l and they are the wise men. Who can say?"

And the old man shook his head as though to dismiss an unwelcome
thought.

"The second thing I advise is to consult the curate, the
gobernadorcillo, all the people of position in the pueblo. They will
give you bad advice, unintelligible, useless. But to ask advice is
not to follow it. All you need is to make it understood that you are
working in accordance with their ideas."

Ibarra reflected, then replied:

"No doubt your counsel is good, but it is very hard to take. May I
not offer my own ideas to the light of day? Cannot the good make its
way anywhere? Has truth need of the dross of error?"

"No one likes the naked truth," replied the old man. "It is good in
theory, easy in the ideal world of which youth dreams. You say you
are a stranger to your country; I believe it. The day that you arrived
here, you began by wounding the self-esteem of a priest. God grant this
seemingly small thing has not decided your future. If it has, all your
efforts will break against the convent walls, without disturbing the
monk, swaying his girdle, or making his robe tremble. The alcalde,
under one pretext or another, will deny you to-morrow what he grants
you to-day; not a mother will let her child go to your school, and
the result of all your efforts will be simply negative."

"I cannot help feeling your fears exaggerated," said Ibarra. "In spite
of all you say, I cannot believe in this power; but even admitting it
to be so great, the most intelligent of the people would be on my side,
and also the Government, which is animated by the best intentions,
and wishes the veritable good of the Philippines."

"The Government! the Government!" murmured the philosopher,
raising his eyes. "However great its desire to better the country,
however generous may have been the spirit of the Catholic kings,
the Government sees, hears, judges nothing more than the curate or
the provincial gives it to see, hear, or judge. The Government is
convinced that its tranquillity comes through the monks; that if
it is upheld, it is because they uphold it; that if it live, is it
because they consent to let it, and that the day when they fail it,
it will fall like a manikin that has lost its base. The monks hold
the Government in hand by threatening a revolt of the people they
control; the people, by displaying the power of the Government. So
long as the Government has not an understanding with the country,
it wil