I consent to your
going, not even knowing that I shall ever see you again. The future is
opening to you, but closing to me. Your loves are being born; mine are
dying. Fire blazes in your blood, but cold is gradually finding its
way into mine. And yet you weep, and are not willing to sacrifice the
present for a future useful to yourself and your country." The eyes of
my father filled with tears and I fell upon my knees at his feet and
embraced him. I asked his pardon and said that I was willing to go.'"

The emotion which Ibarra manifested put an end to the reading. As
pale as death, he arose and began to walk nervously from one side to
the other.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

"You have made me forget that I have duties to perform, and that I
ought to leave immediately for my town. To-morrow is the fiesta in
memory of the dead."

Maria Clara stopped and silently fixed her large and dreamy eyes upon
him for some minutes. Then taking some flowers from a vase near by,
she said with emotion: "Go! I do not wish to detain you. We shall see
each other again in a few days. Place these flowers on the graves of
your father and mother."

A few moments later, Ibarra descended the stairs, accompanied by
Captain Tiago and Dona Isabel, while Maria Clara locked herself up
in the oratory.

"Do me the favor to tell Andeng to get the house rea