left us without strength, like those
creatures who, having suffered from a severe illness in their youth,
remain anaemic for ever, without possible recuperation, condemned to
premature old age."

"Bah! Science!" said Silver Stick, turning towards his house; "that
is the eternal cry of all the enemies of religion. There is no better
science than to love God and His works. Good evening."

"Very good evening, Don Antolin; but remember this, we have not yet
done with faith and the sword; sometimes one directs us or the other
drives us; but of science, never a word, unless Spain has changed in
the last twenty-four hours."

CHAPTER VII

After this evening Gabriel avoided the meetings in the cloister, so
as to have no more discussions with Silver Stick. He repented of his
audacity, and when he was alone reflected on the danger to which
he had exposed himself in expressing his views so freely. He felt
terrified at the possibility of being expelled from the Cathedral to
roam the world afresh; he reproached himself, throwing in his own
teeth his folly in hurling himself against the prejudices of the past.
What could he hope to effect by changing the thoughts of these poor
people? What weight could the conversion of these few men, stuck
like limpets to the stones of the past, have in the emancipation of
humanity?

The Cathedral was to Gabriel like a gigantic tumour, which blistered
the Spanish epidermis, like scars of its ancient infirmities. It was
not a muscle capable of development, but an abscess which bided its
time either to be extirpated, or to disappear of itself through the
working of the germs it contained; he had chosen this ruin as
his refuge and he ought to be silent, to be prudent so that his
ingratitude should not be flung in his face.

Moreover, his brother Esteban, breaking the cold reserve into which he
had retired since the arrival of his daughter, counselled prudence.

"His mind seems possessed by the demon, Esteban," said the priest,
"and he explains his views with the most perfect calmness in this holy
house, as though he were in one of those infernal clubs which exist in
foreign countries. Where on earth has your brother been to learn such
things? Never have I heard such frightful heresies. Tell him that I
shall forget it all as I have known him since his childhood, and that
I remember he was the pride of our seminary, but more especially
because he is ill, and it would be inhuman to drive h